Review (PDF) Georges Bizet: Carmen (Cambridge Opera Handbooks)
Bizet's Carmen is probably the best known opera of the standard repertoire, yet its very familiarity often prevents us from approaching it with the seriousness it deserves. This Handbook explores the opera in a number of contexts, bringing to the surface the controversies over gender, race, class and musical propriety. After a study of Mérimée's story Carmen by Peter Robinson, Susan McClary examines the social tensions in nineteenth-century France that inform both that story and the opera, and traces the opera through its genesis and reception. The Handbook concludes with discussions of four films based on the opera. The volume contains a bibliography, music examples, and a synopsis and will be of interest to students, scholars, and operagoers.
Series: Cambridge Opera Handbooks
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (July 31, 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0521398975
ISBN-13: 978-0521398978
Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.4 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #525,859 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #5 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Composers > Bizet #357 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Forms & Genres > Opera #1160 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Musical Genres > Opera
many audiences when viewing Carmen in various art forms(movies, TV,plays,opera) and in various settings. In order to understand what Bizet's Carmen was all about, we need to read and understand France's history toward its southern neighbors and the metropoles as well as its superiority and contempt the country have toward them, which continues today.Carmen has been called many things by many people. She's been called animalistic, loose woman, tramp, predator as well as worse things that I wouldn't say, read, or print.As for gender, French society in the 19th century experienced an upheaval in which women fought equal rights for themselves. That threatened middle class French men, who are already threatened by the demands of the working and lower classes who only wanted to better themselves and to participate in French political and social life just like their upper class counterparts.Also, the influx of immigrants to France also upset many of its inhabitants, then and now.Carmen exemplifies all the social disorders French society wants to control through repressive laws and customs during the course of the nineteenth century.When the opera first premiered in 1875, it was denounced as immoral and superficial, not fit for women and families attending the opera. However, as decaded gone by, many people are attracted to the play and some artists were influenced by it. John Singer Sargent was one such person. His Spanish and flamenco paintings were partially influenced by the plain. "Carmela Bertagna", "El Jaleo", and "The Spanish Dance" are such examples.Also, Carmen exudes strong sensuality, which was a no-no in French bourgeois society, which tried to assert itself by being the arbiter of morality.
Georges Bizet: Carmen (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) Georges Bizet: Carmen: Libreto por Henri Meilhac y Ludovic Halevy (Opera en Espanol) (Spanish Edition) The Metropolitan Opera Presents: Georges Bizets Carmen: Libretto, Background, and Photos Georges Bizet - Children's Games (Jeux d'Enfants): 12 Original Pieces for Piano 4 Hands (Music Minus One (Numbered)) Songs by Victor Mass (1822-1884), Including Chants Bretons (1853), and Songs by Georges Bizet (1838-1875), Including Feuilles d'Album (1867): 004 (Romantic French Song 1830-1870 Series) Romantic French Songs, Volume 4 - Victor Mass (1822-1884), Including Chants Bretons (1853), and Georges Bizet (1838-1875), Including Feuilles d'Album (1867) Bizet's Carmen - A Full Vocal Score in French and English Habanera Carmen Bizet Easy Piano Sheet Music Carmen: English National Opera Guide 13 (Opera Guides) Historia De Carmen: Memorias De Carmen Diez De Rivera (Planeta Singular) (Spanish Edition) Carmen y los Secretos de la Isla Mistica: Carmen y los Secretos (Spanish Edition) C. W. von Gluck: Orfeo (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) Richard Strauss: Salome (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) Richard Strauss: Arabella (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) Giuseppe Verdi: Otello (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) Foreign Opera at the London Playhouses: From Mozart to Bellini (Cambridge Studies in Opera) Landscape and Gender in Italian Opera: The Alpine Virgin from Bellini to Puccini (Cambridge Studies in Opera) Rounding Wagner's Mountain: Richard Strauss and Modern German Opera (Cambridge Studies in Opera)
