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Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875)
Carmen Suite No. 1
Georges Bizet was just
three years younger than Saint-Saens; like Saint-Saens
he was born and brought up in Paris, and was very talented
as a youngster. He was admitted to the Paris conservatoire
before he was 10 years old, and at 17 wrote a Symphony
in C which is just as good as anything Mozart or Mendelssohn
produced at that age. His great opera Carmen came out
in 1875, and after initial criticism for its realistic
low-life subject matter, soon became one of the world's
best loved operas. It is one of music's great tragedies
that he died aged only 37, a few months after the premiere
of Carmen: what might he have written had he lived until
60?
The first suite from the opera comprises six sections
- a short dramatic Prelude, a lively Aragonaise
in triple time, a charming Intermezzo for the flute
and harp, a Seguidille, a march for the Dragoons
Les Dragons d'AIcala which features the bassoons
prominently, and the famous March of the Toreadors.
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