OMG! I am so happy!
So I'm in this opera history class and in September I saw on the syllabus that we were going to talk about Carmen so I have been waiting very impatiently for 2 months and finally! The day is here!
Honestly I could not explain to you my love for this opera. It was the first opera I ever saw and I was about 15 when I saw it but there is something about a woman who can sashay across a stage singing la la la la and still manage to hypnotize men that every woman should aspire to have. (link)
And also that just because the woman he loves decides she no longer wants to be with him drives Don Jose so crazy that he kills her! Cause that makes sense.
Can't have the woman you want? Better kill her.
Also I think it's the only opera in French I've ever seen. Sure there are lots of operas that take place in France, La Boheme and La Traviata but very few come to mind that are actually in French. Of course, it's set in Spain because of the exoticism that Spain has and because of the sensor laws in place in France during the 1800s.
I think this would have to be attributed to how opera originated in Italy. Many composers from the 1600's onward would continue to go back to Italy to learn the style and while there would learn Italian and then compose in Italian. Or German! I can think of quite a few German operas without having to bring in Wagner and his almighty Rhinegold.
Regardless, even if there aren't many french operas that I can think of off the top of my head they have had plenty of other influences on music.
For example, Claude Debussy was a fantastic composer and Giacomo Meyerbeer, though true he was German, wrote plenty of things for the Parisian opera in French.
If it weren't for the french, Grand Opera would have never become a style!
But anyways, basically I am just so happy to be able to dedicate a 3 hour class to watching Carmen drive men crazy and if you ever have the chance to watch a production of it you should absolutely go.
It even has some dialogue in it, which is usually unheard of in opera, and is very easy to follow along to if you speak or understand french. None of that usual ornamentation of words that the Italians do.
So go see Carmen! Or listen to it when you have the chance! You won't regret it! You'll probably even know some of the songs.
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