Georges Bizet
Known for one of the world's most popular operas, Carmen, Georges Bizet deserves attention as well for other works of remarkable melodic charm. Many of his works received cool receptions upon their premieres but are now considered central to the repertory of classical music.
Bizet was born in Paris on October 25, 1838 and grew up in a happy, musical family that encouraged his talents. He learned to read music at the same time he learned to read letters, both equally well. Entering the Paris Conservatory before he was ten, he earned first prize in solfège within six months, a first prize in piano in 1852, and eventually, the coveted Prix de Rome in 1857 for his cantata Clovis et Clotilde. His teachers had included Marmontel for piano and Halévy for composition, but his greatest influence was Charles Gounod, of whom Bizet later said, "You were the beginning of my life as an artist." Bizet himself hid away his Symphony in C, written when he was 17, feeling it was too much like its models, Gounod's symphonies. The two years spent in Rome after winning his prize would be the only extensive amount of time (and a greatly impressionable one) that Bizet would spend outside of Paris in his brief life. When he returned to Paris, he lost confidence in his natural talents and began to substitute dry Germanic or academic writing for his own developing idiom. He composed a one-act opera for production at the Opéra-Comique, but the theater's director engaged him to write a full-length opera instead, Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers). It was not a success at the time, but despite a few weaknesses, the work was revived in 1886, and its sheer beauty has earned it a respected position among the lesser-played operatic repertory. In 1863, Bizet's father bought land outside Paris where he built two bungalows, one of which Bizet frequently used as a compositional retreat. He began a friendship (apparently not a physical one) with a neighbor-woman named Céleste Mogador, a former actress, author, courtesan, circus rider, and dancehall girl. She is said to have been the model for his masterpiece's title role of Carmen. Bizet earned his living as an accompanist and publishing house arranger. Meanwhile, he poured his creative efforts into an immense five-act opera in the grand tradition, Ivan IV, but it was never performed. This proved to be a pattern for the rest of his career. Bizet would work hard to get an opera produced, but even so, it would usually receive only a handful of performances. Bizet's corpus of unfinished works is large, and testifies to his unsettled existence and his difficulty in finding a place in France's notoriously hierarchical and conservative musical world. In 1869, Bizet married Geneviève Halévy, the daughter of his teacher. The marriage did not turn out to be a happy one, primarily due to her family's history of mental illness. In 1872, Bizet's splendid incidental music for the play L'arlèsienne was poorly received, but when the composer assembled the music into an orchestral suite for a November performance, it found great acclaim. At last confident of his creative vision, Bizet was able to steer his final masterpiece through various obstacles, including the objections of singers and theater directors who were shocked by Carmen's subject matter. When the opera had its premiere on March 3, 1875, it was received barely well enough to hang on for future productions. Although it took audiences a few months to catch on, Bizet died convinced it was a failure.
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Classical Romance with Georges Bizet
Lounge - Erschienen bei PMI Collins Classics am 01.02.2019
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Georges Bizet, Carmen Suite No. 1
Klassik - Erschienen bei Classical.com Music am 16.02.2009
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Classic Works (Classical Music Masters)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Il Loggione Records am 23.02.2018
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George Bizet
Radio Bratislava Symphony, Karin Lechner, Daniel Tiempo
Klassik - Erschienen bei Piros Comercial Digital am 19.05.2015
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Carmen
Klassik - Erschienen bei Audiofonic Records am 15.10.2019
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Carmen' Act I, II
Klassik - Erschienen bei Pipeline Music am 06.06.2006
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Carmen Overture (Cybercat Remix)
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei Melody Garden Recordings am 12.07.2019
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Luxe Classics. Gloria
Orquesta Lírica de Barcelona, Coral Polifònica Els Emprius
Klassik - Erschienen bei Piros Comercial Digital am 17.02.2014
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Classics In The Pop Of Treatments. Bizet - The Best
Klassik - Erschienen bei Russian Compact Disc am 06.06.1998
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French Opera Overtures
Radio Symphony Orchestra Bratislava, The London Festival Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Oper - Erschienen bei Blaricum CD Company (B.C.D.) B.V. am 03.05.2014
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Carmen Jones (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Georges Bizet, Oscar Hammerstein II
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Diamond Days am 30.10.2013
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Bizet: Carmen - La Arlesiana
Oper - Erschienen bei ClassicalPirosDigital am 30.09.2015
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Georges Bizet: L'Arlésienne - Suite No. 1 & Suite No. 2
Klassik - Erschienen bei RHI am 10.09.2015
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Carmen
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Artpegi Records am 27.07.2011
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Rediscovering French Operas in 21 Volumes - Vol. 2/21 : Carmen
Oper - Erschienen bei ISIS am 01.12.2016
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Carmen Suite
Christian Lindberg, Roland Pöntinen, Georges Bizet
Klassik - Erschienen bei EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE am 06.07.2021
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The Definitive Collection Of Georges Bizet
Pop - Erschienen bei Only Between Us Records am 09.06.2017
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Instrumental Poetry: Georges Bizet
Klassik - Erschienen bei Only Between Us Records am 26.05.2017
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Relax To The Music Of Georges Bizet
Pop - Erschienen bei Only Between Us Records am 21.04.2017
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Heavenly Classics Georges Bizet
Pop - Erschienen bei Only Between Us Records am 14.04.2017
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Naturally Classical Georges Bizet
Pop - Erschienen bei Only Between Us Records am 07.04.2017
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