Pages of life and creativity. George Bizet. Life and creative path Bizet's years of life
Name of Georges Bizet (1838-1875), outstanding! French composer, is well known to the widest circles of Soviet listeners, and his wonderful opera Carmen won universal recognition and love.
The musical dramaturgy of "Carmen" reflects and artistically generalizes the collisions and conflicts inherent in real life. The images of the work are vital, truthful. The heroes of the opera - Carmen, Don Jose, Michaela, Escamillo - are ordinary people from the people. They are depicted with lively, bright, temperamental colors.
"Carmen" is distinguished by a peculiar national flavor: the gypsy-Spanish tunes are sensitively reproduced by the composer, in general, without borrowing truly folk themes.
The musical language of the opera, its wonderful melodies combine exceptional clarity with high skill; the language of the opera is democratic and in; at the same time truly original.
Georges Bizet is one of the most significant composers of the 19th century.
Bizet's biographers unanimously characterize him as a cheerful, warm-hearted, sociable, kind and simple comrade, a gentle and respectful son. Persistent in work, working very hard and selflessly, Bizet willingly found time for a fun party in a friendly circle, for all kinds of funny undertakings and jokes.
Georges Bizet
Fate did little to indulge Bizet; he repeatedly met with misunderstanding, attacks from professional criticism, among the regulars of theatrical and concert premieres. But optimism did not leave him, and Bizet went forward, overcoming difficult life trials.
A brilliant composer, an excellent pianist, an excellent, multi-talented practical musician (Bizet, for example, inimitably read the most complex orchestral scores), he was keenly interested in literature, the visual arts, and, of course, the theater.
Bizet was not a consistent supporter of any political trend in contemporary France. He was completely alien to legitimist sentiments - the white lilies of the Bourbons never attracted him. But he was not attracted by the banner of the bourgeois monarchy of Louis Philippe. Nor do we find him among the adherents of Napoleon III.
Undoubtedly, Bizet's socio-political convictions were distinguished by a certain vagueness and inconsistency. However, the freedom and independence of the composer's life judgments and actions, some of his oppositional critical statements about those in power, at least in the field of art, allow Bizet to be ranked among the people of the democratic camp.
Bizet was introduced to the world of music from childhood. He grew up in a musical family: his father was a singing teacher, his mother was the sister of a famous singer. Bizet's talent was discovered very early, and at the age of nine, in 1847, he was already a student at the Paris Conservatory.
His successes turned out to be brilliant both in the piano class of Professor Marmontel and in the theory and composition class of Professors Zimmermann and Halevi.
Among Bizet's teachers was the young Gounod.
How great was the pianistic gift of Bizet, how bright his virtuoso abilities, can be judged by the most interesting testimony of Liszt. Once Bizet - he was then about thirteen years old - found himself at a musical evening at Halevi's in the company of Liszt. Liszt introduced those present to "one of his new and very difficult works, expressing the opinion that, besides himself, only Hans Bülow could perform a piece of such difficulty.
Bizet approached the instrument and, to the surprise of the guests, played this piece from sight, and so well that he delighted the author.
In the year of graduation from the conservatory (1857), Bizet received two prizes: the so-called first Grand
The Rome Prize for the cantata Clovis and Clotilde, as well as the prize for composing the operetta Doctor Miracle, the latter at a non-conservatory competition. While studying at the conservatory, Bizet repeatedly won the title of laureate at performing competitions in piano, organ and solfeggio (1849).
The winner of the Prix de Rome could spend five years, for the purpose of perfection, in Italy and Germany.
Bizet lived in Italy for about three years (1857-1860). He became acquainted with the riches of the immortal classical Italian painting and sculpture with great enthusiasm; but Bizet's Italian musical impressions were much paler.
During his stay in Italy, Bizet worked hard and hard, his composing skills strengthened. In Italy, he wrote his first opera (Don Procopio), close in style to Mozart5 and Rossini6. The great, bright genius of Mozart and the magnificent talent of Rossini enjoyed Bizet's unchanging love in the future.
In 1860, a serious illness of his mother interrupted Bizet's stay in Italy. Soon the mother died. The bright and carefree years are behind us. Bizet was about twenty years old. The second half of his short life began, which he spent almost without a break in Paris in continuous and intense work.
Working with inspiration and thoughtfully, the composer quickly reproduced his ideas on paper. He imagined this or that composition in detail even before the recording began.
During periods when some circumstances hindered his work, Bizet found solace in a different kind of musical work: for example, he was fond of transcriptions - he made arrangements for the piano of opera excerpts, symphonies.
From the beginning to the end of his creative activity, Bizet was distinguished by a high sense of duty and responsibility. He twice took back his works from the opera house, believing that they were not yet perfect enough. Bizet was able to draw lessons from individual creative failures.
Among the compositions of Bizet there are several orchestral ones, for example, the symphony "Motherland", piano pieces and romances. But Bizet's true vocation was opera, music for the theatre.
This area of his work was crowned with the ingenious "Carmen", the creation of which constitutes a whole era in operatic art.
Of course, the deeply realistic and innovative style of "Carmen" could only appear as a result of a significant and complex previous path.
The bright and hitherto popular opera of the “early” Bizet was commissioned by his friend Carvalho, the head of the Lyric Theater, the opera The Pearl Seekers (1863). The exotic plot prompted Bizet to search for fresh colors. The dirism inherent in his work affected the opera. This is evidenced by the famous tenor aria Nadir ("In the radiance of the moonlit night") - an aria that famous singers, such as L. V. Sobinov, willingly included in their concert programs. The Pearl Seekers showed a very important and valuable virtue of Bizet: his art of writing for singers is convenient and effective.
According to the genre, The Pearl Seekers can be attributed to the so-called lyric opera. In this early work, strokes of writing are already outlined, characteristic of Bizet's latest creations.
The Pearl Seekers did not have much success, just as in the future, with the appearance of new works by Bizet, the public did not indulge him with praise and favor.
Carvalho contributed to the writing and staging of Bizet's other opera, The Belle of Perth (1867) based on a plot by Walter Scott. The gypsy dance from this opera is close to a number of episodes of Carmen. In some productions of the opera (and also sometimes in editions of the score and clavier), this dance is included in Carmen, in the fourth act after the famous Intermission.
