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Opera Box

Teacher’s Guide

table of contents

Welcome Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Lesson Plan Unit Overview and Academic Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Opera Box Content Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Reference/Tracking Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Lesson Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Synopsis and Musical Excerpts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Flow Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Georges Bizet – a biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Catalogue of Bizet’s Operas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Background Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Prosper Mérimée and His Novella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

World Events in 1875 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

History of Opera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

History of Minnesota Opera, Repertoire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

The Standard Repertory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Elements of Opera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81

Glossary of Opera Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Glossary of Musical Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Bibliography, Discography, Videography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94

Word Search, Crossword Puzzle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

GIACOMO PUCCININOVEMBER 6 – 14, 2004

GAETANO DONIZETTIMARCH 5 – 13, 2005

JOHN ADAMSMAY 14 – 22, 2005

FOR SEASON TICKETS, CALL 612.333.6669

GEORGES BIZETAPRIL 16 – 24, 2005

mmnnooppeerraa..oorrgg

Dear Educator,

Thank you for using a Minnesota Opera Opera Box. This collection of material has been designed to help any educatorto teach students about the beauty of opera. This collection of material includes audio and video recordings, scores,reference books and a Teacher’s Guide.

The Teacher’s Guide includes Lesson Plans that have been designed around the materials found in the box and othereasily obtained items. In addition, Lesson Plans have been aligned with State and National Standards. See the UnitOverview for a detailed explanation.

Before returning the box, please fill out the Evaluation Form at the end of the Teacher’s Guide. As this project is new,your feedback is imperative. Comments and ideas from you – the educators who actually use it – will help shape thecontent for future boxes. In addition, you are encouraged to include any original lesson plans. The Teacher’s Guide isintended to be a living reference book that will provide inspiration for other teachers. If you feel comfortable, includea name and number for future contact from teachers who might have questions regarding your lessons and to give creditfor your original ideas. You may leave lesson plans in the Opera Box or mail them in separately.

Before returning, please double check that everything has been assembled. The deposit money will be held until Ipersonally check that everything has been returned (i.e. CDs having been put back in the cases). Payment may be madeto the Minnesota Opera Education Department. All forms of payment are accepted.

Since opera is first and foremost a theatrical experience, it is strongly encouraged that attendance at a performance ofan opera be included. The Minnesota Opera offers Student Matinees and discounted group rate tickets to regularperformances. It is hoped that the Opera Box will be the first step into exploring opera, and attending will be the next.

I hope you enjoy these materials and find them helpful. If I can be of any assistance, please feel free to call or e-mail meany time.

Sincerely,

Jamie AndrewsCommunity Education [email protected] (phone)mnopera.orgimagineopera.org

introduction letter 1

620 North First Street, Minneapolis, MN 55401

Kevin Ramach, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL DIRECTOR

Dale Johnson, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Carmen Opera Box

Lesson Plan Title Page with Related Academic Standards

lesson plans with related standards 2

lesson title minnesota academic national standardsstandards: arts k–12 for music education

1 – Life and Times of Georges Bizet Music 9.1.1.3.1Music 9.1.1.3.2Theater 9.1.1.4.2Music 9.4.1.3.1Music 9.4.1.3.2Theater 9.4.1.4.1Theater 9.4.1.4.2

8, 9

2 – Translating the text of the Habeñera Music 9.1.1.3.1Music 9.1.1.3.2Music 9.1.1.3.3Music 9.1.2.3.2Music 9.1.2.3.3Music 9.2.1.3.1Music 9.2.1.3.2Music 9.2.1.3.3Music 9.3.1.3.1Music 9.3.1.3.2Music 9.3.1.3.3Music 9.4.1.3.1Music 9.4.1.3.2

1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9

3 – “That was a great performance and I know why!” Music 9.1.3.3.1Music 9.1.3.3.2Theater 9.1.3.4.1Theater 9.1.3.4.2Music 9.4.1.3.1Music 9.4.1.3.2Theater 9.4.1.4.1Theater 9.4.1.4.2

6, 7, 8, 9

4 – Acting out scenes from Carmen Music 9.1.3.3.1Music 9.1.3.3.2Theater 9.1.3.4.1Theater 9.1.3.4.2

6, 7, 8, 9

5 – Conflicts of the characters of Carmen Theater 9.1.1.4.1Theater 9.1.1.4.2

8, 9

3lesson plans with related standards

lesson title minnesota academic national standardshigh standards for music education

6 – Interpretations of “Je vais danser…” (I willdance in your honor) duet from Carmen

6, 7, 8, 9

7 – Comparing and contrasting performancesof the Habañera and the Act IV finale

6, 7, 8, 9

8 – Bizet’s use of orchestra in Carmen Music 9.1.1.3.1Music 9.1.1.3.2

6, 7, 8, 9

9 – Persecution of the Gypsies Music 9.1.1.3.3Theater 9.1.1.4.3

8, 9

Music 9.1.3.3.1Music 9.1.3.3.2Theater 9.1.3.4.1Theater 9.1.3.4.2Music 9.4.1.3.1Music 9.4.1.3.2Theater 9.4.1.4.1Theater 9.4.1.4.2

Music 9.1.3.3.1Music 9.1.3.3.2Theater 9.1.3.4.1Theater 9.1.3.4.2Music 9.4.1.3.1Music 9.4.1.3.2Theater 9.4.1.4.1Theater 9.4.1.4.2


minnesota academic standards, arts k–12

The Minnesota Academic Standards in the Arts set the expectations for achievement in the arts for k–12 students inMinnesota. The standards are organized by grade band (k–3, 4–5, 6–8, 9–12) into four strands that foster thedevelopment of students’ artistic literacy.

The strands are as follows:i. Artistic Foundations2. Artistic Process: Create or Make3. Artistic Process: Perform or Present, and4. Artistic Process: Respond or Critique.

Each strand has one or more standards that can be implemented in the arts areas of dance, media arts, music, theaterand/or visual arts. The benchmarks for the standards in each arts area are designated by a five-digit code. In readingthe coding, please note that for code 0.3.1.5.2, the 0 refers to refers to the 0–3 (k–3) grade band, the 3 refers to theArtistic Process: Perform or Present strand, the 1 refers to the first (and only) standard for that strand, the 5 refers tothe fifth arts area (visual arts), and the 2 refers to the second benchmark for that standard.

See the Minnesota Department of Education website for more information: education.state.mn.us/mde

Grades 9–12strand: Artistic Foundations

standard 1: Demonstrate knowledge of the foundations of the arts area.arts area: Music

code: 9.1.1.3.1benchmark: Analyze how the elements of music including melody, rhythm,

harmony, dynamics, tone color, texture, form and their relatedconcepts are combined to communicate meaning in the creation of,performance of, or response to music.

9.1.1.3.2benchmark: Evaluate how the elements of music and related concepts such as

repetition, pattern, balance and emphasis are used in the creation of,performance of, or response to music.

9.1.1.3.3benchmark: Analyze how the characteristics of a variety of genres and styles

contribute to the creation of, performance of, or response to music.arts area: Theater

code: 9.1.1.4.1benchmark: Analyze how the elements of theater, including plot, theme,

character, language, sound and spectacle are combined tocommunicate meaning in the creation of, performance of, or responseto theater.

Opera Box Lesson Plans with Related Standards

The lessons in this Teacher Guide are aligned with the current Minnesota Academic Standards, Arts k–12, and theNational Standards for Music Education. It is not the intention of these lessons to completely satisfy the standards. Thislist only suggests how the standards and lesson objectives relate to each other.

9.1.1.4.2benchmark: Evaluate how forms such as musical theater, opera or melodrama, and

structures such as chronological or nonlinear are used in the creationof, performance of, or response to theater.

9.1.1.4.3benchmark: Evaluate how the characteristics of Western and non-Western styles,

such as Kabuki, Noh, Theater of the Absurd or classical contributeto the creation of, performance of, or response to theater.

arts area: Visual Artscode: 9.1.1.5.1

benchmark: Analyze how the elements of visual arts such as repetition, pattern,emphasis, contrast and balance are used in the creation of,presentation of, or response to visual artworks.

9.1.1.5.2benchmark: Evaluate how the principles of visual art such as repetition, pattern,

emphasis, contrast and balance are used in the creation of,presentation of, or response to visual artworks.

standard 2: Demonstrate knowledge of and use of the technical skills of the art form, integratingtechnology when applicable.

arts area: Musiccode: 9.1.2.3.1

benchmark: Read and notate music using standard notation system such ascomplex meters, extended ranges and expressive symbols, with andwithout the use of notation software in a variety of styles andcontexts.

9.1.2.3.2benchmark: Sing alone and in small and large groups (multi-part), or play an

instrument alone in and in small or large groups, a variety of musicusing characteristic tone, technique and expression.

9.1.2.3.3benchmark: Use electronic musical tools to record, mix, play back, accompany,

arrange or compose music.arts area: Theater

code: 9.1.2.4.1benchmark: Act by developing, communicating and sustaining character; or

design by conceptualizing and realizing artistic interpretations; ordirect by interpretations dramatic text and organizing andrehearsing for informal or formal productions.

9.1.2.5.1benchmark: Use technology for purposes of research, feedback, documentation or

production.arts area: Visual Arts

code: 9.1.2.5.1benchmark: Integrate the characteristics of the tools, materials and techniques of

a selected media in original artworks to support artistic purposes



standard 3: Demonstrate understanding of the personal, social, cultural and historical contexts thatinfluence the arts areas.


benchmark: Analyze how the personal, social, cultural and historical contextsinfluence the creation, interpretation or performance of musicincluding the contributions of Minnesota American Indian tribesand communities.

9.1.3.3.2benchmark: Synthesize and express an individual view of the meanings and

functions of music.arts area: Theater

code: 9.1.3.4.2benchmark: Analyze how the personal, social, cultural and historical contexts

influence the creation, interpretation or performance of musicincluding the contributions of Minnesota American Indian tribesand communities.


functions of theater.arts area: Visual Arts

code: 9.1.3.5.1benchmark: Analyze how the personal, social, cultural and historical contexts

influence the creation, interpretation or performance of musicincluding the contributions of Minnesota American Indian tribesand communities.


functions of visual arts.

strand 2: Artistic Process: Create or Makestandard 1: Create or make in a variety of contexts in the arts areas using the artistic foundations.


benchmark: Improvise, compose or arrange new musical compositions in avariety of styles and contexts using available technology to preservethe creations.

9.2.1.3.2benchmark: Revise a musical composition or arrangement based on artistic intent

and using multiple sources of critique and feedback.

