Georges Bizet and Paris
Carmen was such a phenomenal success that we tend to associate Georges Bizet with Seville, Andalusia, and Spain in general, although he never actually visited that country. Bizet’s life was in fact closely linked to the city of Paris. He was born there, received his musical training there, and it was there that he established his career. His operas were intended for the stages of the capital, his symphonic works were written for its concert societies, and his mélodies and piano pieces were presented in its salons. Furthermore, with the city’s publishers he found a means of ensuring his livelihood by transcribing the works of his fellow composers.
This virtual exhibition retraces the different aspects of Georges Bizet’s life in his native Paris, focusing on the places and the districts that played a key role in his artistic career. It was created by the Music History students of the Conservatoire Maurice Ravel (13th arrondissement) and the Ida Rubinstein Conservatoire (CRR), under the direction of Hélène Cao.
Sommaire
A child of Paris
Georges Bizet was born on 25 October 1838 at 26 rue de la Tour-d’Auvergne, in the Faubourg Montmartre district. His father taught singing, as did his uncle, and his mother was a talented pianist. There he grew up, in the heart of the Paris that was later to be radically reshaped by Baron Haussmann. He witnessed the Revolution of 1848 (in 1867 he recalled it as having been “useless, ridiculous and stupid”). Adjacent to La Nouvelle Athènes, where many artists – writers, actors, musicians, painters – lived, the Faubourg Montmartre was also the site of a number of important theatres and concert halls, including the Salle Herz, the Opéra-Comique, the Théâtre-Italien, the Théâtre du Vaudeville, and the Salle Le Peletier, which was the home of the Paris Opéra from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. Bizet’s works were later performed in several of those establishments.
Jean-Baptiste Arnout, "Boulevard des Italiens", Vues de Paris, Saint-Cloud, Versailles, Fontainebleau, Paris : Lemercier, Bernard et Cie, 1837, planche 15bis.
© Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris
Notre-Dame-de-Lorette
In this church, built between 1823 and 1836, and situated within a stone’s throw of the house where he was born, Georges Bizet was baptised on 16 March 1840. The painter Claude Monet was also baptised there the following year. The organ, built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, was played by César Franck from 1847 to 1851.
Philippe Benoist, "Église de Notre-Dame-de-Lorette", Vues de Paris, sans date.
© Paris Musées / Musée Carnalavet
The Faubourg Montmartre district
Bizet’s early life was somewhat out of the ordinary: his precocious musical talent took him away from school at an early age. But judging by Jeux d’enfants for piano four hands and the “Chœur des gamins” from Carmen – both inspired by childhood – the years he spent living in the rue de la Tour-d’Auvergne appear to have left him with happy memories.
Aristide-Michel Perrot et Charles Monin, Petit Atlas pittoresque des 48 quartiers de la ville de Paris, Paris : Carnot, 1835.
© Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris
View of Faubourg Montmartre district
Paris, 1862. Quartier du Faubourg Montmartre. Commerce et industrie (détail).
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
In the heart of a musical district
As a child, Bizet lived near the Paris Conservatoire and the theatres that were to play an important part in his career: the Théâtre du Vaudeville and the Opéra-Comique, where L’Arlésienne and Carmen, respectively, were premiered. The incidental music for L’Arlésienne includes a saxophone, an instrument that was heard for the first time in concert at the Salle Herz in 1844.
Plan de Paris en 1838 par Ambroise Tardieu (détail)
© Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet
A student at the Conservatoire
In 1847, although he had not yet reached the minimum entry age of ten, Bizet was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire as an auditeur libre (an unregistered student) in the piano class. He was officially admitted to the institution in October 1848, shortly before his tenth birthday. During his musical studies – he studied only at the Conservatoire, never attending collège or lycée – he won premiers prix for solfège (1849), piano (1952), organ and fugue (1855).
At the Conservatoire he also met the leading opera composers of the time, including Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (director of the establishment), Fromental Halévy, and Charles Gounod who, although he was not Bizet’s teacher, had a profound influence on his musical style. Bizet wrote to him in October 1872: “You were the beginning of my life as an artist. I spring from you. You are the cause; I am the consequence.” By the time he left the Conservatoire, Bizet was a virtuoso pianist and a composer with a solid technique. He had also established the relationships that were to enable him to launch his career.
"Entrée des concerts du Conservatoire de musique", L'Illustration, 15 janvier 1848.
© Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris
Antoine Marmontel
après 1848
Having been chosen over Charles-Valentin Alkan as professor of piano at the Paris Conservatoire, Antoine-François Marmontel took up that position in 1848. Bizet, who was one of his first pupils, was to maintain an affectionate relationship with his teacher even after completing his studies. Renowned as a pedagogue, Marmontel taught until 1887. He also trained Isaac Albéniz, Claude Debussy and Vincent d’Indy.
Fromental Halévy
Bizet studied composition with Halévy, whose opera La Juive (1835) had been hugely successful. Bizet tried his hand at grand opera with Ivan IV, but failed to have it performed. He also undertook the task of completing the opera Noé, left unfinished on Halévy’s death. Later, in 1869, he married Geneviève Halévy, his teacher’s daughter.
Le Gaulois, 27 février 1858.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Le piano de Georges Bizet
Bizet’s exceptional talent as a pianist greatly impressed Franz Liszt when, after a dinner party at the Halévy’s in 1861, the young man, reading at sight from the unpublished manuscript, gave a faultless performance of one of the composer’s most difficult works. Bizet had the potential to become one of the greatest concert pianists of his time, but he chose to devote himself entirely to composition.
Pianino Pleyel, 1855. Instrument owned by Fromental Halévy (in 1856) then by Georges Bizet.
© Musée de la musique
Fugue (1855)
After obtaining a premier prix in Marmontel’s piano class, Bizet passed to François Benoist’s organ class, where in 1855 he obtained premiers prix for organ and fugue. That same year, he wrote the Symphony in C, including a fugal passage in the slow movement. In his mature works, however, he abandoned strict counterpoint.
Exercice made by Georges Bizet at the Conservatoire. "Concours de fugue. 1855. Sujet de M. Auber".
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Les Bouffes-Parisiens
In 1856, while still a student at the Conservatoire, Bizet took part in a competition organised by Jacques Offenbach for the composition of a one-act opérette. At the age of eighteen, he hoped to make a name for himself, especially since the jury included well-known figures such as Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, Fromental Halévy, Ambroise Thomas and Charles Gounod. With his setting of Le Docteur Miracle, he tied for first place with his colleague in Halévy’s composition class, Charles Lecocq.
As well as providing a springboard for young composers, the competition enabled Offenbach to promote his own theatre, the Bouffes-Parisiens. Bizet’s opérette was premiered there on 9 April 1857. The winning works received only eleven performances each, however, which resulted in strained relations between Offenbach and the two laureates. Nonetheless, after Bizet’s death, Offenbach attended a performance of Carmen. “Ah, what delightful music,” he wrote to Ludovic Halévy, “what an orchestra! What insight! Poor Bizet!”
Caricature de Nadar, Le Petit Journal pour rire, no 102, 1857.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Les Bouffes-Parisiens – interior of the theatre
Offenbach opened his Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens on the Champs-Élysées (not yet the grand avenue laid out by Baron Haussmann in the 1860s) in the former Salle Lacaze, away from the theatre district, but near the crowds attending the 1855 Exposition Universelle. The theatre transferred later that year to the new and more spacious Salle Choiseul, with a much larger audience capacity.
Interior of the Bouffes-Parisiens drawn for the title page of Jacques Offenbach, Le Mari à la porte, valse-ouverture, Paris : Heugel, 1859. Illustration by Bertrand.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Advertisement for the competition
Feeling that opéras comiques had become too serious, Offenbach wanted to encourage composers to produce more entertaining works. He advertised his competition in the press. Candidates were to set a libretto entitled Le Docteur Miracle, written by Léon Battu and Ludovic Halévy (Fromental’s nephew). The winning work was to be performed at the Bouffes-Parisiens.
Le Figaro, 17 juillet 1856, p. 6.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Jacques Offenbach and his works
Offenbach established himself as the leading exponent of opérette of his time. Unable to obtain the recognition he wanted at the Opéra-Comique, he inaugurated the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens for the performance of his own compositions, which included many one-act pieces as well as larger-scale works. In 1861, he was appointed a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.
Le Monde illustré, 14 septembre 1861.