In the early 70s, Bizet wrote two works in which his creative maturity was already revealed: this is the one-act opera “Jamile”, subtle in color (based on the poem “Namuna” by A. Musset), and especially the music for “Arlesian”.
Carmen - People's Artist of the USSR N.A. Obukhov
The Arlesian is a drama by Alphonse Daudet. Bizet's music for this drama is of exceptional beauty. Various musical numbers were intended to be performed between scenes of the drama, as well as during the action. Two orchestral suites for concert performance were compiled from the best numbers: the first suite of four numbers was performed by Bizet himself, and the second, after Bizet's death, by his close friend, composer Ernest Guiraud. In Arlesian, Bizet's love for folk music was very clearly manifested: in connection with the plot of the drama, Provencal melodies sound. The processing and development of folk Provencal themes are the magnificent march - the first number of the first suite, built in the form of several variations on an invariably repeated melody, and the choir, whose music sometimes sounds in the fourth act of "Carmen" (which was discussed above). Bizet is characterized by the widespread use of dances and marching rhythms in the Arlesian. There are marches, minuets, and a fast whirlwind dance of the farandole (also included in the beginning of the fourth act "Carmen" in some productions), and other dance episodes. Bizet's penchant for pictorial-program music showed itself in Arlesianka - this is revealed later in the symphonic intermissions of Carmen. The program numbers of the "Arlesian" include, for example, "The Ringing" and "Pastoral".
Both "Jamile" and "Arlesian" (music for the drama) were held in the theater with modest success. But the two orchestral suites from the Arlesian were immediately liked and have remained in the concert repertoire to this day.
Mikaela - People's Artist of the USSR A.V. Nezhdanova
The music of "Carmen" - the last and greatest creation of Bizet - was composed in 1874. This work saw the light of the ramp at the Opéra-Comique on March 3, 1875. Exactly three months later, on June 3, 1875, before reaching the age of thirty-seven, Bizet died.
There are various speculations about Bizet's early and unexpected death. Apparently, "acute tonsillitis served as the cause of Bizet's death.
"Carmen" suffered the fate of most of Bizet's works. But if other works of his were accepted with indifference, then the brilliant "Carmen" by a certain part of the public and critics was accepted with direct hostility. The hypocrisy of the aristocratic and bourgeois public, immortalized in the image of Moliere's Tartuffe, played a sad role here.
Carmen - People's Artist of the RSFSR M. P. Maksakova
"Carmen" seemed to be an opera of too free content, shocking the audience, even indecent.
The reason for the initial negative responses to the production of "Carmen" were; also the novelty of the music and the new features of the development of the drama. It is no coincidence that the first listeners of "Carmen" relatively liked only those numbers that were more familiar: the bullfighter's couplets, Michaela's aria. One way or another, but "Carmen" was not successful either at the premiere or after the first performances. This could not but affect Bizet. Stories have been preserved of how, after the premiere of Carmen, Bizet wandered around the city in despair the whole night. Undoubtedly, difficult, painful experiences, mental upheavals were one of the reasons for Bizet's untimely death.
The name of the brilliantly gifted French composer of the second half of the 19th century, Georges Bizet (1838-1875), glorified his last work, the opera Carmen. Bizet died 3 months after her disastrous premiere, before reaching the age of 37 and never knowing that he created one of the most beloved masterpieces of the world operatic repertoire.
Almost all of Bizet's life was spent in Paris. A child prodigy who grew up in a musical family, he entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of 10. His teachers at the conservatory were the best French musicians and teachers: A. Marmontel (piano), P. Zimmerman and C. Gounod (theoretical subjects), F. Halevi (composition). Apparently, it was in communication with Fromental Halévy and Charles Gounod, famous masters of French opera, that Bizet's persistent interest in musical theater arose. In the future, first of all, his main creative achievements will be connected with the theater. He himself said about this: "... I need a theater: without it I am nothing."
The individuality of Bizet's creative style was already clearly manifested in the works written in the conservatory years (1848-1857). Among them - the youthful symphony C-dur, created in just 17 days, the operetta "Doctor Miracle", awarded the first prize in the competition for the best operetta. Bizet was repeatedly awarded at other conservatory competitions. The most prestigious of them, the Great Roman (after graduating from the conservatory), gave him the opportunity to spend three years in Italy, in Rome. In Italy, the comic opera Don Procopio was created, the plot echoing Rossini's The Barber of Seville, and the symphonic ode with choirs Vasco da Gama.
Georges Bizet attracted early attention as a brilliant virtuoso pianist. SamList was amazed at the ease with which he played unfamiliar music from the sheet, including the most complex scores. However, Bizet abandoned his artistic career in order to devote himself entirely to composing. However, along the way, difficulties and disappointments awaited him. Under the conditions of the Second Empire (1852-70), the musical life of France was in crisis. Light, entertaining music flooded Paris, while magnificent performances in the spirit of J. Meyerbeer dominated the opera house.
Chronic lack of money forced the composer to do thankless, routine work in order to support his family. He corrected and transcribed other people's opera scores, wrote insert numbers and entertaining music, gave private lessons, often working 16 hours a day. In one of the letters, he admits: “I work like a Negro, I am exhausted, I am literally torn to pieces ... I just finished novels for a new publisher. I am afraid that it turned out mediocre, but I need money. Money, always money - to hell!
In such difficult conditions, new works by Bizet were created: the operas The Pearl Seekers, The Beauty of Perth (based on the novel of the same name by W. Scott), Jamila (based on the plot of the poem by A. Musset), the symphony Rome, piano pieces (among them " Children's Games" for piano 4 hands, "Chromatic Concert Variations"), songs.
One of the best compositions of Georges Bizet - music for the drama by A. Daudet "Arlesian" , whose plot positions have much in common with Carmen. In both cases, the drama of love and jealousy is played out with a tragic denouement.
The son of the farmer Frederi is passionately in love with a girl from Arles - the beautiful Arlesian. Young people are engaged, but their marriage is impossible: the young man's relatives are sure that she is cheating on him. Frederi is persuaded to marry another girl who has loved him for a long time. Frederi agrees, but on the day of the wedding, he commits suicide by throwing himself out of a window.