9.2.1.3.3benchmark: Justify an artistic statement, including how audience and occasion

influence creative choices.arts area: Theater

code: 9.2.1.4.1benchmark: Create a single, complex work or multiple works in theater such as a

script, character or design.

9.2.1.4.2benchmark: Revise a creation based on artistic intent and using multiple sources

of critique and feedback.9.2.1.4.3

benchmark: Justify an artistic statement, including how audience and occasioninfluence creative choices.

strand 4: Artistic Process: Respond or Critiquestandard 1: Respond to or critique a variety of creations and performances using the artistic

foundations.arts area: Music

code: 9.4.1.3.1benchmark: Analyze, interpret and evaluate a variety of musical works of

performances by applying self-selected criteria within the traditionsof the art form.

9.4.1.3.2benchmark: Justify choices of self-selected criteria based on knowledge of how

criteria affect criticism.arts area: Theater

arts area: Theater9.4.1.4.1

benchmark: Analyze, interpret and evaluate a variety of works in theater byapplying self-selected criteria within the traditions of the art form.

9.4.1.4.2benchmark: Justify choices of self-selected criteria based on knowledge of how

criteria affect criticism.


national standards for music education

1 Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

2 Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

3 Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

4 Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.

5 Reading and notating music.

6 Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.a analyze aural examples of a varied repertoire of music, representing diverse genres and cultures, by describingthe uses of elements of music and expressive devices

b demonstrate extensive knowledge of the technical vocabulary of musicc identify and explain compositional devices and techniques used to provide unity, variety, tension and release ina musical work and give examples of other works that make similar uses of these devices and techniques

d demonstrate the ability to perceive and remember music events by describing in detail significant eventsoccurring in a given aural example

e compare ways in which musical materials are used in a given example relative to ways in which they areused in other works of the same genre or style

f analyze and describe uses of the elements of music in a given work that make it unique, interesting, andexpressive

7 Evaluating music and music performances.a evolve specific criteria for making informed, critical evaluations of the quality and the effectiveness ofperformances, compositions, arrangements, and improvisations and apply the criteria in their personalparticipation in music

b evaluate a performance, composition, arrangement, or improvisation by comparing it to similar or exemplarymodels

c evaluate a given musical work in terms of its aesthetic qualities and explain it to similar or exemplary models

8 Understanding relationships between music, the others arts, and disciplines outside the arts.a explain how elements, artistic processes, and organizational principles are used in similar and distinctive waysin the various arts and cite examples

b compare characteristics of two or more arts within a particular historical period or style and cite examples fromvarious cultures

c explain ways in which the principles and subject matter of various disciplines outside the arts are interrelatedwith those of music

d compare the uses of characteristic elements, artistic processes, and organizational principles among the arts indifferent historical periods and different cultures

e explain how the roles of creators, performers, and others involved in the production and presentation of thearts are similar to and different from one another in the various arts

9 Understanding music in relation to history and culture.


Opera Box Content List

Carmen

There is one (1) of each of the following items:

_____Carmen FULL SCORE (Dover)

_____Carmen VOCAL SCORE (Dover)

_____Carmen LIBRETTO (G. Schirmer)

_____CD Carmen (Callas/Gedda, emi Classics)

_____CD Carmen (Berganza/Domingo, Deutsche Grammophon)

_____dvd Carmen (Ewing/Lima, rm Arts)

_____dvd Carmen (Migenes/Domingo, Triumph Films)

_____BOOK English National Opera Guide #13 – Carmen

_____BOOK Opera Journey’s Mini Guide

_____BOOK Opera: Composers Works Performers by András Batta

_____Teacher’s Guide

The entire deposit will be withheld until all items are returned. Any damaged items will be charged to the renter forthe amount of the replacement. Thank you for using the Minnesota Opera’s Opera Box and teaching opera in yourclassroom.

content list 9

Reference/Tracking Guide

Carmen

This is a chart that coordinates each track or chapter number each CD or DVD in the Opera Box. The chart shows whereeach excerpt is in relation to the other recordings and where to find each section in the scores.

* Both CD and DVD recordings, with the exception of the Callas/Gedda EMI recording, are performances using the spoken dialogue.The full and vocal scores do not contain the spoken dialogue, but instead have sung recitative.

reference/tracking guide 10

full score(dover)

vocal score(dover)

dg cd(berganza,domingo)

emi cd(callas, gedda)

image dvd(eming, lima)

tri-star dvd(migenes,domingo)

page 3 page 1 track 1/1 track 1/1 track 2 track 2

page 14 page 4 track 1/2

page 17 page 5 track 1/2 track 3 track 3

page 26 page 10 track 1/3 track 4

page 43 page 21 track 1/4 track 1/3

page 44 page 21 track 5

track 1/5*

(not in score)


track 1/7*

(not in score)




page 83 page 43 track 1/10 track 1/6 track 5






act one act one act one act one act one act one

reference/tracking guide 11

full score

page 116

vocal score dg cd emi cd image dvd tri-star dvd

page 68 track 1/15




page 153 page 89 track 8 track 9



act two act two act two act two act two act two









page 277 page 184 cd2/track 1




page 297 page 199 track 15 track 16






treference/tracking guide 12

full score

act three

vocal score dg cd emi cd image dvd tri-star dvd

act three act three act three act three act three




track 3/3*

(not in score)track 19



page 385 page 271 track 3/5 track 20



track 3/7*

(not in score)– cut –

page 404 page 281 track 3/8 track 2/11 track 21 – cut –

page 421 page 299 track 3/9 track 2/12 – cut –


page 437 page 307 track 3/1i track 2/13 track 23 – cut –





act four act four act four act four act four act four





opera box lesson plans 13

Carmen Opera Box

lesson plan

title of lesson

Lesson 1: The Life and Times of Georges Bizet

objective(s )

Students will understand the life and culture of Georges Bizet.

material(s )

• Reference books about Bizet• RESEARCH CHECKLIST (see following page)• General reference books about 19th-century Europe (specifically France) (not in Opera Box)• Poster board of Power Point for student presentations (not in Opera Box)• Poster board (for class timeline) (not in Opera Box)

procedure(s)

(1) Divide class into groups and assign research topics related to Bizet. Direct the class to research their specifictopics and prepare a presentation based on their findings. The nature and scope of the presentations is thediscretion of the teacher.

Possible topics:– Political and social culture of France during Bizet’s lifetime– Scientific and technological achievements of the 19th century– Social life and class divisions of the 19th century– Artistic and musical life in France and Europe of the 19th century – “What was going on musically while Bizet was composing?”

(2) Offer some guided (in-class) research time with students. Depending on students’ ability to conduct research,additional guidance might be needed.

(3) Each group is to create a piece of the timeline poster that will be posted on the classroom wall. It is suggestedthat the teacher predetermine what form the timeline will take. For example, cut up pieces of poster board intosections, one for each topic. Mark the same year span on each section. Groups are to include 20 facts per section.

(4) Student groups will give oral presentations on their topic. Each group is also to create five questions based ontheir presentation that they feel are the most important. Questions are to be submitted to the teacher prior togiving the presentation. The rest of the class should take notes on each presentation for a class-constructed test.

(5) Put all questions together from each group and give test.

assessment(s)

Assign value for class participation and group cooperation. Also, each piece of the timeline must have a certainnumber of relevant points presented in a clean and clear manner.

14opera box lesson plans

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GEORGES BIZET TIMELINE RESEARCH CHECKLIST

group members

topic

research checklist

Each item must be completed to earn full point value.

_____ List 20 facts related to the topic and how they relate to Bizet. _____ points

_____ Organize all facts into chronological order. _____ points

_____ Write 3 sentence descriptions of each fact to be put on timeline. _____ points

_____ Proofread all sentences prior to putting them on the timeline. _____ points

_____ Put each fact on the timeline for public display. _____ points

class presentation checklist

_____ Prepare an outline of class presentation. _____ points

_____ Based on this outline, create 5 questions that your group feels addressthe most important points of the presentation. _____ points

_____ Submit 5 questions to teacher prior to presentation. _____ points

_____ Assign speaking parts for each group member. _____ points

_____ Practice speech. _____ points

_____ Give presentation. _____ points

_____ Put piece of timeline on wall. _____ points

_____


Carmen Opera Box

lesson plan

title of lesson

Lesson 2: Translating the text of the Habañera

objective(s )

Students will learn the characteristics of an aria and experiment with translating those characteristics into othergenres.

material(s )

• Carmen CD (Berganza/Domingo, Deutsche Grammophon CD)• Carmen LIBRETTO text of “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” (Habañera) (English National Opera Guide, PP. 66–67)

procedure(s)

(1) Play the Habañera (CD disc 1/track 10) excerpt for the class. They are to follow along with the translation fromthe libretto.

(2) After playing the excerpt, discuss the following points:• Does the music relate to the text?• How does (or doesn’t) the music relate to the text?• Does the text have any meaning in today’s society?• Is there a popular song that deals with the same emotions?

(3) Students, individually or as a group, are to take the text of the Habañera and put it into another genre. Forexample, students may choose to turn it into a rap, country and western or folk song.

(4) Students are to perform their work in front of the class.

(5) Discuss with the class which performances were successful and which were not. Include a discussion of theeffectiveness of the text separate from the music.

assessment(s)

Value will be put on the performance of the text in a new genre and class participation. See the TRANSLATING THE

HABAÑERA TEXT RUBRIC (see following page).


criteria 4 3 2 1

creativityand

originality

clarity oftext

effectivenessof

accompaniment

Very unique! Youhave shown evidencethat you understandthe text and itsmeaning. Your pieceis very unique andstands out.

Good work. Youunderstand the textand its meaning.Your piece has someoriginality.

Fair. Your pieceshows that youtried, but you couldhave used moreeffort.

Poor. Did you eventry? Shows nothought or insightinto the text andhow to translate thatinto another genre.

Crystal clear! Theaudience understoodeverything and themeaning was notlost. Very effective.

The text camethrough for most ofyour piece. Theaudience could followmost of the text andyou conveyed itsmeaning.

Slightlyunderstandable. Therewere a few times thatthe audience couldunderstand the text.Much of the originalmeaning was lost.

Were you speakingEnglish? Theaudience could notunderstand what youwere singing. Lostall original meaning.

Very effective!The accompanimentenhanced themeaning of the text.It did not distractthe audience in anyway.

The accompanimenthelped convey themeaning of the text.It did not distractthe audience.

Acceptable. Theaccompanimentslightly distractedthe audience fromunderstanding themeaning.

