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.
© TiVo Staff /TiVo
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Classical Romance with Georges Bizet
Lounge - Released by PMI Collins Classics on Feb. 1, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Carmen Highlights
Opera - Released by Opera d'Oro on Feb. 18, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Georges Bizet, Carmen Suite No. 1
Classical - Released by Classical.com Music on Feb. 16, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
George Bizet
Radio Bratislava Symphony, Karin Lechner, Daniel Tiempo
Classical - Released by Piros Comercial Digital on May 19, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carmen Jones (Original Film Soundtrack)
Georges Bizet, Oscar Hammerstein II
Film Soundtracks - Released by Supreme Media on Jan. 2, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carmen
Classical - Released by Audiofonic Records on Oct. 15, 2019
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Carmen' Act I, II
Classical - Released by Pipeline Music on Jun. 6, 2006
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Carmen Overture (Cybercat Remix)
Miscellaneous - Released by Melody Garden Recordings on Jul. 12, 2019
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Luxe Classics. Gloria
Orquesta Lírica de Barcelona, Coral Polifònica Els Emprius
Classical - Released by Piros Comercial Digital on Feb. 17, 2014
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Classics In The Pop Of Treatments. Bizet - The Best
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Jun. 6, 1998
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French Opera Overtures
Radio Symphony Orchestra Bratislava, The London Festival Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Opera - Released by Blaricum CD Company (B.C.D.) B.V. on May 3, 2014
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Bizet: Carmen - La Arlesiana
Opera - Released by ClassicalPirosDigital on Sep. 30, 2015
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Georges Bizet: L'Arlésienne - Suite No. 1 & Suite No. 2
Classical - Released by RHI on Sep. 10, 2015
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Carmen
Chamber Music - Released by Artpegi Records on Jul. 27, 2011
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Rediscovering French Operas in 21 Volumes - Vol. 2/21 : Carmen
Opera - Released by ISIS on Dec. 1, 2016
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Carmen Suite
Christian Lindberg, Roland Pöntinen, Georges Bizet
Classical - Released by EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE on Jul. 6, 2021
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The Definitive Collection Of Georges Bizet
Pop - Released by Only Between Us Records on Jun. 9, 2017
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Instrumental Poetry: Georges Bizet
Classical - Released by Only Between Us Records on May 26, 2017
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Relax To The Music Of Georges Bizet
Pop - Released by Only Between Us Records on Apr. 21, 2017
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Heavenly Classics Georges Bizet
Pop - Released by Only Between Us Records on Apr. 14, 2017
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Naturally Classical Georges Bizet
Pop - Released by Only Between Us Records on Apr. 7, 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo