GEORGES BIZET

Georges Bizet was a child prodigy. Entering the Paris Conservatory at the age of nine, he counted among his teachers Antoine Marmontel, François Benoist and Jacques Halévy. At nineteen Bizet won a Prix de Rome. That same year he wrote his first opera, 'Le Docteur Miracle', a one-act comedy. After his studies in Italy he returned to Paris with the intention of writing music for the stage. His 'Les Pêcheurs de perles' (1863), 'La jolie fille de Perth' (1867) and 'Djamileh' however met no more than moderate success. Bizet remained in relative obscurity until 1872, when his incidental music for Daudet's "L'Arlésienne" won him a degree of fame. It was at the suggestion of Camille du Locle, director of the Opéra-Comique, that Bizet composed his opera 'Carmen'. Bizet's librettists, Henri Leilhac and Ludovic Halévy, had based their adaptation on a short novel by Prosper Mérimée. After initial bad reviews, today 'Carmen' is probably the most known opera in the world. The composer's strong dramatic sense, sensuous melodies, vivid orchestration and pulsating rhythms combine into what more than one critic has termed "the perfect opera."