Was there any? Theaccompaniment wasdistracting to themeaning of the text.Go back to thedrawing board.

total points

TRANSLATING THE HABAÑERA TEXT RUBRIC

Lesson 2 name


Carmen Opera Box

lesson plan

title of lesson

Lesson 3: “That was a great performance and I know why!”

objective(s )

Students will learn about applying objective and subjective statements toward a musical performance. Students willapply this knowledge of criticism by writing a critique of a performance. Ideally this lesson should be used inconjunction with attending a live performance.

material(s )

• Carmen CD (Berganza/Domingo, Deutsche Grammophon) or• Carmen DVD (Ewing/Lima, RM Arts)• OBJECTIVE/SUBJECTIVE CHART (see following page)• Various reviews from newspapers and magazines of opera, concerts, musicals, theater, movies and other media

(not in Opera Box).* Depending on your particular subject area, you may choose to focus on different aspects of reviewing. For example,a music class might choose to limit themselves and only look at musical reviews.

procedure(s)

(1) Play an excerpt from Carmen. Suggested excerpts would be (a) any complete act, or if there are time restrictions,(b) shorter suggested excerpts, such as:

– Act I, scenes 1–4 (stop after the Habañera) [CD disc 1, tracks 1–10 or dvd chapters 2–5]– Act II, scenes 11–14 (stop after the quintet) [CD disc 2, tracks 1–6 or dvd chapters 11–13]

(2) Ask students to make objective and subjective statements about the performance. Chart and categorize the classcomments into two categories, objective and subjective.

Discussion points:

– Differences between objective and subjective statements– Which is easier to make, subjective or objective statements?– Which type of statement provides more information about a performance for a potential listener?

(3) Explain that the role of any critic (and all musicians!) is to balance the differences between the two. A possibleextension for this lesson could be to have students conduct research on the professional critic.

(4) Assign students to find and read three reviews from a newspaper, magazine or on-line source. Students are thento analyze the reviews, identifying the subjective and objective attributes. They will put their answers on the“THAT WAS A GREAT PERFORMANCE AND I KNOW WHY!” WORKSHEET.

(5) Students are to share findings with the class; question students about their findings.

(6) In class, have students write a review about a common, singular topic. For example, have everyone write abouttheir experiences passing in the halls between periods, or eating in the cafeteria. Discuss the subjective andobjective elements involved.

(7) Assign students to write a review outside of class. This review could be based on the performance the class willattend.

assessment(s)

option one

Evaluation shall include the successful completion of the reviews found, analyzed, and written. Class participationshould also be included.

option two

Evaluation shall include the successful completion of the reviews found, analyzed and written. In addition, studentsare to fill out another OBJECTIVE/SUBJECTIVE CHART evaluating an addition excerpt from Carmen or anotherperformance. (The suggested Carmen excerpt is (1) the other DVD or CD clip you did not use during the lesson, or (2)Act IV: cd desc 2, track 15–18, DVD chapters 22–24.) Class participation should also be assessed.

additional comment(s)

Encourage students to write a review about a live performance of another ensemble within the school or a professionalgroup. A group of students could also review a new movie. Also, if possible, inquire if some of these reviews couldbe included in a school or local newspaper.


19

opera

box

lesson

plans

APPLYING VALUE TO MUSICAL PERFORMANCE WORKSHEET

OBJECTIVE/SUBJECTIVE CHART

Lesson 3 name

criteria

objective subjective objective subjective objective subjective

1

2

3

4

5

1

2

3

4

5

1

2

3

4

5

directions

After listening to a piece of music, create a list of five (5) objective statements regarding the overall performance itself, the quality of the piece(s) and theperformers. Then make a list of five (5) subjective statements regarding the same criteria. In the “criteria” box, identify what you are (sub) objectifying.

criteriacriteria


Carmen Opera Box

lesson plan

title of lesson

Lesson 4: Acting scenes from Carmen

objective(s )

Students will learn about the importance of acting in opera and how it relates to the libretto.

material(s )

• LIBRETTO English National Opera Guide No. 13: Carmen, PP. 121–124); one copy per student• ACTING EVALUATION WORKSHEET (see following page); two copies per student• Carmen DVD (the Migenes/Domingo, Tri-Star movie is suggested)

procedure(s)

(1) Before you do this lesson in class it is recommended that you read through this excerpt. You need to becomfortable with what you will be asking your students to act out. Suggest to your students that a libretto isthe text of what is being sung and the translation is of those words. It’s not meant to be a spoken play.

(2) Give a copy of PP. 121–124 from the Carmen libretto to each student. Ask for volunteers to read and act thefollowing parts:

Carmen (gypsy)Jose (army officer who has deserted his post)Chorus (spectators at a bullfight)

Students are to read through the excerpt, take notes and discuss the personalities of the characters.

(3) In small groups, they are to read through it again and prepare to act out their roles in front of the classroom.Encourage students to add vocal inflection and gesture to their parts. Their choices will be discussed in the nextstep.

(4) After each group finishes performing the excerpt, discuss as a class the choices they made in creating theircharacters. What was done to differentiate Carmen from José? Did Don José seem angry or jealous (or both)?How was that portrayed by the actor? How did the chorus react when they saw Carmen dead?

(5) Move the discussion to the “acceptability” of these gestures.– Is the audience convinced that the characters are real?– Are these choices and roles acceptable to our current sensibilities?– Are there some gestures acceptable and others unacceptable?– Are there any stereotypes being portrayed?

assessment(s)

Student will watch the Act IV scene two of Carmen (Migenes/Domingo, Tri-Star DVD), chapters 23–24, and completethe ACTING EVALUATION WORKSHEET based on the actions from the movie.

Value will be given for completion of the worksheet with acceptable answers. Class participation should also be givenvalue.

ACTING EVALUATION WORKSHEET

Lesson 4 name of observer

name of performer

d i r e c t i o n s

Closely observe your peers as they perform scenes from Carmen. Look for the following elements in their performance.Be consistent and fair with each group.

(1)What was the single most effective gesture used by the group performing?

(2) Did the group performing “follow” each line of the text? Did they physically reinforce everything they were saying?

(3) Did the actors make eye contact with each other and/or the audience?

(4)Was the voice of the actors varied to create variety and emotion in the scene?

(5) Give one suggestion to the performing group to improve their performance.



Carmen Opera Box

lesson plan

title of lesson

Lesson 5: Conflicts of the Characters in Carmen

objective(s )

Student will learn about the character Carmen and the direct interaction she has with four other characters in the opera.* This lesson may also be done after the class attends a performance.

material(s )

• CONFLICTS OF THE CHARACTERS IN CARMEN WORKSHEET

procedure(s)

(1) Give one copy of the CONFLICTS OF THE CHARACTERS IN CARMEN WORKSHEET to each student. Students are toidentify each person that Carmen has a direct relationship with in the opera. Carmen is in the middle and thesurrounding circles are Don José, Escamillo, Zuniga, Frasquita/Mercédès.

(2) The arrows pointing to Carmen are for that particular character’s conflict with Carmen. The other arrows are forCarmen’s conflict with them. See assessment for detailed answers.

assessment(s)

Collect completed worksheets and assign a point value to each possible answer (12 total).Answers:(1) Don José (2) He’s in love with Carmen (3) She’s in love with Don José for awhile.

(4) Escamillo (5) He’s in love with Carmen (6) She falls in love with him after Don José.

(7) Zungia (8) He’s in love with Carmen, sends her to jail (9) He sends her love to jail.

(10) Frasquita/Mercédès (11) They warn her to be careful of Don José.

(12) She thinks her friends are foolish for warning her.


Thanks go to the Opera Company of Philadelphia and their Education Department for allowing us to modify thislesson.


CONFLICTS OF THE CHARACTERS IN CARMEN WORKSHEET

Lesson 5 name

directions:

Identify the four major characters that have a direct relationship with Carmen. Carmen is in the inner circle with theother characters in the two diamonds and two rectangles. In the arrows pointing towards Carmen, identify theconflict that that person has with Carmen. In the arrows pointing out, identify the point of conflict between Carmenand that character. There are a total of 12 answers.


Carmen Opera Box

lesson plan

title of lesson

Lesson 6: Interpretations of the “Je vais danser …” (I will dance in your honor) duet from Carmen.

objective(s )

• Students will learn to compare and contrast musical elements from two different recordings of the “Je vais danseren votre honneur” (I will dance in your honor) duet.

material(s )

• Carmen CD disc 2, track 8 (Berganza/Domingo, Deutsche Grammophon)• Carmen CD disc 2, track 3 (Callas/Gedda, EMI Classics)• Carmen DVD chapter 15 (Migenes/Domingo, Columbia Tri-star)• Text of the “Je vais danser …” duet (English National Opera Guide p. 75)• optional : Music of the “Je vais danser …” duet (vocal score pp. 189–199, full score pp. 282–297)

procedure(s)

(1) Give one copy of INTERPRETATIONS OF “JE VAIS DANSER EN VOTRE HONNEUR” WORKSHEET to each student. Avariation of this lesson can be to also give your students a copy of the libretto to follow while listening to therecordings. More advanced music students could follow along with the vocal or full score.

(2) Tell the students that they will listen to two different recordings of the same aria. They are to make five objectiveand five subjective statements for each recording. (Make sure your students understand the difference betweenobjective and subjective statements when describing a musical performance.)

(3) Play the Carmen CD disc 2, track 8 (Berganza/Domingo, Deutsche Grammophon) of “Je vais danser …” for theclass. The students are to write down statements for the first recording.

(4) Play the other Carmen CD disc 2, track 3 (Callas/Gedda, EMI Classics) of “Je vais danser …” for the class. Thestudents are to write down statements for the second recording.

(5) As a class discuss the similarities and differences between the two recordings. Suggested topics for discussion:

– Determine the artistic merits of the two performances– The students’ own personal preferences between the two performances– Why there are differences (the singers are performing from the same written music)?– Which recording is more dramatic, musical, or authentic, etc?

assessment(s)

Play the Carmen DVD, chapter 15 (Migenes/Domingo, Columbia Tri-star) of “Je vais danser …” The students arethen to write a persuasive essay either for or against this performance. Students are to include objective andsubjective statements in their essays. They are to compare and contrast this performance with the other twopreviously listened to.

additional comments

See Lesson 7 for additional activities on this topic.


