Bizet Opera Carmen

Classical Music / Opera

 

 

Opera synopsis, characters, and other information of Bizet's Carmen

The French opera Carmen by Georges Bizet is one of the most famous and loved operas of all-time. The libretto is written by Henry Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novel by the same name, written by author Prosper Mérimée. Bizet found great opposition to the work, as many critics and the general public found the opera plot “indecent” during the time.

Carmen is first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on March 3, 1875. For French opera, Carmen broke new dramatic ground as it moved away from opera buffa (comic opera), to a deeper tragic story. Sadly, composer Bizet did not live to see that his work was to become one of the most often performed operas in the world.

The 4-act opera setting takes place in Seville, Spain. The original opera production of Carmen had spoken dialog rather than recitative. After Bizet's death, his friend Ernest Guiraud replaced the dialog to a sung recitative.


Famous Arias from Carmen:

• L'amour est un oiseau rebelle - Carmen
• La fleur que tu m’avais jetée (The flower song) - Don José
• Votre toast, je peux le rendre (Toreador song) - Escamillo

Apology: The video Originally featured is no longer available.  

Below is from Bizet's Opera Carmen - Bastille Opera. 

 

 

Arthur Kornberg

Nobel laureate for DNA and RNA discoveries

Biochemist Arthur Kornberg specialized in molecular biology. His primary research interests were in biochemistry, especially enzyme chemistry, deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis (DNA replication) and studying the nucleic acids which control heredity in animals, plants, bacteria and viruses.

He was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959 for "discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid together with Dr. Severo Ochoa of New York University.