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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Bizet: Symphony in C Major - Carmen Suites No. 1 & 2
Classical - Released by Maestro on 13 Mar 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lyrica - Carmen
Georges Bizet, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on 27 Oct 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandes Maestros de la Musica Clasica - Bizet
Symphonic Orchestra of the Radio Ljubljana, The London Festival Orchestra
Classical - Released by JamadaDigital on 20 Apr 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Georges Bizet farandole
Pop - Released by Bumeran Music on 31 Jan 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Clásicos Inolvidables Vol. 34, Iberia
Classical - Released by ADAGIO on 25 Aug 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cosmic Classical: Scorpio
Georges Bizet, Johann Strauss II, Carl Maria von Weber
Lounge - Released by PMI Collins Classics on 29 Sep 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Opera - Vol. 8
Classical - Released by JamadaDigital on 12 Jan 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Opera Arias: Rossini, Bizet
Classical - Released by Blue music on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Suite L'Arlésienne No. 1 y 2
Classical - Released by Piros Comercial Digital on 18 Jun 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Georges Bizet: Djamileh
Bruce Boyce, Jennifer Vyvyan, Norman Painting
Opera - Released by The Digital Gramophone on 21 Jan 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Jeux d'enfants (Children's Games)
Lounge - Released by Classical Number One Records on 2 Dec 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Clásicos Románticos - Georges Bizet - Carmen - Sinfonía Nº 1
The London Festival Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra de Ljubljana
Classical - Released by Piros - Send on 30 Oct 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
George Bizet, Carmen Suites 1 & 2 - Maestros del Milenio
Classical - Released by Piros Comercial Digital on 13 Oct 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
George Bizet - Carmen Suites N. 1 y 2, La Arlesiana Suite N. 1
Orquesta Philarmónica de Conciertos
Classical - Released by Piros Comercial Digital on 3 Oct 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Light Overtures
Radio Luxembourg Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Black Pearl on 20 Jan 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Clásica-Bizet
Classical - Released by Digital Natives on 1 Jul 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chill To The Music Of Georges Bizet
Classical - Released by Only Between Us Records on 9 Jun 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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