INTERPRETATIONS OF THE “JE VAIS DANSER EN VOTRE HONNEUR” (I WILL DANCE IN YOUR HONOR) DUET FROM

CARMEN WORKSHEET

Lesson 6NAME

DIRECTIONS

After listening to each recording of “Je vais danser …” write down five objective and five subjective statements aboutthe recording. Follow the same procedure after listening to the second recording. Finally, you will listen to a thirdrecording of the same piece and are to compose a persuasive essay either for or against the artistic choices made by theperformers. Make sure you include both objective and subjective statements to support your opinion.

subjective objective subjectiveobjective

1st performance 2nd performance

5

4

3

1

2

5

4

3

1

2


Carmen Opera Box

lesson plan

title of lesson

Lesson 7: Comparing and contrasting performances of the Carmen finale

objective(s )

Students will learn to compare and contrast musical elements from two recordings of the finale from Carmen.

material(s )

• Carmen CD disc 3, track 18 (Berganza/Domingo, Deutsche Grammophon)• Carmen CD, disc 2, track 18 (Callas/Gedda, emi Classics)• COMPARING AND CONTRASTING PERFORMANCES OF THE CARMEN FINALE WORKSHEET

procedure(s)

(1) Play the Berganza/Domingo CD of the Carmen finale (disc 3, track 18) for the class.* Students are to write downfive facts and five opinions of the performance on the COMPARING AND CONTRASTING PERFORMANCES OF THE

CARMEN FINALE WORKSHEET (see following sheet). You may need to prepare your students for this lesson bydefining objective and subjective statements especially when analyzing music.

(2) Play the Callas/Gedda CD of the Carmen finale (disc 2, track 18). The students are to write five additionalobjective and subjective statements of this performance.

(3) As a class, discuss the similarities and differences between the two recordings. Suggested topics for discussion are:

– Determine the artistic merits of the two performances.– What are the personal preferences between the two recordings?– Why are there differences (both recordings are performing the same music)?– Which recording is more dramatic, musical, authentic, etc?

assessment(s)

Play the Habañera from both CDs (Berganza/Domingo CD disc 1, track 10) (Callas/Gedda CD disc 1, track 6). Studentsare to create a list of five facts and five opinions for both recordings. Students are then to write a persuasive essaydescribing the merits of one performance over the other. Their two lists of facts and opinions should be used in theessay.

additional comments

* Depending on the musical level (and musical memory) of your students, a variation of this lesson could be toinclude a copy of the text from the libretto, vocal score or full score. This may help students focus on the musicand notice the subtle details between the performances.

See Lesson 6 for additional activities on this subject.


COMPARING AND CONTRASTING PERFORMANCES OF THE CARMEN FINALE WORKSHEET

Lesson 7NAME

DIRECTIONS

After listening to each recording of the Act IV finale of Carmen, write down five objective and five subjective statementsabout the recording. Follow the same procedure after listening to the second recording. As a class, you will discuss youranswers regarding these performances.

You will then listen to two recordings of the Habañera and write down five objective/subjective statements regarding theperformances. Then write a persuasive essay either for or against the one of the recordings. Base it on the artistic choicesmade by the performers. Make sure you include both objective and subjective statements to support your opinion.



5

4

3

1

2

ACT IV FINALE

over




5

4

3

1

2

HABAÑERA

5

4

3

1

2


objective(s )

Students will learn how Bizet’s use of the orchestra affects the drama of Carmen.

material(s )

• Carmen CD disc 2, track 9–10 (Berganza/Domingo, Deutsche Grammophon)• BIZET’S USE OF THE ORCHESTRA IN CARMEN WORKSHEET; one copy per student (see following page)

procedure(s)

(1) Give a copy of BIZET’S USE OF THE ORCHESTRA IN CARMEN WORKSHEET to each student. As a class, listen toNo. 17 – the Flower Duet (disc 2, track 9–10), and have students write down short phrases describing what theyhear. Make sure every student can define all the terms on the worksheet. Give verbal announcements at each newsection. Example responses are given in the TEACHER KEY. (see following page)

(2) Go back to the beginning of the excerpt and listen to each section again, but stop after each section fordiscussion. The discussion should focus on the fundamentals of music. Student should be encouraged to usecorrect terminology. For more advanced music students, the full or vocal score could be used for a deeperdiscussion of Bizet’s techniques.

Suggested questions:

– What is the overall tessitura of each section?– What is the tessitura of the voices or instruments, individually?– How does Bizet create a sense of forward motion?– What are the exact instruments being used in each section?– Are the keys major or minor?

assessment(s)

Value will be given for class participation and acceptable, legible answers on the worksheet.

Carmen Opera Box

lesson plan

title of lesson

Lesson 8: Bizet’s use of the orchestra in Carmen


BIZET’S USE OF THE ORCHESTRA IN CARMEN

Lesson 8 name

TEACHER KEY

directions

As you listen to No. 17 – the Flower Duet, describe the musical elements used in each section. The chart below contains somedescriptions to help you. Your teacher will verbally describe each section for you. Keep in mind that the answers in the articulation rowcan be interpreted in various ways. Use your best judgment when accepting answers.

Boxes in BOLD type are not on student worksheet.

scorepage

vocalrange

tempo

dynamics

articu-lations

vs pp. 187–8fs pp. 280–1

vs p. 189fs p. 282

vs pp. 190–193fs pp. 283–287

vs pp. 194–195fs pp. 288–291

Carmenmezzo sopranoDon Josétenor

Carmen

Allegro Allegretto Allegretto Allegretto moltomoderato

piano pianissimo Fortissimo/pianissimo

Recitative Recitative1) Pizz strings2) bugle calls off-stage3) Carmen, legato

Recitative-like

pianissimo

vs p. 196fs p. 292

Don José

Poco ritenuto

piano

scorepage

vocalrange

tempo

dynamics

articu-lations

vs pp. 196–197fs pp. 293–294

vs pp. 198–199fs pp. 295–298

vs pp. 200–203fs pp. 298–304

vs pp. 204–210fs pp. 305–315

CarmenCarmenDon José

Don José Carmen

Tempo I Poco più mosso Andantino Allegrettomoderato

piano pianissimo pianissimo

Woodwinds andCarmen – staccatoStrings – pizzicato

Violas-offbeataccompanimentcreates a sense ofagitation.

Woodwinds –legato, sustained

1)Basses – pizzicatoand staccato2)Timp., Hrns., etc..– dotted rhythm

Piano-mezzo forte-forte

vs pp. 210–211fs pp. 316–318

Allegro

Piano-pianissimo-fortissimo

Recitative

vs pp. 211–212fs pp. 318–321

Poco ritenuto

piano-fortissimo

Recitative

otherfeatures

Vocal line soundslike drum. (“Ta, ra,ta, ta…”)

Carmen’s Fatemotive

Carmen – emphasison one note, long-short rhythm.

Long andsustained, at veryhigh reach of voice.

BIZET’S USE OF THE ORCHESTRA IN CARMEN

Lesson 8 name

directions

As you listen to the Flower Duet, describe the musical elements used in each section. The chart below contains some descriptionsto help you. Your teacher will verbally describe each section for you. Keep in mind that the answers in the articulation row can be interpretedin various ways. Use your best judgment when answering.


scorepage

vocalrange

tempo

dynamics

articu-lations

vs pp. 187–8fs pp. 280–1

vs p. 189fs p. 282

vs pp. 190–193fs pp. 283–287

vs pp. 194–195fs pp. 288–291

Carmenmezzo sopranoDon Josétenor

Allegro Allegretto Allegretto Allegretto moltomoderato

piano

Recitative

vs p. 196fs p. 292

scorepage

vocalrange

tempo

dynamics

articu-lations

vs pp. 196–197fs pp. 293–294

vs pp. 198–199fs pp. 295–298

vs pp. 200–203fs pp. 298–304

vs pp. 204–210fs pp. 305–315

vs pp. 210–211fs pp. 316–318

Recitative

vs pp. 211–212fs pp. 318–321

Recitative

otherfeatures


objective(s )

Students will learn about the historical precedent of Gypsy persecution.

material(s )

• PERSECUTION OF THE GYPSIES WORKSHEET (see following page)• Research materials: Reference books, Internet, etc. (not in Opera Box)

procedure(s)

(1) Give one copy of the PERSECUTION OF THE GYPSIES WORKSHEET to each student. They are to read theintroduction individually.

(2) Students are then to pick one of the activities . Allow time to research and provide guidance during thisprocess.


Some suggested web sites:

www.flamencoshop.com/home.htm(commercial site with many links)

www.muzeum.tarnow.pl/cyganie/przew_jang.html(European History of Gypsies, some parts of this site are not in English)

www.pe.net/~kathys/gypsy.htm(site was developed by a student working on a graduate degree about Gypsy culture)

Carmen Opera Box

lesson plan

title of lesson

Lesson 9: Persecution of the Gypsies

assessment(s)

Value will be given for the completion of one activity. Students may write a summary paper or give a classpresentation describing their findings. Suggested Rubrics are provided in the student worksheet.


Persecution of the Gypsies Worksheet

Lesson 9 name

directions

Read the introduction then pick one of the activities as your assignment. See the ASSESSMENT RUBRIC forproject criteria.

introduction *

Based primarily on studies of their language, most historians agree that the gypsies originated in India. By piecingtogether different portions of their history, it appears that they migrated to the Persian countries in the 5th century CE(Common Era) where they had an excellent reputation as musicians, entertainers and metal workers. After passingthrough Egypt they made their way to Europe, first to Greece and the Balkans in the 1200s, and then Eastern andWestern Europe in the following centuries.

Their primary occupation remained in entertainment and metalworking as they traveled around Europe. Manyhistorians have tried to justify their wandering lifestyle with the needs of their occupations; however, the gypsies mayhave simply developed as appreciation for the excitement of a nomadic life. Although they were contributing toEuropean culture with their various talents, they soon began to attract accusations of robbery, sorcery and fraud. In orderto flee these accusations, they again adopted their tradition of moving from place to place. The uncertainty of thislifestyle led to an extremely strong bond between the members of the gypsy groups. The gypsy language and cultureheld these extended family units together.

The widespread accusations of mischief against the gypsies reveal a combination of misperceptions and reality. Possiblya few of the gypsies, in order to supplement their meager incomes, indulged in petty thievery; however, theirinvolvement in high level sorcery and witchcraft, of which they were accused, is highly improbable. Thecharacterization of Carmen bewitching Don José with a cassia flower, “the witch’s flower,” reflects the reality in Spainat that time in which there were many unfounded accusations of witchcraft and heresy. Whatever petty crimes some ofthe gypsies may have committed, the persecution of the gypsies exceeded the simple punishment for criminal activityand became widespread abuse based on an anti-gypsy prejudice. As a result, the gypsies as a group were forced to fightfor their own survival on a daily basis.

In spite of their persecutions, the gypsies gave Spain one of its most respected dance forms, the flamenco. This danceuses castanets which the gypsies brought into Europe from Egypt.

It is important for us in the twenty-first century to recognize the injustices that were perpetrated in the past and alsothose that continue today. During World War II, the Nazis persecuted the gypsies as they the Jews. There certainly ismuch we can learn regarding tolerance and the acceptance of people different than ourselves.

We need to recognize our own prejudices and the dangerous behaviors they can produce. If you dislike someone becauseof their race, religion, language or culture, you are denying yourself the opportunity to learn from that person. Each ofus had a rich ethic culture of which to be proud. Escaping the cycle of prejudice enables us to enjoy the many wondrousways people are alike and different.

activities

(1) Interview someone who has been persecuted for their race, religion or cultural heritage. Write a summary paper orgive a class presentation describing your findings. Suggested questions to ask:– What were you persecuted for?– How did that make you feel?– Are you still angry about what happened?– Have you persecuted someone for the same reason, just in reverse?– How can you overcome prejudices?– Add you own questions.

(2) Research your own cultural ancestors and discover if they were persecuted or if they persecuted another ethnicgroup. For example, if you are of German decent, when your ancestors left Germany to come to America, did theyfind that all American’s were welcoming them with open arms? Where they persecuted just for being German? Inwhat ways—politically, religiously, etc? Write a summary paper or give a class presentation describing yourfindings.

(3) Research a current political situation in the world to see if there is persecution happening today. For example, thesituation in Israel between the Jews and Muslims has been going on for a very long time. What is the reason forthis conflict? Is there an end in site? Write a summary paper or give a class presentation describing when and whatis the motivation of the groups involved.

* This text is taken from the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s Sounds of Learning Carmen Study Guide, 2002.



PERSECUTION OF THE GYPSIES RUBRIC

category 4 3 2

organization

mechanics

quality ofinformation

Information is veryorganized with well-constructed paragraphsand subheadings.

Information isorganized with well-constructedparagraphs.

Information isorganized, butparagraphs are notwell-constructed.

No grammatical,spelling orpunctuation errors.

Almost nogrammatical, spellingor punctuation errors.

A few grammaticalspelling orpunctuation errors.

Information clearlyrelates to the maintopic. It includesseveral supportingdetails and/orexamples.

Information clearlyrelates to the maintopic. It provides 1–2supporting detailsand/or examples.

Information clearlyrelates to the maintopic. No detailsand/or examples aregiven.

SUMMARY PAPER

sources

All sources(information andgraphics) areaccurately documentedin the desired format.

All sources(information andgraphics) are accuratelydocumented, but a feware not in the desiredformat.

All sources(information andgraphics) are accuratelydocumented, but manyare not in the desiredformat.

Some sources are notaccuratelydocumented.

Information has littleor nothing to do withthe main topic.

A few grammaticalspelling orpunctuation errors.

The informationappears to bedisorganized.

1


CLASS PRESENTATION

category 4 3 2

preparedness

usescompletesentences

content

Student is completelyprepared and hasobviously rehearsed.

Student seems prettyprepared but mighthave needed a couplemore rehearsals.

The student issomewhat prepared,but it is clear thatrehearsal was lacking.

Always (99–100% oftime) speaks incomplete sentences.

Mostly (80-98%)speaks in completesentences.

Sometimes (70-80%)speaks in completesentences.

Shows a fullunderstanding of thetopic.

Shows a goodunderstanding of thetopic.

Shows a goodunderstanding of partsof the topic.

stays ontopic

Stays on topic all(100%) of the time.

Stays on topic most(99–90%) of the time.

Stays on topic some(89%–75%) of thetime.

It was hard to tellwhat the topic was.

Does not seem tounderstand the topicvery well.

Rarely speaks incomplete sentences.

Student does not seemat all prepared topresent.

1


Opera Box Lesson Plan

name(s)

title of lesson

school

phone/email

class and grade level

objective(s )

material(s )

procedure(s)

assessment(s)


please

includeanyoriginalmaterials,

ifpossible.

Create your own Opera Box Lesson Plan and send it to us.

Synopsis and Musical Excerpts

The prelude to Carmen is a popular concert piece, having been incorporated into two concert suites arranged by ArturoToscanini. It consists of three themes:

( ia) prelude (orchestra)

( ib) prelude (orchestra)

CARMEN

MUSIC BY GEORGES BIZETLIBRETTO BY HENRI MEILHAC AND LUDOVIC HALÉVYBASED ON THE NOVELLA BY PROSPER MÉRIMÉE (1845)

WORLD PREMIERE AT THE OPÉRA-COMIQUE, PARISMARCH 3, 1875

SUNG IN FRENCH

CAST OF CHARACTERS

CARMEN, A GYPSY GIRL.......................................MEZZO-SOPRANO

DON JOSÉ, A CORPORAL IN THE DRAGOONS .........................TENOR

ESCAMILLO, A TOREADOR...............................................BARITONE

MICAËLA, A PEASANT GIRL ............................................SOPRANO

MERCÉDÈS, A FRIEND OF CARMEN .........................MEZZO-SOPRANO

FRASQUITA, A FRIEND OF CARMEN...................................SOPRANO

ZUNIGA, A CAPTAIN OF THE DRAGOONS.....................BASS-BARITONE

EL DANCAÏRE, A SMUGGLER ...........................................BARITONE

EL REMENDADO, A SMUGGLER............................................TENOR

MORALÈS, A CORPORAL IN THE DRAGOONS .......................BARITONE

LILLAS PASTIA, AN INNKEEPER............................................SPOKEN

ANDRÈS ....................................................................BARITONE

GUIDE......................................................................BARITONE

CIGARETTE FACTORY GIRLS, DRAGOONS, SMUGGLERS, DANCERS,

TOWNSPEOPLE

SETTING: SEVILLE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS

& ### 42Ÿ~~~~

ƒAllegro giocosoœ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. ˙

& ## # 42Allegro giocoso

pœ œ. œ. œ. œ œ œ œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ# œ# œ Jœ. ‰

synopsis and musical excerpts 38

The third theme is used again in the Toreador Song, listed below (#8).

Also of note is a theme commonly associated with Carmen, known as the “fate” theme. It appears at several importantmoments in the opera.

(2) “fate” theme (orchestra)

act i

At the barracks in Seville, Spain, bored soldiers watch the townfolk come and go. They perk up when Micaëla, a prettyBasque country girl, arrives looking for one of them, Don José. He is not there, but the corporal Moralès invites Micaëlainto the guard house. She declines politely and is told to return later. Soon after her departure, Don José comes in withthe changing of the guard, and children imitate the soldiers.

(3) children’s march

Zuniga, a new recruit, is excited about the girls who work at the cigarette factory across the road, but Don José can’tbe bothered. He is pleased to hear that Micaëla is in the neighborhood and goes on cleaning his rifle.The factory girls stroll onto the scene headed by the seductive gypsy, Carmen, who sings her “Habañera.” Love, she says,is like a rebellious bird that cannot be tamed.

(4) habañera: l’amour est un oiseau rebelle (carmen)

The young men all ogle her, but she has eyes for the only man who will not pay her any attention. Before leaving shedrops a flower at the feet of Don José. He picks it up just as Micaëla returns with greetings from his mother. Togetherthey sing nostalgically of home.

? 43 ƒ

Andante moderato

tutta forza

œ œ œ# œb œ jœ ‰ Œ ŒŒ J

œœ ‰ Jœœ ‰

œ œ œ# œn œ œ Œ ŒŒ J

œœ ‰ Jœœ ‰

& b 42Ÿ

∏

Allegretto moderatojœ# œ. œ. œ. œ. œ# . œn . œ- jœ# œ. œ. œ. œ. œ# . œn . œ- œ# œ. œn . œ. œ œ œ. œ. œ# œ œ œ. œ. œ. œ.

Jœ ‰


& b 42pAllegretto, quasi Andantino.

Œ Jœ Jœ#L'a - mour

3

Jœn Jœ Jœ Jœn Jœbest un oi - seau re -

jœ rœ rœ jœ# jœnbel - le Que nul ne

3

œ œ œ œ œ jœ jœpeut ap - pri - voi -

& b jœ ‰ Jœ Jœ#ser, Et c'est

3

Jœn Jœ Jœ Jœn Jœbbien en vain qu'on l'ap -

rœ rœ ≈ rœ jœ jœpel - le, S'il lui con -

3

œ œ œ œ œ jœ jœvient de re - fu -

œser.

TRANSLATION: LOVE IS A WILD BIRD THAT NO ONE CAN TAME. YOU CALL IN VAIN; IT CHOOSES NOT TO HEAR.

(5) duet: j ’apporte de sa part … (micaëla, then don josé)

Micaëla leaves so that Don José can read the letter from his mother. Suddenly there is an uproar from the factory;Carmen has slashed the face of another girl. Don José is sent to arrest her. When he ties her hands, she sings the“Seguidilla,” hinting that if Don José will let her go, she will meet him later at a tavern outside town.

(6) seguidilla: près des remparts de séville … (carmen)

Finally too weak to resist, he loosens her bonds. Carmen escapes as the laughing cigarette girls surround the surprisedsoldiers.

act ii

At the tavern of Lillas Pastia one month later, Carmen and her gypsy companions sing the intoxicating “ChansonBohème.”

(7) chanson: les tringles des sistres tintaient … (carmen, then frasquita, mercédès)

& ## 83π e leggiero.

Allegretto

jœ jœ jœ#Près des rem -

jœ# Jœ Jœparts de Sé -

.œ œ œ œ œ œnvil -

œ ‰le,

3œ œ œ jœ jœChez mon a -

3œ œ œ jœ jœmi Lil - las

& ## jœ Jœ œPas - tia

jœ ‰ jœ.

J'i -

jœ.

Jœ. Jœn .rai dan - ser

Jœ.jœ.^ jœ.

^la Sé - gue -

rœn rœjœ.^ jœ# .

^dille Et boi - re

jœ.^ jœ.

^ jœn .^

du Man - za -

& ## œ œ œnil - la.

.œ jœ ‰ rœ rœ#J'i - rai

rœ rœ# rœ# Rœ Rœ Rœchez mon a - mi Lil - las

Jœ œPas - tia.

.œTRANSLATION: BY THE WALLS OF SEVILLE, AT MY FRIEND LILLAS PASTIA’S TAVERN, I’LL DANCE THE SEGUIDILLA AND DRINK MANZANILLA.