The production of Daudet's play (1872) was unsuccessful, and the composer compiled an orchestral suite from the best musical numbers. This included Prelude, Minuet, Adagietto and Chimes. The second suite, after Bizet's death, was composed by his friend, E. Giro. It also has four numbers: Pastoral, Intermezzo, Minuet (borrowed from Bizet's opera The Beauty of Perth) and Farandolla. Both orchestral suites have firmly established themselves on the concert stage.
On July 8, 2017, we decided to go to the theater of Carl Felicci in Genoa for the BALLET "Carmen" to the music of J. Bizet.
I have always believed that there is only the opera "Carmen" to the music of Bizet.
There was a reason to talk about a wonderful French composer.
Bizet (Bizet) Georges was born in Paris on October 25, 1838. Father is a singing teacher, mother is a pianist (she was Bizet's first music teacher).
Georges I liked to study music with my father, a singing teacher, and with my mother, a professional pianist. At the same time, he, like any boy, wanted to run around the streets and play with other children. The parents thought differently. At the age of four, the boy already knew the notes and knew how to play the piano, and two weeks before the decade he entered the Paris Conservatory. Childhood ended before it began. At thirteen Georges started composing music.
In 1848-57 he studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with A. F. Marmontel (piano), F. Benois (organ), P. Zimmermann and C. Gounod (counterpoint), F. Halevi (composition; Galevy's daughter Genevieve became Bizet's wife in 1869).
Learn Georges it was easy, he grasped everything on the fly. At nineteen Bizet graduated from the conservatory and became the youngest laureate to receive the Grand Prize of Rome - for the cantata "Clovis and Clotilde". This award made it possible to go to Italy for 4 years and receive a state scholarship.In Italy, Bizet, fascinated by the fertile southern nature, monuments of architecture and painting, worked a lot and fruitfully (1858-60). He studies art, reads many books, comprehends beauty in all its manifestations. The ideal for Bizet is the beautiful, harmonious world of Mozart and Raphael. Truly French grace, generous melodic gift, and delicate taste have forever become integral features of the composer's style. Bizet is increasingly attracted to operatic music, capable of "merging" with the phenomenon or hero depicted on stage. Instead of the cantata, which the composer was supposed to present in Paris, he writes the comic opera Don Procopio, in the tradition of G. Rossini.
In 1860 he completed the symphony-cantata "Vasco da Gama" (based on the epic poem "The Lusiades" by L. Camões). In the same year he returned to Paris, where in order to earn money he was forced to give private lessons, write dance music and transcribe other people's compositions.
With the return to Paris, the beginning of serious creative searches and at the same time hard, routine work for the sake of a piece of bread is connected. Bizet has to make transcriptions of other people's opera scores, write entertaining music for cafe-concerts and at the same time create new works, working 16 hours a day. "I work like a Negro, I'm exhausted, I'm literally torn to pieces ... I just finished romances for a new publisher. I'm afraid that it turned out mediocre, but I need money. Money, always money - to hell!"
Bizet returned to Paris at the end of September 1860. The sequence of events in his life turned out to be much more tragic than his expectations.
Georges Bizet - Ernest L "Epin
Paris, autumn 1860“My mother is seriously ill. We have lost all hope of saving her. I don't have time for anything but tears. How bitter is my return home, and how I hate Paris.
A year after Bizet's return to Paris, Aimé Bizet, his mother, perhaps his closest friend, died. Trying to somehow cope with an irretrievable loss, Bizet tried to delve into work. As a report of the Academy, he handed over the ode-symphony "Vasco da Gama", almost completed back in Italy, the symphonic pieces "Scherzo" and "Funeral March", agreed with one of the librettists of "Doctor Miracle" Ludovik Halevi - the nephew of his teacher F. Halevi - on the creation of a libretto for a comic opera. But after a few weeks, he realized that creating buffoon music was out of the question.
Georges Bizet - Ludovic Halévy
Paris, October 1860“I can’t even think about writing ... The death of my mother caused me the greatest grief ... But I do not lose hope of working with you.”
This hope will become a reality in Carmen.Six months after the death of his mother, Bizet was waiting for a new blow. His teacher, the composer Fromental Halevi, has died. Bizet was his favorite student, and the death of the master, it would seem, deprived him of his last support in the French opera world. Friendly support to Bizet was then provided by Charles Gounod. But somehow, she didn't look very disinterested. Bizet was literally swamped with rough work on editions and productions of Gounod's operas.
In 1863, Bizet's opera The Pearl Seekers was staged in Paris, based on a then fashionable oriental plot. Despite some melodically expressive numbers (Nadir's famous romance from the 1st act), the opera as a whole was not a success with the public, but received an approving review from G. Berlioz.
Listen to this romance performed by Placido Domingo. What divine music!
You can listen to the whole opera
And I want to present to you the duet-remembrance of Nadir and Zurgi “And there, among the flowers” is full of enthusiastic feeling; a smooth oriental-inspired melody sounds against the background of a magically transparent orchestral accompaniment.
The plot of the opera is quite simple: Zurga and Nadir love the same girl. In order not to become enemies, they part. Their beloved, Leila, took a vow of chastity, she became a priestess, helping the pearl seekers with her singing. Zurga is elected leader, and Nadir returns. He realizes that he still loves Layla. Her heart hasn't cooled yet either. Nadir seeks to take her out of the temple on top of the rock. As soon as he enters the temple, he is seized on the orders of the priest Nurabadu. Zurga wants to save her friend, but after learning that the priestess who broke her vow is Layla, she decides not to interfere. But suddenly he learns from Leila's necklace that it was she who once saved his life, and distracts the attention of the villagers by setting fire to their huts. Nadir and Layla manage to escape. By order of the priest, Zurga is thrown into the fire.
The Pearl Seekers was the first opera commissioned by the young composer from the Théâtre-Lyric in Paris, the main theater of the French capital in the middle of the 19th century. Bizet composed the opera rapidly. It was written in just a few months. After the premiere, Hector Berlioz wrote that the score of the opera "contains many beautiful expressive moments, full of fire and rich color." "Pearl Seekers" captivates melodic richness and dramatic expressiveness.
For the first time, The Pearl Seekers were presented to the audience in September 1863 at the Paris Théâtre-Lyrique. During the life of the composer, The Searchers had no fans, as well as other operas.
