# ¿Qué tal Carmén?



## itywltmt

Related thread: http://www.talkclassical.com/12624-good-recordings-bizets-carmen.html

En français: http://itywltmt.blogspot.com/2011/09/que-tal-carmen.html

One thing I haven't done much is discuss operas on this blog. There's no particular reason, it just happens that's how the cookie crunbles. Today, I thought I would share my faviourite recording of _Carmen _by *Georges Bizet*, provide some highlights and propose three works inspired by the opera.

_Carmen _is not my favourite opera: to me, opera is a display of raw emotion, and it requires (more often than not) that one's own emotions bubble to the surface. Speaking for myself, I don't find the character of Carmen very sympathetic, and you figure she gets what she asked for at the end (harsh as it may seem). Other French operas: *Poulenc's *_Dialogues des Carmélites_, or even *Gounod's *_Faust _manage to get the waterworks going for me, and are therefore higher in my list of favourites.

This does not mean that I dislike Carmen - quite the contrary. It has great moments, but it simply isn't "Grand Opera".

My favourite recording:









Bizet: Carmen [Recorded 1950]​
There's a reason why this is my favourite: it puts Carmen where it belongs: on the stage of the *Opera Comique*, making it closer to a _musical _than an opera (we'll get back to that later). The performance isn't "over done", the libretto and book are spoken clearly, so you can follow the action (something I apppreaciate as a fluent speaker of the language). The complete opera is avaible on _Public Domain Classic_, along with some highliughts, which I will be sampling as part of today's music selections.

In addition to some of the Cluytens recording, I added a YouTube playlist of tracks from some of the Carmen suites put together by *Fritz Hoffmann*.

*Sarasate's *_Carmen Fantasy_ and *Horowitz's *_Carmen Variations_ are popular pieces, and they are rendeered beautifully in the selections below. Finally, to illusatrate how Bizet's approach and subject are well at home in the _musical _genre, I chose the "redo" of the _Habanera_, with words by *Oscar Hammerstein II*, in his "re-imaginig" of the opera, _Carmen Jones_, sung here "just right" by Dorothy Dandridge.

Enjoy!

*DETAILED PLAYLIST​*
*Georges BIZET (1838-1875)*
_Carmen _- opéra-comique in four acts (1875)
Prelude to Act I
Habanera
Tra la la la
Seguidilla 
Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre
La Fleur que tu m'avais jetée
Second Intermezzo
Aragonaise 

Main Characters:
Carmen - Solange Michel
Don José - Raoul Jobin
Escamillo - Michel Dens

Chorus of the Opéra-Comique, Henri Janin, Chorus Master
Orchestra of the Opéra-Comique, conducted by André Cluytens
Recorded 6-9 September, 1950

[Complete Opera]

*Fritz HOFFMANN (1867 - 19??)*
Excerpts from Carmen suites nos. 1 & 2
(Adapted from music by Georges BIZET)
(Uncredited performances)

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL16D155C4AB910B61

*Pablo de SARASATE (1844-1908)*
Concert Fantasy on themes from Bizet's _Carmen_, Op.25
Gil Shahan, violin, Unidentified orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0686FD2E319DF1D2

*Vladimir HOROWITZ (1903-1989)*
Variations on a Theme from Bizet's _Carmen_, for piano (1926)
Vladimir Horowitz, piano





*Robert Russell BENNETT (1894-1981) *
"Dat's Love" from C_armen Jones_ (1943)
(Adapted fro m music by Georges BIZET)
Dorothy Dandridge, vocalist
1954 Film soundtrack





*September 9 2011, "I Think You Will Love This Music Too" will be adding a new montage "Daytime" to its Pod-O-Matic Podcast. Read our English and French commentary September 9th on the ITYWLTMT Blogspot blog.*


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## Guest

"Que" and "Carmen" without "´".


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## itywltmt

I wasn't sure about the accent on the "que" because I thought it was needed to distinguish different uses of the pronoun. As for the accent on Carmen, it depends - me thinks - if you want emphasis on the last syllable or not.

Either way, I stand corrected.


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