© Paris Musées / Petit Palais
Bizet’s version of Le Docteur Miracle
1856
A tale of thwarted romance, a main character using disguise, mistaken identity: Le Docteur Miracle presents some of the staples of the opérette genre. With this work, especially the famous “Omelette Quartet”, Bizet asserted his natural gift for comedy.
Première page du manuscrit du Docteur Miracle de Georges Bizet.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Lecocq’s version of Le Docteur Miracle
Lecocq, who was also in Halévy’s composition class, felt that his teacher had influenced the jury in favour of Bizet. He shared the first prize, but it was another ten years before he made a breakthrough in his career. He was a master of comedy, whose major successes included La Fille de Madame Angot (1872), Giroflé-Girofla (1874) and Le Petit Duc (1878).
Page de titre de l'édition piano-chant du Docteur Miracle (version de Charles Lecocq), Paris : Brandus, 1877.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
The Institut de France
The Paris Conservatoire did not award prizes for composition in Bizet’s day, so young artists wishing to launch their career were obliged to compete for the Prix de Rome, organised by the Académie des Beaux-Arts, a branch of the Institut de France. The winners of the competition received a grant that allowed them to spend two years at the Villa Medici in Rome and a third year in Germany. Each year they were required to submit a piece of original work to the Institut de France.
Bizet won the Prix de Rome in 1857, at the age of nineteen, thus becoming the youngest winner of the prize. He resided at the Villa Medici from 1858 to 1860, having obtained permission to stay on there instead of going to Germany. The years spent in Italy were of great importance in the maturation of his musical skills. “Rome represented just three years of my life, but it is my true home!” he wrote to a friend in 1870.
François-Étienne Villeret, La Seine et l'Institut, vers 1830.
© Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet
Candidates “en loge”
The finalists for the Prix de Rome spent about two weeks “en loge”, i.e. in confinement, with no communication from the outside world, during which time they were expected to compose a cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra. This test enabled candidates to be judged on their ability to write for the operatic stage.
La vie en loge pendant le concours de musique à l’Institut. Intérieur d’une loge de musicien pendant le concours (Institut). Le déjeuner. La récréation.
Le Monde illustré, 13 juin 1863.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Clovis et Clotide
1857
Based on a libretto by Amédée Burion, Clovis et Clotilde deals with the conversion to Christianity of Clovis, the first king of the Franks. Colourful and full of contrasts, Bizet’s cantata draws on the influences of Rossini, Meyerbeer and Gounod. It was performed at the Institut de France on 3 October 1857.
Cantate pour le concours du prix de Rome de composition musicale, texte d'Amédée Burion, 1857.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Georges Bizet
vers 1858
Traditionally, winners of the Prix de Rome were entitled to have their portrait painted on arrival at the Villa Medici. Charles-François Sellier depicted his friend Bizet in a solemn pose, with an interplay of light and shade.
Portrait de pensionnaire de Georges Bizet réalisé par Charles Sellier, vers 1858.
© Académie de France à Rome – Villa Médicis
Te Deum
Bizet had little interest in sacred music, but in 1858 he submitted a Te Deum for the Rodrigues Prize, restricted to the Rome pensioners, for the composition of a choral work. His setting, which failed to win a prize, fell into oblivion. It was not premiered until 1974.
Manuscrit du Te Deum réalisé par Georges Bizet à Rome, vers 1858.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Vasco de Gama
Bizet, like all winners of the Prix de Rome, submitted his work to the Institut de France. In Rome, he composed Don Procopio, an opera buffa, and Vasco de Gama, an ode-symphony – a genre invented by Félicien David for his work Le Désert (1844). On a libretto by Louis Delâtre, this work combines instrumental passages with (sung or declaimed) vocal sections.
Page de titre de l’édition posthume de Vasco de Gama, ode symphonie de Georges Bizet réalisée à Rome en 1859. Paris : Choudens, 1880.
© Bru Zane Mediabase / fonds villa Médicis
Georges Bizet on his return from Rome
septembre 1860
While the stay in Rome enabled Bizet to become independent of his parents, it also introduced him to Italian culture. On his return to Paris in 1860, the young musician composed his Roma symphony, which was not premiered until 1869, when it was entitled Souvenirs de Rome, fantaisie symphonique.
Dessin publié dans Musica, juin 1912.