The next opera, The Beauty of Perth (based on the novel of the same name by W. Scott, 1867), was also reservedly accepted.
In 1867, Bizet published (under the pseudonym Gaston de Betsy) a polemical article "Conversation about Music" ("Causerie musicale") - a kind of artistic manifesto, where he demanded spontaneity and truthfulness from the composer.
The success of these operas was not so great as to strengthen the position of the author. Self-criticism, a sober awareness of the shortcomings of the "Beauty of Perth" became the key to Bizet's future achievements. He wrote about his opera The Beauty of Perth: “This is a spectacular play, but the characters are poorly outlined ... The school of battered roulades and lies is dead - dead forever! Let's bury her without regret, without excitement - and forward! A number of plans of those years remained unfulfilled.
He is 30 years old, but Georges is not yet married. Plump and short-sighted, with curls curled so tightly that it was difficult to comb them, Bizet did not consider himself attractive to women. He always spoke quickly, a little confusedly, and was sure that women did not like this manner of speaking at all. The first time he met a kopeck piece was in Italy, but she did not follow him to France. The next attempt was when the young man was 28 years old.Once upon a train Georges Bizet met Mogador - opera diva Madame Lionel, writer Celeste Venard, Countess de Chabriyan. She spent her youth in dens, then became a dancer, and then became interested in literature and began to describe what she knew about life in novels. Her books were not stale on the shelves. They tried not to talk about them in decent houses, but every Parisian knew about the existence of this woman. During a meeting with Bizet the charming Mogador was a widow and the owner of a musical theater, where she sang the main parts.He is twenty-eight, she is forty-two. All his hardships and sorrows drowned in the unfeigned passion of this woman. Happiness was short-lived. Mogador mood swings plungedGeorges in despair. In a fit of anger, all the bad habits of the Mogadors woke up. Bizet with his delicate taste and vulnerable soul suffered. Mogador is getting old. She was haunted by financial troubles, he could not help her in any way. His income still barely paid the bills, and his love was useless to her. But to break up with this woman Bizet was unable to. During the next scandal, the beloved doused Georges from head to toe with a tub of cold water. Bizet I went out into the street, where the snow swirled quietly.
“…Met an amazing girl that I adore!”— letter to Bizet in 1867. Who is this adorable girl? This is Geneviève Halévy, daughter of Bizet's teacher Fromental Halévy, now deceased. A few words should be said about the Halevi family. This is a wealthy, influential family. Its members are: a banker, financier, historian (this is Leon Halévy, a member of the French Academy), a learned talmudist (Genevieve's grandfather), a researcher of religions (Genevieve's uncle Hippolyte Rodrigue), a famous opera composer (Frommental Halévy), a famous playwright and librettist (his nephew, cousin of Genevieve) Ludovic Halévy. Genevieve's mother, Leonie Halevi, is a very peculiar lady. In her youth, she was a socialite, then a collector of works of art and a talented sculptor (one of her works is kept in the Museum of Versailles, the other - a sculptural portrait of her husband - in the Paris City Hall).
Of course, such a family is in no hurry to intermarry with the unfortunate composer Georges Bizet.
Georges Bizet - Edmond Galaber
October 1867“…I was deeply depressed. Shattered the hopes that I cherished so much. The family objected. I am very unhappy."
November 1867
“Perhaps not all is lost…”
This state - "all is not lost yet" - lasted about a year and a half. The family thought, then giving Genevieve and Georges, who were in love with each other, some hope, then taking it away. Finally Genevieve's stubbornness and Bizet's patience were rewarded.
Early May 1869
“I tell you secretly. I am getting married. We love each other. - I'm perfectly happy. We will be temporarily poor, but what does it matter. Her dowry is still 150,000 francs, later 500,000. Don't tell anyone.
So, a year and a half after the refusal, consent to marriage was received. It is possible that the circumstance that the operas of F. Halevi gradually leave the stage played an important role in this decision, and the composer's widow sees in Bizet a musician who can prolong their life. In any case, in the marriage contract, most of Genevieve's dowry is associated with the receipt of royalties from F. Halevi's operas and, in addition, Bizet's obligation is stipulated, having urgently completed Halevy's unfinished opera Noah, to achieve its production. (Bizet completed the opera, but she did not reach the stage during his lifetime.) However, then, when signing a marriage contract, the enamored Bizet does not delve into all this operatic and financial casuistry too much.
Georges Bizet - Hippolyte Rodrigo
June 1869“I am amazingly happy, Genevieve is amazingly good. We are in love with each other and love you for making our life together possible.”
Hippolyte Rodrigue is the only one from the Halevi clan who sympathized with this marriage. The wedding presented the families of Bizet and Genevieve with the problem of the faith of the future spouses. But to the proposal to convert to Catholicism (the zealous Catholic Gounod advocated for this), Genevieve replied: “I am not so religious as to change religion.” It was decided to abandon the church marriage. It didn't matter to Bizet. The appearance of Genevieve in his life was for him "a meeting with a miracle." He saw in his wife the embodiment of the ideal, "open to everything bright, to all changes, not believing in either the God of the Jews or the God of Christians, but believing in honor, duty and morality."Ludovic Halevy. Diary.“Today, Genevieve became Bizet's wife. How happy she is, poor and dear child! How many disasters around it in recent years! How much grief and how much loss. If anyone has the right to ask life for a little peace and happiness, then this is Genevieve. Bizet has intelligence and talent. He will succeed."
Later, facts became obvious to Bizet that completely discouraged him. His wife's mother suffers from recurring fits of insanity. Her husband F. Halevi left his wife more than once and returned again. In the first year of marriage, he reached complete nervous exhaustion. Mental instability, severe depression and neuroses are also characteristic of her daughter. (Proust's biographer called Genevieve "the queen of neurasthenia.") Genevieve's childhood was not a happy one. She repeatedly ran away from home, lived with one or the other relatives. Perhaps this determined the relationship of the daughter to the mother. Her daughter loved her, but only from a distance. Communication with her mother was a torment for her. If Leonie Halevi appeared in Bizet's house, her daughter was hysterical. Bizet, who loved his wife and treated his mother-in-law without any hostility, found himself between two fires.
