Opera Paper

Carmen premiered on March 3, 1875 written by French Composer Georges Bizet. Carmen takes place in Seville, Spain during the mid 19^th century. Carmen brought to the opera something that was different and exciting to the people in 1875; it brought realism of what some humans are really like, and many people didn’t like that. Carmen brought to the opera something power, and moving that many people didn’t like at the time however it still has songs that are now used in commercials. Carmen is the beautiful gypsy who works at the cigarette factory who captures the heart of Don José who is a corporal of dragoons. Don José is engaged to Micaëla who is a peasant farm girl who is also beautiful. Escamillo is the bull fighter that later in the opera captures the heart of Carmen. “Carmen, the most famous of Bizet's operas, with its exotic Spanish setting, introduced a note of realism into opera that proved unacceptable to many who saw the first performances. Objection was taken to the wild and immoral behavior of Carmen, the chorus of cigarette factory- girls and their smoking and the final murder of Carmen on the stage” (Welcome to Naxos Records). Women during the late 1800’s were not expected to smoke, since for men smoking cigars or cigarettes was a sign of dominance. It was also a shock to see a person getting murdered on stage especially a woman, seeing something as violent as someone being murdered on stage even if it is fake it was a violent act that surprised many. The audience most likely reacted with outrage over the murder scene when Don José stabs Carmen to death. The reason being how violent, and bloody the storyline was since the Opéra-Comique was usually associated with a family oriented productions:

            “Though engaged to be married to the sweet and simple country girl Micaëla, Don José is seduced by the exotic Carmen in Act I, imprisoned for helping her escape the police in Act II and ensnared in a smuggling plot after deserting the army over her in Act III. None of which might have raised an eyebrow among 19th-century opera fans if weren’t for the events that follow in Act IV, when Carmen throws Don José over for the glamorous bullfighter Escamillo, inciting a jealous rage in Don José that culminates in his fatally stabbing Carmen outside the bullring in Seville.

It was this bloody storyline that caused an uproar within the critical establishment and within the leadership of the Opéra-Comique, which was known for somewhat more family-friendly productions. Even in the face of this controversy, Bizet refused to change the offending plot-points, and the mezzo-soprano Galli-Marié finally agreed to play Carmen. While audience and critical reaction to Carmen was decidedly mixed following its debut on this day in 1875, the opera won important admirers in Richard Wagner, Johannes Brahms and Pyotr Tchaikovsky before the year was over. Georges Bizet, however, died on June 3, 1875, after only 30 public performances of his most important work” (George Bizet’s Carmen Premieres in Paris).

This opera is important in the chronology because it opened the door for many other operas to bring about the use of violence and the reality of human behavior, and day to day activity.  It also brought many new aspects to the opera like what was mentioned in the article Mise-en-scène, “The set design refers to the decor of the set, or how it’s dressed, comprising mainly of the furniture, props, and the set itself. Instead of just placing objects here and there, the director must be savvy to fathom how these elements may bear significance in a deeper level, while also emphasizing themes, creating meanings, and provoking thoughts” (Moura, Gabe). In Carmen, it was clearly showed when it came to the different scenes, from the beginning when the soldiers are in the town square with the people selling their wares, and other things it clearly looks like a place one could go to. These scenes also help the audience to think about what will happen in this scene, or why a certain object is there or not. 

I discovers that while watching Carmen I had heard her the song the Habanera before I heard it on commercials for various things. Carmen’s’ song the Habanera is one of those songs that is used the most for commercials like the one being used now is for the Delta Faucet, which is actually funny if you have actually watched the opera or understand what the lyrics mean since they are pretty talking about how she is a dangerous woman to fall in love with. Even Beyoncé did a rendition of Carmen’s Habanera as a Pepsi commercial. Technology that was used in the opera varied from the stage changing from Act I to the very last Act. The change from the town square, to a courtyard, to a bar looking place, to the mountains, and finally to outside the bullfighting arena, each was done flawlessly when the curtain would close, and rise to its next location. The lighting changed each time to show the time of day, or it would even set the mood like in the bar or up in the mountains where the lighting is darker, and more unsettling you know something bad is going to happen. It was kind of a shock when in the last Act when Carmen was murdered because the lighting was on the brighter side of lighting, but the more muted yellows, and a tinge of red gave that unsettling feeling that you couldn’t quite place until we see Carmen being murdered. In the Mise-en-scène article it talked about high-key lighting, and low-key lighting which Carmen took advantage of to its advantages because in that final scene I felt un-nerved even though the lighting was on the high-key side. Other technologies that they used in Carmen was the costumes I especially liked how Carmen was almost always seen in red, which seemed to symbolize her passion which like her is fiery, and passionate. While her counterpart Micaëla was always shown wearing blue, or some light color showing her innocence, and naivety about the man she is in love with.

If I was to turn Carmen into a video game I would create a game that would be like a sim dating game. You would be able to play as Carmen and make decisions that would affect how her ending would be. With the choices that you pick you would either have a happy or bad end with Don José or Escamillo. The bad end would be him killing Carmen, while the good end with Don José would mean she would have spent her life with him happily traveling from one place to another. While with Escamillo her bad end would be she wouldn’t end up with either man, and her happy end with him would be spent in luxury and cheering for him as he is in the bullring.

Works Cited

“George Bizet’s Carmen Premieres in Paris.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/george-bizets-carmen-premieres-in-paris.

Moura, Gabe, et al. “LIKE THIS SITE? Follow Us on Facebook for Updates.” Elements of Cinema, 1 July 2014, www.elementsofcinema.com/directing/mise-en-scene-in-films/.

“Welcome to Naxos Records.” Carmen: Synopsis - Opera Libretti, www.naxos.com/education/opera_libretti.asp?pn=&char=ALL&composer=Bizet&opera=Carmen&libretto_file=00_Synopsis.htm.