© Bru Zane Mediabase / Bibliothèque du conservatoire de Genève
The Théâtre-Lyrique
After his return to France in 1860, Bizet focused mainly on opera. Aiming to gain a foothold in the Paris theatres, he tried his hand at grand opera, but without success: he failed to have Ivan IV performed. However, his work attracted the attention of Léon Carvalho, director of the Théâtre-Lyrique. Inaugurated in 1847, this theatre was transferred in 1863 – as a result of the destruction of the theatres on the Boulevard du Temple during Haussmann’s renovation of Paris – to the Place du Châtelet. The theatre was offered a subsidy for the annual production of a three-act opera by a young winner of the Prix de Rome. And Bizet happened to be in the right place at the right time. Carvalho commissioned him to write Les Pêcheurs de perles (1863), and later La Jolie Fille de Perth (1867), thus enabling him to launch his career as a composer for the Paris stage.
Perspective de l'avenue Victoria (détail). Gravure sans date [après 1862].
© Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet
Les Pêcheurs de perles
1863
Composed under pressure because of the very tight deadline set by Carvalho, Les Pêcheurs de perles was a source of anxiety. To save time, Bizet adapted earlier pieces. Premiered on 30 September 1863, the opera, though appreciated by the critics, was not a popular success. Berlioz, in the last of his articles as a perceptive critic, praised a score containing “a considerable number of beautifully expressive moments, richly coloured and full of fire”.
Affiche de Prudent Leray. Paris : Choudens, 1863.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Georges Bizet represented as a pearl fisher
1867
Although the libretto of Les Pêcheurs de perles was criticised for lacking novelty and being too similar to Spontini’s La Vestale, Bizet was seen as a composer who showed promise. His bold use of the orchestra and his vocal style in the work nevertheless unsettled a conservative public that saw therein traces of Wagnerism.
Diogène, 28 septembre 1867.
© Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet
La Jolie Fille de Perth: Act I
1867
Les Pêcheurs de perles was enough to convince Carvalho to commission a new work from Bizet: La Jolie Fille de Perth, very loosely based on Sir Walter Scott’s 1828 novel The Fair Maid of Perth, although Bizet made no attempt to give it a Scottish tone, and the libretto introduced a new character, Mab, who is a Gypsy, like Carmen. The premiere on 26 December 1867 was not a success, however, but the critics blamed above all the poor quality of the libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jules Adenis.
Illustration de Lemaresquier.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
La Jolie Fille de Perth: Act II
1867
Although the plot is needlessly complicated by a number of imbroglios (with three men vying for the love of the same woman), the music again shows the finesse of Bizet’s orchestration, his natural flair for melody and his ability to evoke other lands convincingly. “Quand la flamme de l’amour” (Act II) is a perfect illustration of this.
Illustration de G. Gostiaux.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
La Jolie Fille de Perth: Act III
1867
Like Les Pêcheurs de perles, La Jolie Fille de Perth received only eighteen performances. Lack of rehearsal time and unmotivated singers soon resulted in the opera’s failure. Subsequently, it was performed once at the Théâtre de La Monnaie, Brussels, in 1868, then in 1890 it was revived in Paris for eleven performances, after which it was dropped from the repertoire.
Illustration de Lemaresquier.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
La Jolie Fille de Perth: Act IV
1867
Possibly in the hope of drawing attention to his opera, Bizet included its finest elements in the orchestral suite Scènes bohémiennes (1868). Later, following the success of Carmen, several theatre directors attempted unsuccessfully to save the opera from oblivion. The first complete version was recorded by Georges Prêtre in 1985.
Illustration de G. Gostiaux.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Salons and publishing houses
In the nineteenth century, the salon played an important role in Parisian society. It was the place where people from the worlds of culture and business exchanged ideas on artistic, philosophical and political subjects. While still a student at the Conservatoire, Georges Bizet frequented the salons hosted by his teachers, and also those of the various patrons and publishers who could play a significant role in launching a young composer’s career. Later, he was very close to two well-known Parisian salonnières, Princess Mathilde Bonaparte and Pauline Viardot, whose salons were attended by eminent representatives of the arts and letters. After Bizet’s death, his wife Geneviève, by then remarried to the lawyer Émile Straus, also established a famous salon. She was immortalised by Marcel Proust as the Duchesse de Guermantes in À la recherche du temps perdu (1913).