These two women constantly claimed the time and peace of mind of the composer. To all this was added a cold, suspicious attitude towards any act of Bizet on the part of almost all of his wife's relatives. Life sometimes turned into hell. And the fact that in all these situations Bizet managed, showing patience and calm prudence, never to let himself be thrown off balance is simply an amazing fact. It is not for us to condemn the woman whom Bizet loved. But, reflecting on his post-wedding life, it is difficult to dispute the gloomy conclusion of biographer Bizet Savinov, “June 3, 1869, he married Genevieve Halévy. The clock was started. Exactly six years later - to the day - he was gone.
In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, when France was in a critical situation, Bizet joined the National Guard. A few years later, his patriotic feelings found expression in the dramatic overture "Motherland" (1874). 70s - the flourishing of the composer's work. In 1872, the premiere of the opera "Jamile" (based on the poem by A. Musset) took place, subtly translating; intonations of Arabic folk music. It was a surprise for visitors to the Opera-Comique theater to see a work that tells about selfless love, full of pure lyrics. Genuine connoisseurs of music and serious critics saw in Jamil the beginning of a new stage, the opening of new paths.In the works of these years, the purity and elegance of style (always inherent in Bizet) by no means prevent a truthful, uncompromising expression of the drama of life, its conflicts and tragic contradictions. Now the idols of the composer are W. Shakespeare, Michelangelo, L. Beethoven.
The 1870s - the heyday of the composer's creative activity, who focused on music for the theater. The opera "Jamile" (based on the plot of the poem "Namuna" by A. de Musset, staged in 1872, Paris) is devoid of conditionally "oriental" features; using authentic Arabic melodies, Bizet subtly recreated the national flavor (the opera takes place in Cairo). The peaks of Bizet's work are music for the drama The Arlesian by A. Daudet (1872, the Vaudeville Theatre, Paris; on its basis, Bizet composed a suite, 1872; the so-called 2nd suite from The Arlesian was composed by Bizet's friend, the composer E (Giro, 1885)
1875 - Carmen (Carmen)
Before talking about music, listen to this great opera, which, ironically, was the last opera by Jean Bizet, who was only 37 years old.
Bizet - "Carmen". State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the USSR. 1982 Georges Bizet - "Carmen". A classic Bolshoi Theater production of Georges Bizet's famous opera. Stage director and choreographer: Rostislav Zakharov. Conductor Mark Ermler. The main parts are performed by: Carmen - Elena OBRAZTSOVA, Don Jose - Vladimir ATLANTOV, Escamillo - Yuri MAZUROK, Michaela - Lyudmila Sergienko, Frasquita - Irina Zhurina, Mercedes - Tatyana Tugarinova, Morales - Igor MOROZOV, Remendado - Andrey Sokolov, Dancairo - Vladislav Pashinsky, Zuniga - Yuri Korolev.
The prototype of Carmen is Mogadar, whom we talked about - she was 42 years old, and he was 28. Bizet sincerely fell in love with her, and Mogadar laughed at his love. She acted cruelly with Georges in the presence of her relatives, driving out and ridiculing the young man. Mogadar herself suffered mental trauma as a child, her mother's husband raped the girl and constantly threatened; having gone to a brothel, she gained strength and the ability to attract men ...
She understood that she was getting old, and Bizet was young. By banishing Bizet from her life, she hurt Georges' pride. He was very upset by the separation. But - c'est la vie, as the French say! Fate brings great people together in order to be inspired by the Muse.
Summary of the opera.
Carmen is a beautiful, short-tempered, temperamental gypsy who works in a cigarette factory. Because of a fight between the factory girls, Carmen is arrested and brought to the police station. There she languishes in anticipation of a warrant, and Sergeant José guards her. The gypsy was able to fall in love with him and persuade him to let him go free. Jose at that time had a bride, a good position and a single mother, but the meeting with Carmen turned his whole life upside down. He lets her go, and loses his job and respect, becomes a simple soldier.
Carmen continues to have fun, visits pubs and cooperates with smugglers. Along the way, he flirts with Escamillo, a well-known handsome bullfighter. José, who has raised his hand to his boss in the heat of a quarrel, has no choice but to stay with his Carmen and her friends who illegally transport goods. He loves her madly, has long forgotten about the bride, only Carmen changes her feelings according to her mood, and Jose is bored with her. After all, Escamillo appeared on the horizon, rich and famous, who promised to fight in her honor. The ending is predictable and tragic. As Jose did not beg Carmen to return to him, she says in harsh terms that it's all over. Then Jose kills his beloved so that no one gets it.
The final death scene against the background of Escamillo's public performance, who himself has already lost interest in Carmen, is the most memorable scene of the entire opera.
Few 19th-century operas can compare to this: the world of music would be incomplete without Carmen (here you can watch Carmen on the stage of the Paris Opera), and Bizet would only have to write this opera to become Bizet. But the audience at the Opéra Comic did not think so when, in 1875, the opera was first received with increasing indifference and even indignation. The most stormy scenes and the realistic performance of Marie-Celestine Galli-Marie, the leading lady, who subsequently contributed to the approval of Bizet's masterpiece on stage, aroused particular rejection. During the premiere, Gounod, Thomas and Massenet were present in the hall, praising the author only out of courtesy. The libretto, in which the composer himself made changes several times, belonged to two masters of the light genre - Halevi (cousin of Bizet's wife) and Meliak, who initially entertained the public in collaboration with Offenbach, and then independently, creating comedies that were very much appreciated. They got their plot from Merimee's short story (suggested even earlier by Bizet) and had to work hard to be accepted into the Opéra Comique, where a love story with a bloody ending and against a rather vulgar background caused considerable confusion. This theatre, though always trying to be less traditional, was visited by the well-meaning bourgeoisie, who used the performances to arrange the marriage affairs of their children. The variegation of characters, mostly ambiguous, which Merimet introduced into his short story - gypsies, thieves, smugglers, cigar factory workers, women of easy virtue and bullfighters - did not help to maintain good morals. The librettists managed to create a lively Spanish flavor, they singled out several bright images, framing them with exquisite choirs and dances, and added an innocent and pure character to this rather dark company - the young Michaela, who, although she remained beyond the threshold of action, made it possible to create a number of solid and touching music pages.