& bb 43Andantino non troppo.

pjœ

J'ap -

œ Jœ Jœ Jœ Jœpor - te de sa

Jœ Jœjœ Jœ Jœ jœ

part, fi - de - le mes - sa -

œ jœ ‰ Jœ jœgè - re, Cet - te

œ jœlet - tre.

T

TRANSLATION: I BRING TO YOU THIS LETTER …

& # 43Andantino.

pben ritmato.jœ

Les

jœ jœ jœ jœ Jœ Jœtrin - gles des sis - tres tin -

˙ Rœ ≈ Jœtaient A -

Jœ jœ jœ jœ jœ Jœvec un é - clat mé - tal -

œ œ# œ œ œ ‰ Jœli - que, Et

& #Jœb jœn jœ jœ jœ Jœ

sur cette é - tran - ge mu -

œ œ# œ œb œ ‰ œ œ#si - que Les

jœn œ œ Jœn jœ jœ jœZin - ga - rel - las se le -

.˙vaient.

jœTRANSLATION: THE JANGLING STRINGS OF THE ZITHERS PLAYED TO THE BEAT OF THIS STRANGE MUSIC. THE GYPSY GIRLS AROSE!

Between drinks, Zuniga tells Carmen that Don José has been released from jail. Through the door comes Escamillo, thetoreador, singing his swaggering song that describes the thrills of the bullring.

(8) couplets: votre toast … toréador, en garde! (escamillo)

He flirts with Carmen before leaving. The gypsies now plot a smuggling run.

(9) quintet: nous avons en tête … (dancaïro, mercédès, frasquita, then remendado, carmen)

Carmen refuses to join them, saying she must stay behind to meet someone she intends to repay in kind. Sure enough,Don José is soon at the tavern, professing a passionate love for Carmen, who dances for him to the sound of castanets.

(10) danse (carmen)

When the bugle sounds retreat he starts to leave but Carmen taunts him. He insists he loves her, singing how hedreamed of no one else while in prison.

? b cAllegro molto moderato

pœ .Jœ Rœ œ œ ≈ œTo - ré - a- dor, en

jœ .œ œ .œ œ œ Jœ ‰gar - de!

œ .Jœ Rœ œ Jœ ‰To - ré - a - dor!

œ .Jœ Rœ œ jœ ‰To - ré - a - dor!

? b ˙ Jœ Jœ Jœ JœbEt son - ge bien, oui,

jœ Jœ Jœ Jœ Jœ œ Jœ ‰son- ge en com - bat - tant

œ œ œ Jœ# JœnQu'un oeil noir te re -

cresc.wgar -

? bdim.Jœ

3

œ œ œ Jœ# Jœ Jœ Jœ œbde Et que l'a- mour t'attend,

π rit poco. p‰3

œ œ œ Jœ Jœ œn Jœ ‰To - ré - a - dor,

‰3

œ œ œ jœ Jœ œ œ œ œL'a - mour, l'a- mour t'at -

a tempoœ Jœ ‰ Ótend!

TRANSLATION: TOREADOR, EN GARDE! REMEMBER – TWO EYES WATCH YOU, AND LOVE AWAITS.

& bb b b b 166Allegro vivo

El Dancaïro

Fjœ rœ jœ rœ

Nous a - vons en

.jœ jœ rœtête une af -

œ œ œ œ œ œfai -

Mercédèsp legg..jœ ‰ Rœre Est -

& bb b b b Jœ Rœ jœ rœel - le bon - ne,

Frasquitalegg.jœ rœ jœrœ

di - tes nous? Est -

≈p

Jœ Rœ jœ rœel - le bon - ne,

jœ rœ jœ ≈di - tes nous?

T


TRANSLATION: WE HAVE A CAPER … THAT PAYS VERY WELL.

& bb cAllegretto moderato

p œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œLa la

œ œ œ œ œ œ jœ ‰la la

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œla la

œ œ œ œ œ œla la

(11) aria: la fleur que tu m’avais jetée (don josé)

“If you really loved me,” Carmen retorts, “you’d follow me into the mountains.” Their argument is interrupted byZuniga, who has retuned hoping to find Carmen alone. Instead he almost comes to blows with Don José. The gypsiesenter, disarm Zuniga, and sing tantalizingly to Don José of the carefree gypsy life.

act ii i

(12) entr’acte (orchestra)

It is dawn and the smugglers are making the difficult pass across the mountains. They break and set up camp. Don Joséis feeling remorse over his decision to join the gypsies. Frasquita and Mercédès spread out the tarot cards. For themselvesthey see fortunes and handsome lovers, but for Carmen, the cards show only death.

(12) trio: mélons! coupons! … et maintenant, parlez (frasquita, mercédès, then carmen)

Most of the gypsies leave, and Micaëla appears over the rocks. She has come to try to talk sense into Don José.

(13) aria: je dis (micaëla)

& bb b b b cAndantinop con amoreœ Jœ jœ jœ jœn jœ Jœ

La fleur que tu m'a - vais je -

˙ jœ ‰ œté - e, Dans

Jœ Jœ œ Jœ Jœ Jœb Jœma pri - son m'é - tait res -

˙ Jœ ‰ œté - e, Flé -

& bb b b b Jœ jœn œ Jœ Jœ Jœ Jœtrie et sè - che, cet - te

˙b ‰ jœ Jœ Jœfleur Gar - dait tou -

˙ jœ jœ Jœ Jœjours sa douce o -

˙ Œdeur;

T

TRANSLATION: THE FLOWER THAT YOU THREW, I KEPT WITH ME IN PRISON … IT WAS WITHERED AND DRY BUT STILL KEPT IT PERFUME.

& bb b cAndantino, quasi Allegretto

.œ Jœ œ œ œ œ œ3

œ œ œ œ ‰ Jœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ .œ œ œ œ


& 42con grazia

Allegretto con motop jœJœEt

œb œœ œmain - te -

œb ‰ jœœ ‰ Jœnant, par -

œ œ jœ jœœ œb Jœ Jœlez, mes

œ œ œ œ rœ ≈ jœjœœ œ œ œb Rœ

.≈ Jœ Jœ

.

bel - les, De

& œ œ#œ œl'a - ve -

œ ‰ jœœ ‰ Jœ

nir, don -

jœ jœ jœn jœbJœn Jœb Jœ Jœnez - nous des nou -

œ rœœ Rœvel - les,

T

TRANSLATION: AND NOW LITTLE CARDS, TELL US ABOUT THE FUTURE …

& bb b 89pAndantino moltojœ

Je

.œ jœ jœ jœ Jœjœ jœ

dis, que rien ne m'é- pou -

.œ rœ ≈ œ œn œ œ jœvan - te Je dis, hé -

.œn Jœ Jœ Jœ œb œ Jœlas! que je ré-ponds de

Sœ ‰ .œ# œ jœmoi; Mais j'ai beau

She hides as Escamillo arrives searching for Carmen. He is interrupted by Don José, who picks a fight with him. Carmenreturns and separates them. Escamillo mocks Don José and invites everyone to the bullfight. The gypsies have returned,dragging along Micaëla, whom they discovered in hiding. The girl pleads with Don José to come home, and he isinfuriated when Carmen agrees with the idea. Learning from Micaëla that his mother is dying, Don José agrees to go.“We will meet again,” he shouts at Carmen as she runs off in the direction of Escamillo’s voice.

act iv

Vendors ply their trades in front of the arena as a brilliant procession of toreadors makes its way to the bullfight. Amongthem are Carmen and Escamillo, arm in arm. Frasquita and Mercédès warn Carmen that Don José is in the crowd, butthe proud gypsy does not acknowledge fear; in fact she chooses to wait for him. When he confronts her, she defies him:“Free I was born, and free I will die!” He demands that she leave with him. In reply, she flings the ring he gave her tothe ground.

(14) duet: ah! ne me quitte pas … (don josé, carmen)

He stabs her. As the jubilant crowd pours out of the arena, they find Don José weeping over Carmen’s body.

& bb b .œ œ œn jœ œ œ jœfai - re la vail -

.œ rœ ≈ œ œn œ œ jœlan - te, Au fond du

.œ Rœ ≈ œ œn œ œ Jœcoeur je meurs d'ef -

.œ .œ Jœ ‰ ‰froi!

TRANSLATION: I SAY NOTHING FRIGHTENS ME, I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF. THOUGH I PRETEND TO BE BRAVE, INSIDE I’M SCARED TO DEATH.

& bb b b cƒ Don José

‰ Jœ Jœ Jœb Jœ Jœ Jœ JœAh! ne me quit - te pas, Car -

rœ ≈ jœb jœn jœ .œU Jœmen, ah! ne me quit - te

ƒ Carmenœ Œ ‰ Jœ Jœ Jœpas! Ja - mais Car -

˙ œ 3

Jœ Jœ Jœmen ne cè - de -

& bb b b 42œn Jœ ‰ Óra!

Œ ˙ Jœn JœnLi - bre elle est

Jœn jœ ≈ rœn ˙n 3jœn jœn jœ#née et li - bre el - le mour -

œra!

& bb b b 42œn Jœ ‰ Óra!

Œ ˙ Jœn JœnLi - bre elle est

Jœn jœ ≈ rœn ˙n 3jœn jœn jœ#née et li - bre el - le mour -

œra!

TRANSLATION: AH! DON’T LEAVE ME CARMEN … NEVER WILL CARMEN YIELD. FREE SHE WAS BORN AND FREE SHE SHALL DIE.


CarmenFlow Chart

key and details

SceneThe terms used to identify each section is the page found in the Dover vocal score. (VS)

Musical DescriptionThe terms used here are the tempo markings in the score. Metronome markings follow in parenthesis. The KEY given isdecided by the tonality at the beginning of the scene.

OrchestrationComments given here are general in nature and are intended to give the listener some insight into the use of the orchestra.This is another element used to tell the story. Descriptions are not necessarily from Bizet, but suggest what we know aboutthe orchestra at that time.

ThemesIdentified here are significant melodies used and sometimes reused by various characters. The names of the themes arebased on common use found in standard scholarly books about Bizet.

DramaThis is the basic story line. Main characters are given in shorthand:

Carmen = C Micaela = M Zuniga = Z

Don José = DJ Frasquita = F Remendado = R

Escamillo = E Mercédès = MD Dancaïre = D

Related InformationThese comments included are interesting facts about Bizet and Carmen in a larger context, beyond the work itself.