Crafty, "M. et Mme Balandard restent chez eux le mercredi", Le Monde illustré, 12 février 1870.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
This drawing by Crafty makes reference to Offenbach’s Monsieur Choufleuri restera chez lui le..., a one-act opérette in which Monsieur and Madame Balandard are among the characters. Premiered in 1861, this satirical work depicts fashionable society with humour and irony.
Nocturne in D major
1868
Although he was an excellent pianist, Bizet composed little for the piano: some twenty pieces, including two nocturnes, two waltzes, four preludes, two Romances sans paroles, the Variations chromatiques, and a number of genre pieces. He favoured short forms that could be presented in the salons.
Première page du manuscrit autographe du Nocturne en ré majeur de Georges Bizet.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Georges Bizet
vers 1865
In the salons, elegance prevailed: in the music, the interior decoration, the art of conversation, but also in the way people dressed. The portrait of Bizet painted by his friend Félix Giacomotti reflects the dress codes of the time: plain, dark tones, a smart suit, a lavallière cravat, pince-nez, gloves, and he is shown holding a cigar.
© Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet
Charles Gounod
1870
Bizet possibly met Gounod through Pierre Zimmerman, with whom he took lessons before entering Halévy’s composition class. Bizet was very impressed and influenced by Gounod, who gave him encouragement and welcomed him to the salon he hosted. Their master-disciple relationship developed over time into a close friendship.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Adieux de l'hôtesse arabe
In the nineteenth century, the salon played an important part in the promotion and development of the French mélodie. Bizet set poems by Alfred de Musset, Théophile Gautier, Alphonse de Lamartine, and also Victor Hugo, the author of Adieux de l’hôtesse arabe. Bizet dedicated this song to the soprano Caroline Carvalho, whose husband was the director of the Théâtre-Lyrique.
Illustration P. de Crauzat. Paris : Choudens, 1866.
© Mémoire vive / Ville de Besançon
Chant d'amour
Bizet’s Chant d’amour was published by Choudens, one of the nineteenth century’s major French publishing houses. Its catalogue included works by Gounod (notable his Faust), Offenbach, Berlioz, and Bizet, who first worked for Choudens as an arranger of scores by Gounod.
Illustration de Chatinière. Paris : Choudens, 1872.
© Bru Zane Mediabase / fonds Leduc
L'Oie du Caire
1867
Before gaining recognition as a composer, Bizet earned his living by making transcriptions for various publishers. In 1867 Heugel published his piano reduction of L’oca del Cairo (The Goose of Cairo). Mozart’s unfinished three-act opera buffa, completed by Victor Wilder, had been premiered that same year in a two-act French adaptation, L’Oie du Caire, at the Théâtre des Fantaisies-Parisiennes.
L'Oca del Cairo [L'Oie du Caire], opéra-bouffe en deux actes, poème de Victor Wilder, oeuvre posthume de Mozart, partition piano solo transcrite par G. Bizet, Paris : Heugel, 1867.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Jeanne d'Arc
1873
Editions of that time, often embellished with engravings, included a thematic table presenting the opening bars of each number. This one appears in Bizet’s arrangement for voice and piano of Gounod’s incidental music for Jules Barbier’s drama Jeanne d’Arc, illustrated by Louis Denis.
Table thématique des morceaux séparés de Jeanne d'Arc (Charles Gounod) avec accompagnement de piano par Georges Bizet, Paris : Choudens, 1873.
© Bru Zane Mediabase / fonds Leduc
La Société nationale de musique
In 1871 Romain Bussine and Camille Saint-Saëns founded the Société Nationale de Musique with the aim of promoting French music and, especially, enabling promising young composers to present their works in public. Adopting the Latin motto “Ars Gallica” – French Art – the society established itself as a major player in Parisian musical life, hitherto largely dominated by opera. The society’s varied programmes included piano pieces, chamber music, mélodies, symphonic works and organ recitals.
Georges Bizet took part in its activities both as a pianist and as a composer. And although opera remained his primary focus, he began to take more interest in instrumental music. In 1874 he wrote to a friend: “For three or four years now, I have been dreaming of writing a concerto.” A desire that sadly he was unable to fulfil.