Music embodied the intention of the librettists with a precise sense of proportion; this music combined the sensibility, ardor, and strong flavor of Spanish folklore, partly genuine and partly composed, and was supposed to please even the hostile taste. But this did not happen. Nevertheless, despite the failure, "Carmen" withstood forty-five performances in the year of the premiere. It was a real record, which was undoubtedly promoted by curiosity, the desire to see a “scandalous” performance in its own way. After the thirty-fifth performance, there was also added the shock caused by the death of the still young author, killed, as they said, by an undeserved failure. The first signs of a real approval of the opera appeared after the Vienna production in October of the same year (conversational dialogue was replaced by recitatives in it), which attracted the attention and approval of such masters as Brahms and Wagner. Tchaikovsky saw "Carmen" in Paris more than once during 1876 and wrote such enthusiastic words in one of the letters of 1880 to von Meck: "... I do not know anything in music that would have a greater right to represent an element that I call it pretty, le joli... Spicy harmonies, brand new sound combinations are many, but it's not an exclusive goal. Bizet is an artist who pays tribute to the age and modernity, but warmed by true inspiration. And what a wonderful plot of the opera! I can't play the last scene without crying!" And that some melodies and harmonies, as well as partly instrumental color, subsequently influenced him himself - this is beyond any doubt: Bizet portrayed too well the passion that flares up and rages in the soul of a beauty, as if spoiled by her own beauty - the beauty and depravity of the heroine feed flame of tragedy.
"Carmen" was accepted by the public with hostility, its "base" plot was recognized as immoral, the music - ugly; the play was taken off the stage. Bizet died suddenly 3 months after the premiere. The triumphal success of the opera on the world stage began after the staging in Vienna in 1875, for which E. Guiraud replaced spoken dialogues with recitatives and supplemented the 4th ballet numbers from the music for "The Arlesian" and from "Beauty of Perth". In 1878, Carmen was staged for the first time in Russia (St. Petersburg, in Italian), in 1883 it was resumed in Paris. Bizet's admirer was P. I. Tchaikovsky, who found in "Carmen" "an abyss of harmonic boldness." Carmen remains one of the most repertory operas on the world stage to this day.
The Russian premiere took place in 1885 (Mariinsky Theatre, conductor Napravnik, as Carmen Slavina). Carmen has enjoyed unparalleled popularity for over 100 years. Her incendiary melodies: the habanera "L'amour est oiseau rebelle", the couplets of the bullfighter "Votre toast", heartfelt lyrical episodes (Jose's aria "with a flower" from 2 d., etc.) are heard as well as the most popular folk and pop songs . In 1967, Karajan staged the film-opera Carmen with the participation of Bumbry, Vickers, Freni. A new version of the opera was shot in 1983 by F. Rosi (conductor Maazel, soloists Michenes-Johnson, Domingo, etc.). Among the productions of recent years, we note the performances of 1996 at the Metropolitan Opera (Graves in the title role) and at the Mariinsky Theater (conducted by Gergiev).
The opera premiered on March 3, 1875, three months before the composer's death. The premiere was a failure, friends turned their backs on the composer, Georges' wife left the hall arm in arm with her lover.
There is speculation that Bizet died of a ruptured heart, and there is speculation that he committed suicide.
Ah, women, your name is "Treachery"!
It is interesting to note that the ballet Carmen, based on the plot of the short story of the same name by Prosper Mérimée, was first staged in 1845 under the title Carmen and the Bullfighter (French: Carmen et son toréro) by ballet master Marius Petipa at the Teatro del Sirco in Madrid. But after the appearance of the music of Georges Bizet in 1875, all subsequent performances were staged precisely to Bizet's music for the opera Carmen. based on the opera Bizet, on tour in London, on a tour called "Les Ballets de Paris au Prince's Theatre". The choreographer himself performed the part of Don Jose, and Carmen entrusted the part to his wife Zizi Zhanmer (Rene, fr. Renée Jeanmaire), Escamillo was performed by Serge Perrot (fr. Serge Perrault). Later, the role of Jose in the choreography of Roland Petit was performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Maya Plisetskaya approached Dmitri Shostakovich with a request to write music for Carmen, but the composer refused, not wanting, according to him, to compete with Georges Bizet. Then she asked Aram Khachaturian about this, but was again refused. She was advised to contact her husband, Rodion Shchedrin, also a composer.
- Do it on Bizet! - said Alonso ... The deadlines were running out, the music was needed "already yesterday." Then Shchedrin, who perfectly mastered the profession of orchestration, significantly rearranged the musical material of Bizet's opera. Rehearsals began under the piano. The music for the ballet consisted of melodic fragments from the opera Carmen and the suite big theater in Moscow (Carmen - Maya Plisetskaya). In 1970 I managed to watch this performance on the stage of the Bolshoi. I was impressed. The press wrote at the time:
"All the movements of Carmen-Plisetskaya carried a special meaning, a challenge, a protest: a mocking movement of the shoulder, and a retracted hip, and a sharp turn of the head, and a piercing glance from under the brows ... It is impossible to forget how Carmen Plisetskaya, like a frozen sphinx, looked at the Toreador's dance, and her entire static pose conveyed a colossal inner tension: she fascinated the audience, riveted their attention to herself, involuntarily (or consciously?) Distracting from the spectacular solo of the Toreador.
The new Jose is very young. But age itself is not an artistic category. And does not allow discounts for inexperience. Godunov played age in subtle psychological manifestations. His Jose is wary and distrustful. Trouble awaits people. From life: - dirty tricks. Vulnerable and selfish. The first exit, the first pose - a freeze-frame, heroically sustained face to face with the audience. A living portrait of a fair-haired and light-eyed (in accordance with the portrait created by Merimee) Jose. Large strict features. The look of the wolf cub is frowning. An expression of alienation. Behind the mask you guess the true human essence - the vulnerability of the soul, thrown into the World and the world is hostile. You contemplate the portrait with interest.
And then he came to life and "spoke." The syncopated "speech" was perceived by Godunov accurately and organically. It was not for nothing that he was prepared for his debut by the talented dancer Azary Plisetsky, who knows both the part and the whole ballet perfectly from his own experience. Hence the carefully crafted, carefully polished details that make up the stage life of the image.
