We wouldn’t necessarily call her a “bad girl,” would we? In any case we know of lots of novels and movies about women like this - no big deal, today.īut in the 1870s or earlier for an opera? Forget about it! When the Florentines produced the first opera in 1597, they were consciously trying to resurrect Greek Tragedy. Now, we have been talking fiction, but we might even know someone like this. If she’s in a relationship that gets old, and she meets someone that excites her more than her current boyfriend, she has no compunction whatsoever about calling it quits with one lover and falling into the arms of another. Although she tends to be a one-man woman, she likes to pick and choose who her lovers will be. She is sexy - very desirable to men - and she is not really interested in marriage and children. Let’s say - in the here and now - that we want to dramatize a story with a young woman as our main character. But the words and story that inspired Bizet, not only helped him produce a great opera, but truly one of the most significant dramatic works of art of all time. The music is the creation of composer Georges Bizet, who unfortunately died young (at 36), and before he knew what a triumph “Carmen” had become. As it is with all other very beloved operas, first and foremost “Carmen” is loaded from beginning to end with beautiful and memorable music - solo arias, ensembles, choruses - and even a number of purely instrumental passages that are unforgettable.

Anyone with any level of interest in the Grand Art should develop some kind of familiarity with it. “Carmen” has been in the very first circle of popular operas for over a century. Houston Grand Opera’s staging of Carmen (Photo by Lynn Lane)

Carmen opera plot