Georges Bizet
1870
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, Bizet served in the National Guard. Unhappy at having to suspend his artistic activities, he also had to look after his wife, Geneviève, who suffered from anxiety attacks. (The couple had married in June 1869; she was the daughter of Fromental Halévy.)
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Une patrouille prussienne au Vésinet
1871
Denouncing the Paris Commune*, Bizet took refuge with his family in Le Vésinet, some ten miles from the centre of the capital. The chaotic political situation made the future of music uncertain, and he thought of going into exile: “Music will no longer have any purpose here. We’ll have to go abroad. Shall I go to Italy, England, America?”
*The French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871.
© Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet
La salle Pleyel
1855
Inaugurated in 1839, the Salle Pleyel was originally intended for the promotion, through recitals, of Pleyel pianos. On 17 September 1871, it hosted the first concert of the Société Nationale de Musique. Bizet performed at the society’s second and third concerts there, and on a few occasions in the following years.
"Salle de concert, rue Rochechouart", L'Illustration, 9 juin 1855. Dessin d'Édouard Renard.
© Bru Zane Mediabase
Programme de concert
23 décembre 1871
The third concert of the SNM saw the first performance of the Finale of Bizet’s Roma symphony, in an arrangement for two pianos eight hands. It was played by Bizet, Camille Saint-Saëns, Alexis-Henri Fissot and Ernest Guiraud. Guiraud is perhaps best known for having provided the recitatives for Carmen and for arranging the second L’Arlésienne Suite.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Variations chromatiques
1868
Written in 1868, Bizet’s only set of variations, the Variations chromatiques, is also his only piano work in the “brillante” tradition. Carefully thought out, and written for the concert hall rather than the salon, these pieces differ from simple bravura pieces, notably in the dissonances generated by the chromatic theme.
Page du manuscrit autographe, 1868.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Introduction et Rondo capriccioso
1869
At the composer’s request, Bizet transcribed for violin and piano the Introduction et Rondo capriccioso by Camille Saint-Saëns. Since the SNM had no permanent symphony orchestra, it was common practice for works to be performed in piano reduction.
Page de titre du manuscrit de l'Introduction et Rondo capriccioso de Camille Saint-Saëns réduit pour piano par Georges Bizet, 1869.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Le théâtre du Vaudeville
The Théâtre du Vaudeville, founded in 1792, was allowed to perform only “short plays, including songs set to well-known tunes, and parodies”. This restriction was partially lifted in 1860: after that date one- or two-act plays, including newly-composed incidental music, were permitted, while “dance, divertissement, prologue or epilogue” were not. In 1869, the Théâtre du Vaudeville moved into the beautiful new theatre built by Auguste Magne on the corner of the Boulevard des Capucines and the Rue de la Chaussée-d’Antin. The new director was Léon Carvalho, who had recently left the Théâtre-Lyrique in order to take up that position. Faithful to his belief in Bizet’s talent as a composer, he commissioned him to write the incidental music for Alphonse Daudet’s five-act drama L’Arlésienne.
L'Arlésienne
1872
Adapted from the short story published by Daudet in the newspaper L’Événement in 1866, then in his Lettres de mon moulin in 1869, L’Arlésienne was premiered at the Théâtre du Vaudeville on 1 October 1872. Too tragic for an audience that had come expecting light entertainment, it was a failure. Bizet’s incidental music, however, was well received.
Page du manuscrit de L'Arlésienne.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Scene from L’Arlésienne
1885
In 1885 the Théâtre de l’Odéon revived L’Arlésienne with Bizet’s incidental music: twenty-seven numbers, often quite short, including pieces performed as background music for dialogue, entr’actes (played between the acts), a Prelude, an Adagietto and a Farandole. The chamber orchestra was not only refined, but also original, with an alto saxophone, a cor anglais, a tambourin provençal (a large tabor) and a piano, as well as the more usual instruments.
L'Univers illustré, 16 mai 1885.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
L'Arlésienne: tableaux 2 and 3
1885
Bizet gave his music a touch of local colour by quoting three Provençal folk tunes (possibly found in François Vidal’s Lou Tambourin, 1864): the Christmas carol Marcho dei Rèi (March of the Kings), said to date from the eighteenth century, the lullaby Er dóu Guet (“Air provençal”), and the brisk Danso dei Chivau-frus (Dance of the Frisky Horses).