44

flowchart

CarmenFlow Chart

act i (vs pp. 1 – 31)

Scene

MusicalDescription

Orchestration

Themes

Drama

RelatedInformation

Bullfight motif (p. 1)Toreador Song (p. 2)Carmen’s Fate (p 4)

Boys watch the changing of the guard.DJ learns that M is looking for her. Z islooking for the cigarette factory andthe girls, DJ says he doesn’t noticethem because he is in love with

Bizet creates a march-like feeling withthe use of triangle, bugle calls,pizzicato strings, and “Ta, ra, ta, ta” ofthe boys. Two high flutes in duet playopening theme.

Prelude (pp. 1 – 4) No. 3 – Chorus of Streetboys (pp. 21-31)

Allegrettokey: f majorPoco più animato (m q = 116)key: a minor

Allegro (m q = 112)key: a majorL’istesso Tempokey: d minor

Allegro giocoso (m q = 116)key: a majorAllegro giocoso (m q = 58)key: d minor

Soldier’s are standing around watchingpeople go by. M enters looking for DJ.

The story isn’t forwarded, butatmosphere is set.

No. 2 – Scene and Chorus (pp. 5 – 20)

45

flowchart

This prelude is one of the most popularpieces in all orchestral and opera litera-ture. Richard Strauss said, “If you wantto learn how to orchestrate … study thescore of Carmen.”

CarmenFlow Chart

act i (vs pp. 33 – 59)

Scene

MusicalDescription

Orchestration

Themes

Drama

RelatedInformation

Arpeggiated, sourdine strings and harpgive feeling of smoke drifting away.

When C enters, the style is suddenly anddrastically different. Phrasing before Centers is six and eight bars long, when C

enters, phrasing changes to four barseach, with short articulations.

C theme (p. 41)

Soldier’s are waiting for the factorygirls to appear. Cigarette girls entersinging that the vows of men are likesmoke. C enters. Men ask her when shewill love them, she responds, maybesoon—maybe never!

Men ask C to answer them, she looks atDJ. She gives him a flower. Bell ringsand cigarette girls return to work. DJ isentranced by C. M enters.

C theme (p. 55)C’s Curse (p. 56)Habañera (p. 56 and 59)

No. 4 – Chorus of Cigarette Girls(pp. 33 – 43)

No. 6 – Scene and Recitative(pp. 55 – 59)

Allegretto, quasi Andantino (m q = 72)key: d minor/d major/d minor/d major

Allegro moderato (m q = 100)key: a pedal

Allegro (m q = 104)key: c major

C sings that love is like a wild bird,cigarette girls sing, “Beware!”

A “habañera” is a Spanish folk song;not new to opera-comique; composedin a strophic form.

Bizet’s use of chromaticism is used togive C a very sensual character.

Harmonically this aria is very static,which Bizet creates a feeling of “mes-merizing tension” through the Dpedal.

No. 5 – Habañera(pp. 44 – 54)

46

flowchart

Very famous aria for mezzo-sopranos.

CarmenFlow Chart

act i (vs pp. 60 – 94)

Scene

MusicalDescription

Orchestration

Themes

Drama

RelatedInformation

Quasi-religious music with arpeggiatedharp.

The first time DJ sings flowing phras-es, like M. Tempi is more relaxed.

C theme in orchestra when DJ thinks ofhis mother versus C (“Démon”) (p. 66).

M and DJ talk of home M has letterfrom DJ’s mother. It says for DJ tomarry M. He agrees.

DJ learns of the quarrel. C doesn’trespond, she sings that there is some-one she loves. She is sent to jail.C asks for help and tells him tothrough the flower.

Séguedille (p. 89)

Séguedille is scored first in anextremely low flute, followed byviolin and cello.

No. 7 – Duet(pp. 60 – 75)

No. 9 – Song and Melodrama(pp. 88 – 94)

Allegro vivo (m q = 76)key: e major

RecitativeAndantino non troppokey: bb major

A fight breaks out at the cigarette fac-tory. Z enters to find out what is goingon sends DJ to find out.

No. 8 – Chorus(pp. 76 – 87)

47

flowchart

CarmenFlow Chart

act i – ii (vs pp. 95 – 127)

Scene

MusicalDescription

Orchestration

Themes

Drama

RelatedInformation

Low flute, again, used to give C a sensu-al feeling.

Séguedille (p. 95)

Fluid harmony creates feeling of C’ssensuality.

The relationship of C and DJ is devel-oped.

C, F and MD sing a gypsy song. The innis closing and they are asked to leave.C learns that DJ is now out of prison.

“Flutes in thirds quietly introducewhirling figures of the gypsy dance.”

Harp and pizzicato strings are guitar-like.

“A tour de force of orchestration, one ofthe most impressive in all opera, isbuilt around three strophes C singsand is joined by F and MD.”

No. 10 – Séguedille and Duet(pp. 95 – 105)

No. 12 – Gypsy song(pp. 113 – 127)

Allegro vivo (m q = 69)key: f minor, finishes in A major

Andantino quasi Allegretto (m q = 100)key: e minor

Allegretto (m q = 160)key: b minor

C tells DJ that she will hit him andescape. She does, and the soldierslaugh.

Habañera (p. 107, 108)

DJ military tune (p. 110) this is in asubtly scores with flutes, bassoons,and snare drum. This is in contrast toC’s upcoming music.

No. 11 – Finale; Entr’acte(pp. 106 – 112)

48

flowchart

act ii

CarmenFlow Chart

act ii (vs pp. 128 – 183)

Scene

MusicalDescription

Orchestration

Themes

Drama

RelatedInformation

Men’s chorus sings offstage then moveson stage – creates a sense of movement.

The crowd cheers for E. C, F and MD, talk business with D andR. The women say that they are neededto be successful. C states that she willnot leave because she is in love.

No. 13 – Chorus(pp. 128 – 132)

No. 15 – Quintet(pp. 154 – 183)

Allegro moderato (m q = 108)key: f minor/f major/e major

recitativeAllegro vivo (m q = 152)key: db minor

Allegro (m q = 120)key: c major

E sings about bullfighting and the“dark-eyed” love that awaits him.

E introduces himself to C. She is notinterested in him, he says he willreturn. E exists with F.

Toréador Song – This piece isconstructed in two strophes.

The music is full of bombast andflamboyance which reflects the vanityand self-confidence of E and alsodescribes a bullfight.

No. 14 – Couplets; Recitative; Exit(pp. 133 – 150; 151 – 152; 153)

49

flowchart

Arguably the most famous melody ofthis opera.

CarmenFlow Chart

act iii (vs pp. 184 – 212)

Scene

MusicalDescription

Orchestration

Themes

Drama

RelatedInformation

DJ returns to C. C agrees toasks DJ to join them ontheir job. C tells DJ that shedanced for some soldiers. DJbecomes jealous.

C is shocked at why he isleaving. DJ says that C hashis heart.

English horn plays C’s Fatetheme. This instrument wasused to characterize tension.

No. 15 – Recitative; No. 16Song (p. 184; pp. 185 – 188)

Allegretto (m q = 104)key: bb major

Andantinokey: fluid

RecitativeAllegro moderato (m q = 100)key: g major/g minor

C dances for DJ. When DJ

hears the retreat, this showsDJ’s predicament – C or thearmy.

Music on p. 196 is animpassioned refrain of theAct I/No. 7 – Duet

C’s Fate theme (p. 199)

C wordless song is accompa-nied by castanets. Two trpts.play retreat to barracks.

Clarinet plays lowest notewhen C really sees DJ leaving(p. 193).

No. 17 – Duet(pp. 189 – 193) (pp. 194-199) (pp. 200 – 212))

Allegro moderato (m q = 69)key: db, majorAllegretto moderatokey: c major, but fluid

“Flower song” (DJ bears hissoul, but not to music that hesang to M.)

DJ tells C how much he lovesher. C asks DJ to leave withher and be free. He isn’tsure. Then a knock at thedoor.

50

flowchart

CarmenFlow Chart

act ii – iii (vs pp. 213 – 278)

Scene

MusicalDescription

Orchestration

Themes

Drama

RelatedInformation

The music moves from a sort of seduc-tive dance-like, to a quasi-march about“la liberté!”

Z enters and sees DJ. They are about tofight when C calls for help. The gyp-sies seize Z. DJ must become a gypsynow.

F and MD are playing cards. C joins anddeals the cards that say she will bekilled by her lover, who will also die.

The trio is in three parts. The first islight and fun. The second, when C

joins, becomes heavy as she learns herfate. The third is a return to the firstsection.


Low brass are added as C sings of herfate of death.

No. 18 – Finale; Entr’acte(pp. 213– 238)

No. 20 – Trio(pp. 262 – 278)

Allegretto moderato (m q = 96)key: c minor

Allegretto con moto (m q = 112)key: a minorModeratokey: c majorAndante molto moderato (m q = 66)key: f minor/f major

Allegro moderato (m q = 112)key: fluid until c major endAndantino, quasi Allegretto (m q = 88)key: eb major

The chorus of gypsies sing, “Be awareon your journey. Danger is very close.”

C predicts DJ will kill her.

Two horn calls alert the gypsies.

modified M music (Act I) (p. 259)

C’s Fate (P. 261)

Pizzicato strings are the smugglersclimbing in the mountains.

Entire chorus is scored “dark.”

No. 19 – Sextet; Chorus; Recitative(pp. 239 – 257; 258 – 261)

51

flowchart

The gypsy’s sarcastic politeness is col-ored by staccato flutes and bassoons.

Entr’acte creates a serene countryside.

CarmenFlow Chart

act iii (vs pp. 279 – 315)

Scene

MusicalDescription

Orchestration

Themes

Drama

RelatedInformation

A simple choral scene that breaks thetension from the last scene.

The gypsies are about to go throughthe pass. The women sing to the menthat they should be careful of the cus-toms men as, “they like to please.”

E is looking for C. DJ identifies himselfas C’s lover. DJ goes into a jealous rageand fights E.

No. 20 – RecitativeNo. 21 – Morceau d’ensemble (pp. 281– 298)

No. 23 – Duo(pp. 307 – 315)

Moderatokey: eb major Allegro (m q = 112)

key: f major (unstable)Allegro deciso (m q = 108)key: gb major

M enters looking for DJ. She sings thatshe will have the courage to fulfill DJ’smother’s wishes. M sees DJ, he shoots atanother, she hides.

Only solo aria in this act. The vocalline describes M’s courage.

Beautiful French horn accompanimentthroughout.

No. 22 – Air; Recitative(pp. 299 – 307)

52

flowchart

CarmenFlow Chart

act iii – iv (vs pp. 316 – 346)

Scene

MusicalDescription

Orchestration

Themes

Drama

RelatedInformation

Toréador Song is scored forcellos and woodwinds. Thisis different than from itsfirst hearing.