THIS IS HOW WE HAVE ACQUAINTED WITH THE GREAT Georges Bizet.
I hope you liked it.
See you soon!
Talented child
On October 25, 1838, the future world-famous composer Georges Bizet was born in Paris.
He grew up in a musical family (his father taught vocals, his mother was a professional pianist), so Georges was surrounded by music from early childhood.
His parents were his first teachers. By the age of four, the child already knew musical notation well, played the piano. Parents persistently engaged in the boy's musical education, leaving him no time to play with peers.
His successes were so significant that even before reaching the age of ten, Bizet entered the Moscow Conservatory. The first musical compositions appeared in the young talent at the age of 13. In the morning, my mother took Georges to the conservatory, and after school she took her home.
A short break for lunch - and again music lessons in a separate room, where it was closed and where the boy played the piano to the point of complete exhaustion.
However, studying was not particularly difficult for Georges. After graduating from the conservatory at the age of 19, he wrote the cantata Clovis and Clotilde, for which he received the Grand Prize of Rome. At such a young age, by the way, no one has ever received such an award.
First love and first troubles
In Italy, Georges met a cheerful girl Giuseppa, fell in love with her to the point of intoxication. He thought that by writing a couple of comic operas, he would earn enough to provide a comfortable life with his beloved. But then the news came that her mother was ill.
Georges, leaving home, promised the girl to return when her mother recovered. For her treatment, the young composer struggled to earn money: he rearranged the scores of operas by other composers for the piano, for which he was regularly paid. But the money was still not enough.
The sick mother, who so dreamed of seeing her Georges rich and famous, tirelessly repeated that he must write a symphony that would glorify him and lead him out of poverty. He wrote, a pile of drafts grew, but there was less and less time left, and the debts kept growing. The mother faded away. A whole year of hard work to save the mother did not bring the expected result. Mother died without seeing her son famous.
Passion for theater
Musical theater has long attracted Bizet. He wrote a lot for the stage. But criticism did not particularly favor the young composer. He wrote the comic opera Don Procopio, several orchestral pieces, but all this was not appreciated. Finally, in 1863, there was a shift: the premiere of Bizet's opera The Pearl Divers was noticed by critics, but without much enthusiasm.
Only 18 times the opera was staged, and then it was excluded from the repertoire. And again everything returned to normal: hard and unsuccessful work on sleepless nights, other people's scores, miserable music lessons.
Lack of money and despair. Opera diva - Mogador
Acquaintance with the opera singer Mogador gave Georges Bizet a violent passion that did not bring happiness or even career advancement. She was a celebrity in Paris. She was known not only as the opera diva Madame Lionel, but also as the writer Celeste Venard and as the socialite Countess de Chabriyan.
She was a lovely 42-year-old widow and owner of the capital's musical theater. 28-year-old Bizet was consumed by their mutual passion. But it was this woman who brought a lot of mental anguish to Georges: she turned out to be capricious and absurd, constantly making scandals and terrible scenes. And she no longer needed the love of a young man.
Once, in a fit of anger, Mogador poured a tub of ice water on Georges. The young man went outside. It was winter. He caught a cold. He fell ill for a long time and seriously: he worked in bed, practically lost his voice. His connection with Mogador ended, but mental suffering, as well as physical, poisoned his life for a long time.
Marriage
In the spring of 1869, at his teacher's house, Georges met his grown-up daughter Genevieve. Their romance developed slowly. Failure with the opera The Beauty of Perth (1866). Illness, loss of self-confidence, lack of money - all this devastated the composer's soul. But still, one day Georges decided to propose to Genevieve.
At first, the young wife surrounded Bizet with love and care, creating comfortable working conditions for him. Georges worked tirelessly: he composed music and still gave lessons. Genevieve soon grew tired of this life. One day, her husband found her at home with her lover.
Opera "Carmen" (1874)
Georges Bizet's swan song was the opera Carmen, where the heroine is so similar to the passionate Mogador. At the premiere in the hall of the Paris Opera, Bizet was frozen with horror: is it really a shameful failure this time? The public reacted sluggishly. Georges realized that no one appreciated his masterpiece again.
Genevieve left the theater after the first act. Crushed by yet another failure, the composer threw himself into the Seine in a fit of desperation. This time his illness turned out to be fatal: fever, deafness, paralysis of the arms and legs, a heart attack - and death on 3.06. 1875. He was only 37 years old.
He was not destined to see himself and his "Carmen" in the rays of enchanting success, which came 4 months after his death at the Vienna Opera. All the once unrecognized works of Georges Bizet, and first of all his "Carmen", are forever among the most brilliant creations of musical classics.
Alexandre Cesar Leopold Bizet (1838-1875) - French composer, his work belongs to the period of romanticism, wrote pieces for piano, romances, works for orchestras and opera. He won worldwide fame thanks to his most famous opera, Carmen.
Childhood
October 25, 1838 in the family of a Parisian, a singing teacher, a son was born, who was given the name Alexander Cesar Leopold Bizet. At his baptism, he was named Georges, under which name he gained further fame.
The family where the boy was born was musical. In addition to the fact that dad taught singing at school, mom was also related to music, she played the piano professionally. Georges' maternal uncle was also a singing teacher.
Little Georges loved to make music with his parents. But at the same time, he, the child, so wanted to run outside and play with the children. However, the parents decided differently, they did not welcome street entertainment, so at the age of four Georges was already well versed in the notes and played the piano.
Conservatory
The boy was not yet ten years old, as he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory. His parents decided to send him there to study, as his musical talent was clearly visible. The childhood of Georges Bizet, which practically did not begin, ended.
In the mornings, Georges was taken to the conservatory by his mother. After studying, she was waiting for him, and then every day the same scenario was repeated: they fed him at home, closed him in a room where he was supposed to play the piano. And the boy played the instrument until he fell asleep for him from fatigue.
Young Georges tried to resist his mother, he liked literature so much that he wanted to constantly study it and read many books. But as soon as his mother caught him with another book in his hands, she monotonously repeated: “It was not in vain that you grew up in a musical family, you will become a musician, not a writer. And outstanding!”
In his studies, Georges did not experience difficulties, he grasped everything literally on the fly. During his studies, he proved to be a brilliant student in the piano class of the teacher A. F. Marmontel, in the composition class of the teachers Ch. Gounod, P. Zimmerman, J. F. F. Halevi.