Le Monde illustré, 16 mai 1885.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
L'Arlésienne: tableaux 4 and 5
1885
By the time L’Arlésienne was revived in Paris at the Théâtre de l’Odéon (5 May 1885), Bizet’s music was already popular thanks to the two orchestral suites. Shortly after the premiere in 1872, Bizet had produced a first four-movement suite (Prélude, Minuetto, Adagietto, Carillon) which was presented at the Cirque d’Hiver on 10 November 1872 with Jules Pasdeloup conducting.
Le Monde illustré, 16 mai 1885.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2
In 1879, Ernest Guiraud (one of Bizet’s fellow pensioners at the Villa Medici) produced a second four-movement orchestral suite (Pastorale, Intermezzo, Menuet, Farandole) based on his friend’s incidental music for L’Arlésienne, except for the third movement, borrowed from La Jolie Fille de Perth (1866).
Paris : Choudens, 1880.
© Bru Zane Mediabase / fonds villa Médicis
Le Matin
1885
With words by an anonymous author, the Pastorale from the beginning of Act II of L’Arlésienne became a mélodie entitled Le Matin, published by Choudens in Vingt melodies, op. 21 (1873). The same music is heard as the first movement of L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2.
Mélodie tirée de L'Arlésienne. Édition avec des paroles italienne. Paris : Choudens, 1885.
© Bru Zane Mediabase / fonds Leduc
The Opéra-Comique
1880
The Opéra-Comique, also known as the Salle Favart, catered in the nineteenth century for audiences from all walks of life, but especially for families. Matchmaking in the boxes was not an uncommon practice among patrons of the theatre. Unlike the Opéra (then at the Salle Le Peletier), the Opéra-Comique was allowed to present works with spoken dialogue, and Bizet received two commissions from Adolphe de Leuven and Camille Du Locle, its joint directors (who were succeeded in 1876 by Léon Carvalho). While Djamileh (1872) had a lukewarm reception, Carmen, three years later, caused a resounding scandal. As well as being milestones in Bizet’s career, these two scores reflect the evolution of the opéra comique genre, which his contemporaries struggled to define.
Albert Brichaut, Vue de l'Opéra-Comique, 1880.
© Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet
Djamileh
1872
Despite an exotic subject – Louis Gallet took inspiration for the libretto from an oriental tale, Namouna, by the poet Alfred de Musset – Djamileh had a rather poor reception at its premiere on 22 May 1872. But despite the criticisms, Bizet was confident. In June, in a letter to a friend, he wrote: “What gives me more satisfaction than the opinions of all these gentlemen is the absolute certainty of having found my path. I know what I am doing.”
Page de titre de l'ouverture de Djamileh réduite pour piano. Paris : Choudens, 1872.
© Bru Zane Mediabase / fonds Leduc
Mme Prelly en Djamileh
1872
The failure of Djamileh was partly due to the performance in the title role of Madame Prelly, whose beauty undoubtedly outweighed her striking inability to sing or act. Bizet declared that she “exceeded all [his] fears”. But the work was also criticised for the harmonic audacity of its music, for which Bizet was likened to Wagner.
© Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet
Georges Bizet
1875
Despite the failure of Djamileh, the Opéra-Comique commissioned Bizet to write “some small, easy, cheerful thing”. The result was Carmen, based on a novella by Prosper Mérimée, adapted by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The composition, begun in 1873, was completed in the summer of 1874; rehearsals commenced in September.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Carmen
1875
On 3 March 1875, the premiere of Carmen offended audience and critics alike. The press strongly condemned as immoral a work whose heroine, a wanton Gypsy, diverts a soldier from his duty. But Carmen had its revenge in 1883, when its revival at the Opéra-Comique was a resounding success.
Manuscrit autographe de Carmen. Premières mesure de la Habanera.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Set design for Act IV of Carmen
1875
The combination of comedy and drama in Carmen was sometimes at odds with the conventions of the time: the heroine’s death, stabbed on stage in full view of the audience, provoked fierce criticism. However, the librettists also improved the plot: they added the character of Micaëla, for instance, and the picador Lucas in Mérimée’s novella became the triumphant toreador Escamillo.
© Bibliothèque nationale de France
Célestine Galli-Marié as Carmen
1875
Célestine Galli-Marié (1837-1905), who was at one time considered for the role of Djamileh, was the first Carmen. Wanting her opening aria in the opera to be very impressive, she rejected the first version and Bizet had to rewrite the famous Habanera (“L’amour est un oiseau rebelle”) thirteen times before she was satisfied. He even changed the words: in the definitive version, Carmen addresses her listeners directly, using the familiar “tu” form.
"Mme Galli Marié dans Carmen. Rôle de Carmen (2e acte)", Galerie théâtrale, no 89, 1875.
© Bibliothèque-Musée de l'Opéra
Costume design for the smugglers
1874-1875
In Carmen the choruses play an essential role as an integral part of the mise-en-scène. Often present, embodying a variety of social groups (the cigarette girls smoking on stage, the smugglers, the street children, the crowd on its way to the bullfight), they posed technical challenges that slowed down the rehearsals.
© collection particulière
Bizet, Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur
avril 1875
In February 1875 Bizet learned that he was to be awarded the prestigious title of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. On 3 March 1875, the day of the premiere of Carmen at the Opéra-Comique, it was announced publicly that he had received the honour earlier in the day. Some were to remark that, had it been presented after the performance, which had met with failure, it would have been deemed inappropriate.
© Archives nationales / base Léonore
Georges Bizet
mai 1875
At the time of the premiere, Carmen was considered too “Wagnerian”. Ludovic Halévy reported that the audience’s enthusiasm cooled as the performance progressed. Abroad, the work was well received by composers including Brahms and Tchaikovsky, and by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Carmen was soon to become the most famous work in the operatic repertoire.
Dessin publié dans L'Art, 9 mai 1875.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Père-Lachaise
The Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris has been Georges Bizet’s final resting place since June 1876.
On 5 June 1875, after the funeral at the Montmartre church of La Sainte-Trinité, with thousands of people attending, Bizet was buried temporarily in Montmartre Cemetery. At the graveside, the librettist Jules Barbier, the co-director of the Opéra-Comique Camille Du Locle and the composer Charles Gounod were the eulogists. Gounod summed up everyone’s grief: “[…] Georges Bizet has died at the age of thirty-seven [sic], at the moment when, after twenty years of patient and courageous effort, he was at last enjoying that regard which means even more than success itself, which is attached only to true artists, and which ends by conferring upon those chosen the name of master. At the outset of this arduously glorious route, death has struck him down. […]”
Vue du cimetière du Père-Lachaise, 1850.
© Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris
Obituary
6 juin 1875
The Parisian press, without exception, was shocked by Bizet’s death. Those critics who had voiced their outrage at Carmen three months previously changed their tune and now they crowned him “master”. In their obituaries, however, they continued to refer to him as a young composer too openly Wagnerian to be accepted by his compatriots.
Bizet’s tomb
Charles Garnier (architect of the Palais Garnier, the new home of the Paris Opéra) designed Bizet’s tomb in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery. The stela bears the inscription “À / Georges Bizet / sa famille / et ses amis / 1838-1875”, above which is a bronze laurel wreath encircling a lyre. The sides of the monument are inscribed with the titles of six of the composer’s works: L’Arlésienne, Patrie, Carmen, Les Pêcheurs de perles, La Jolie Fille de Perth and Djamileh. The stela was originally surmounted by a bronze bust of the composer by the sculptor Paul Dubois, cast by Charles Gruet.
The bust of Georges Bizet
The bronze bust of Georges Bizet – a rare depiction of the composer found on view in a public space in Paris – was stolen from the cemetery in 2006 and recovered in 2007. Pending restoration, the tomb remains incomplete.
Mme Georges Bizet
1878
In 1878, three years after her husband’s death, Geneviève Bizet posed in mourning dress for the painter Élie Delaunay. She remained in mourning for five years, until her remarriage to the lawyer Émile Straus.
© Musée d'Orsay, cliché Hervé Lewandowski
Monument à Bizet (Opéra-Comique)
1898
Originally intended to stand in the foyer of the Opéra-Comique when the third Salle Favart was inaugurated (1898), this terracotta sculpture by Alexandre Falguière has been in the theatre’s “Salle Bizet” since 1900. A symposium devoted to the operas of Georges Bizet, under the direction of Hervé Lacombe, is to be held in this room from 4 to 6 June 2025.
© Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France