Bizet studied at the Conservatory for nine years and successfully graduated in 1857. During the years of study, the young man began to try himself as a composer, he created many musical works, among them there is one symphony that Georges wrote at the age of seventeen, which is still successfully performed by musicians all over the world.
In the last year of his studies, Georges participated in a competition in which it was necessary to write an operetta for one act, he composed a cantata for a legendary ancient plot and received a prize. Bizet also received several awards during his studies for playing the piano and organ.
In his last graduation year, Georges wrote the operetta Doctor Miracle. And when he graduated from the Paris Conservatory, he received his most valuable award, the Prix de Rome, for the cantata Clovis and Clotilde. She gave Bizet great opportunities - to live in Italy for four years and receive a state scholarship.
Italy
In 1857, after graduating from the conservatory, Bizet went to Italy, where he lived until 1860. He studied local life, traveled, admired the beauty of nature and fine arts, and also devoted a lot of time to his education.
For a long time, Georges could not decide on the future path of life, he could not find his own theme in music. Over time, Bizet decided to connect his future work with the theater. He was very interested in opera premieres and musical theaters in Paris. To some extent, it was mercantile, because then in the theatrical musical world it was the easiest thing to achieve success.
The years spent in Italy, Georges then considered the most carefree in his life. He composed little by little, during which time he wrote several pieces for orchestras (they later became part of the symphonic suite Memories of Rome) and the symphony-cantata Vasco da Gama.
But the time for receiving the Italian state scholarship came to an end, Georges had to return to Paris.
Return to Paris
Upon arrival in his hometown, not the best of times began for Bizet; it was not easy to achieve recognition in Paris. He met with Antoine Choudan, who owned the most famous Parisian publishing house. Antoine looked at Georges in surprise: is it really the same young genius who received the prestigious Rome Prize? It was risky to contact a novice composer, but Shudan saw that the young man really needed money and he was ready to take on any job. Antoine invited Bizet to transcribe operas by famous composers for the piano.
For days on end, Georges had to work with other people's musical works, he also gave private lessons and wrote light music to order. He was regularly paid money, but they were constantly not enough. Soon his mother died, and the composer's nervous strain was added to all other problems, a sharp decline in strength began.
He could make an excellent living as a pianist, as his friends advised him, but Georges did not look for an easy life path, after all, he completely immersed himself in composing music.
creative path
He was still attracted by musical theater, but everything that Bizet wrote was not approved. No one appreciated the comic opera Don Procopio. But Georges continued to live in need, to work and wait.
In 1863, he composed the opera The Pearl Seekers, its premiere took place, eighteen times the work was staged, but then removed from the repertoire. Sleepless nights working on other people's scores returned again, music lessons that had become unloved, poverty. Work for the sake of small money, which was only enough not to die of hunger, took all of Bizet's time, there was no time to engage in creativity. The only thing that saved Georges was walking around Paris in the evening and visiting the theater, in this he found an outlet, it would seem, from a hopeless situation.
The next opera, The Beauty of Perth, was staged in 1867, but was also not a success. In 1868, Bizet began a creative crisis, health problems were added. Georges was saved from a protracted depression by marriage in 1869, but a year later he enlisted in the National Guard to participate in the Franco-Prussian War, which left its mark on family life, health, and the composer's work.
Since 1870, Bizet returned to writing, one after another his musical works were published:
- suite for piano "Children's Games";
- romantic one-act opera "Jamile";
- music for the play "Arlesian".
However, all these compositions then were not successful, despite the fact that in the future they became part of the golden fund of world symphonic works.
In 1874-1875, Georges worked on an opera for P. Mérimée's short story Carmen. Its premiere took place on March 3, 1875. Surprisingly, the opera, recognized as the pinnacle of French realism, bypassing all the world opera stages, becoming the most popular and beloved work in the history of music, failed on the day of its premiere.
The failure of his beloved brainchild led to the tragic end of the composer. Georges Bizet died, and four months later Carmen was an enchanting success at the Vienna Opera. He never found out that a year later this work was staged on all the major stages in Europe, recognized as the pinnacle of his work, that Carmen became the most popular opera in history and in the world.
Personal life
Georges' first love was a girl named Giuseppa, whom he met in Italy. The young man was short-sighted and slightly overweight, and his curls were so tightly intertwined on his head that it was impossible to comb them, so the composer himself considered himself not very attractive to the representatives of the opposite sex. During a conversation with women, he blushed, spoke quickly, lost his way, his palms sweated, and he was very embarrassed by all this.
Georges was intoxicated by the fact that Giuseppa paid attention to him. But the father sent a letter where he informed about the illness of the mother. Bizet had to return to Paris, he called the young bride with him, but Giuseppa could not just leave everything and go to another country. Georges promised the girl that he would write a couple of comic operas, earn a lot of money, return to her and they would live like kings. This did not happen, the composer himself barely survived, he only had memories of his first youthful love.
Georges was already 28 years old when an experienced woman appeared in his life who taught him true love. He met her on the train, it was Mogador (opera diva Lionel, Countess de Chabriyan, writer Celeste Vinard). By the age of 42, the woman became a writer, and her youth was spent in brothels. After a turbulent youth, she danced on stage for a long time, and then began to write her novels about life. At the same time, her books did not linger in Parisian stores, Mogador was not mentioned aloud in society, but everyone in Paris knew about this woman.
All the grief of Georges drowned in the passion of this woman. He was happy with her, but not for long. It was hard to endure her mood swings, when Mogador was in anger, then all her worst and negative qualities woke up. And Bizet had a too vulnerable soul and delicate taste to endure all this. In addition, Mogador was getting old, she had problems with finances, and Georges could not help with money, so this woman no longer needed his love. But he couldn't part with her. Once, during a scandal, Mogador poured a tub of ice water on Georges and drove him out into the street.
The consequence of this was purulent tonsillitis, which doctors discovered in him. Given the fact that Georges had suffered from sore throats and colds since childhood, his health deteriorated even more. The composer fell ill, could not speak, but such physical suffering was negligible compared to the mental ones. A break with Mogador, a miserable existence, a failure in creativity - Bizet approached a state of deepest depression.