Toréador Song (p. 320)

C stops DJ from killing E. Eleaves.

“… within the space of a few minutes Don José’s world dis-integrates before him as he loses his mother to death andCarmen to a rival. Here the musical styles of the charactersare heightened and play against one another to maximumeffect …”

DJ stops from leaving whenhe hears E singing.

Entr’acte is an Andalusiantune by Manuel Garcia.

No. 24 – Finale; Entr’acte(pp. 316 – 337)

Allegro (m q = 120) Allegro moderato (m q = 96)key: f major/minor

Moderato (m q = 92)key: f major

Gypsies find M. C tells DJ togo. M says DJ’s mother isdying.


Toréador Song (p. 332)

No. 25 – Chorus(pp. 338 – 346)

Allegro deciso (m q = 168)key: g major

A square in Seville. Peopleare doing their daily business

53

flowchart

M’s aria from Act I (p. 323)

act iv

CarmenFlow Chart

act iv (vs pp. 347 – 391)

Scene

MusicalDescription

Orchestration

Themes

Drama

RelatedInformation

Theme from the Act Iprelude are used, but withmuch chromaticism andvariation.

The bullfighters parade intothe ring. E and C sing thatthey love each other. F andMD see DJ and warn C toleave. C goes to talk with DJ.

“The final duet is the masterpiece of the opera and one of the greatest closing scenes in allopera. All that goes before is a preparation for this confrontation, whose genius lies in itsemotional logic and concise dramatic structure.”

DJ realizes that he can’t savetheir love. C swears to liveand die free.

Low clarinets and timpanirepresent DJ’s anxiety (p. 379).

Octave writing in theorchestra is intended toheighten the emotion of themoment.

No. 26 – March and Chorus(pp. 347 – 372)

Recitative – Moderato(m q = 96)key: ab major (fluid)

Allegro moderato (m q = 108)key: f minor (fluid)

Allegro giocoso (m q = 116)key: e major

DJ tells C that they can startover. C says she doesn’t lovehim any more.

Allegro giocoso (m q = 116)key: g major/a major/c major/f# majorOpera comique traditionallyends with an onstage joyouschorus. Bizet obviously goesagainst tradition(successfully) here.

C’s Fate theme is heard fourtimes. (pp. 387 – 388)

Act I prelude theme

C tries to leave but is stoppedby DJ. She says that she loves E.C throws the ring DJ gave DJstabs C as E wins in the bull-ring. DJ admits his doing.

54

flowchart

Fragments of the FlowerSong are used “overthrobbing rhythms.”

No. 27 – Duet and Final Chorus(pp. 373 – 379) (pp. 379 – 382) (pp. 382 – 391)

Georges Bizet

b Paris, October 25, 1838; d Bougival, June 3, 1875

Georges Bizet’s short career wasprimarily devoted to opera, reaching

a remarkable climax in 1875 with Carmen.This now-famous opera followed asuccession of complete and incompleteworks that had no great success in Bizet’slifetime. Only six operas survive in aperformable text.

Bizet’s childhood was steeped in music. Hismother, Aimée, was the sister of FrançoisDelsarte, who would become famous for hisdevelopment of singing and actingtechnique. It was at his home where Aiméemet her future husband, Adolphe Bizet,also a music teacher. Young Georgesentered the Paris Conservatoire in October1848, just before his tenth birthday. Hedeveloped extraordinary gifts as a pianistand score-reader and won prizes for both piano and organ playing. Among his earliest works from the mid 1850s was LeDocteur Miracle, a comic opera in the Italian style. It was composed for a competition offered by Jacques Offenbach’sBouffes-Parisiens theater, for which he shared first prize. Soon after, Bizet won the prestigious Prix de Rome, and whilein Italy, he composed Don Procopio, the first of a series of yearly submissions expected by the Académie.

In compliance with a related subsidy, the Opéra-Comique was required to produce works by Prix de Rome winners.When Bizet returned from Italy in 1860, the theater commissioned him to write La guzla de l’émir, which was put into

rehearsal but then withdrawn whenthe composer received a much morepromising offer from the ThéâtreLyrique for Les pêcheurs de perles (ThePearl Fishers). No music for La guzla del’émir survives, but documents fromthe Académie suggest that the famousduet in Act i of Pêcheurs was salvagedfrom it.

Although admired by many, Lespêcheurs de perles was not well receivedby the press, and dropped out of theFrench repertoire until after Bizet’sdeath. Léon Carvalho, director of theThéâtre Lyrique, reaffirmed his faithin Bizet by commissioning a grand

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s 2010 production of The Pearl Fishers

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s 2010 production of The Pearl Fishers

bizet biography 55

opera with a libretto Gounod had abandoned, Ivan IV.Carvalho’s repeated postponements, however, drove Bizetto offer the piece to the Opéra, where it was rejected.

Several years of difficulty followed, and the composer wasforced to arrange transcriptions for publishers Choudensand Heugel in order to support himself. He had kept uphis piano skills (which had at one time drawn attentionfrom the virtuoso Franz Liszt) and served as rehearsalpianist for various occasions. By 1867, Bizet had becomeengaged to Geneviève (daughter of the famed composerFromental Halévy), but her family postponed the mar-riage for two years because of his reduced circumstances.

Bizet had signed another contract with Carvalho for Lajolie fille de Perth (The Fair Maid of Perth), inspired by thecurrent rage for operas based on the writings of Sir WalterScott. The new work finally reached the stage in December1867, where it played for 18 performances – again too fewto ensure a Parisian revival in the composer’s lifetime.

In the ensuing years, several projects proposed for the Opéra-Comique came to nothing. Of these, only Clarissa Harloweand Grisélidis survive in draft. Djamileh, however, wasproduced in 1872, and in the same year, Bizet composedincidental music to Alphonse Daudet’s drama L’arlésienne.Bowing to the recent trend for Oriental themes, Djamilehstill failed to please its audience and was withdrawn after ashort run. L’arlésienne passed without notice, though itwould later become a popular concert piece. The Opéra-

Comique next commissioned afull-length opera, set to text by thenotable team of Henri Meilhac andLudovic Halévy (Geneviève’scousin), which would becomeCarmen in 1875. Bizet stilldreamed of producing a work atthe Opéra and found time tocompose Don Rodrigue (inspired byGuillém da Castro y Bellvís’ Lasmocedades del Cid) after productionof Carmen had been delayed. Butthe old Opéra burned down onOctober 28, 1873, and thecomposer would not be able toachieve this ambition during hisbrief existence.

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s 2005 production of Carmen

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s 2005 production of Carmen

bizet biography 56

Catalogue of Bizet’s Operas

La maison du docteur unperformed (composed circa 1855)opéra comique in one act; libretto by Henri Boisseaux

Le Docteur Miracle Paris, Théâtre Bouffes-Parisiens, April 9, 1857opérette in one act; libretto by Léon Battu and Ludovic Halévyafter Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s St. Patrick’s Day

Don Procopio Monte Carlo, Opéra, March 10, 1906 (composed 1858-9)opéra buffe in two acts; libretto by Carlo Cambiaggioafter Luigi Prividali’s I pretendenti delusi

La prêtresse unperformed (composed ?1861)opérette in one act; libretto by Philippe Gille

La guzla de l’émir unperformed (composed circa 1862)opéra comique in one act; libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré

Ivan IV Württemberg, Mühringen Castle, 1946 (composed 1862-5)opéra in five acts; libretto by Arthur Leroy and Henry Trianon(completed from sketches after Bizet’s death)

Les pêcheurs de perles Paris, Théâtre Lyrique, September 30, 1863opéra in three acts; libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré

La jolie fille de Perth Paris, Théâtre Lyrique, December 26, 1867opéra in four acts; libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges andJules Adenis, after Sir Walter Scott’s The Fair Maid of Perth

Malbrough s’en va-t-en guerre Paris, Théâtre de l’Athénée, December 13, 1867opérette in four acts; libretto by Paul Siraudin and William Busnach

La coupe du roi de Thulé unperformed (composed 1868-9)opéra in three acts; libretto by Louis Gallet and Edouard Blau

Noé Karlsruhe (Germany), April 5, 1885opéra in three acts; libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges

Clarissa Harlowe unperformed (composed 1870-1; incomplete)opéra comique in three acts; libretto by Philippe Gille and Adolphe Jaime,after Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa

Grisélidis unperformed (composed 1870-1; incomplete)opéra comique in three acts; libretto by Victorien Sardou

Djamileh Paris, Opéra-Comique, May 22, 1872opéra comique in one act; libretto by Louis Gallet,after Alfred de Musset’s Namouna

L’arlésienne Paris, Théâtre du Vaudeville, October 1, 1872drame in three acts; libretto by Alphonse Daudet

Don Rodrigue unperformed (composed 1873; incomplete)opéra in five acts; libretto by Louis Gallet and Edouard Blau,after Guillén de Castro y Bellvís’s Las mocedades del Cid

Carmen Paris, Opera-Comique, March 3, 1875opéra comique in four acts; libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy

bizet’s operas 57

Background Notes – Carmen

One of the cruelest handsin the history of music

was dealt to Georges Bizet,who died without knowing hisfinal opera’s everlasting appeal.The composer’s career hadbeen tumultuous, without aclear theatrical success. Thecommission for Carmen in factcame on the heels of a newlyfailed work, Djamileh, whichafter its premiere on May 22,1872, had only been able toscare up a mere 10performances before itdropped into obscurity, not tobe revived until the 20th

century.

It was Bizet who suggested Prosper Mérimée’s tragic tale to the co-directors of the Opéra-Comique when asked toproduce another work. Contrary to its innocuous title, the Opéra-Comique was not solely committed to comedy. Likeits imposing neighbor, the Académie Nationale de Musique (know informally as the Opéra), the Comique offeredserious drama as well, provided that all things worked out happily in the end. A chief distinction between the sisterhouses was the Opéra-Comique’s custom of interspersing spoken dialogue in between musical numbers rather thanemploying sung recitative. Another key difference was the theater’s audience base – while the Opéra catered to the upperclasses, the Comique was frequented by the upwardly mobile middle class, the bourgeoisie. They had expectations ofhigh family values, for the theater was a place where young couples might meet or better yet, become affianced.

Even though Bizet proclaimed his intention to revitalize the Opéra-Comique’s repertoire, it’s rather amazing he chosea subject as racy as Carmen. After all, its audience had been nursed on such trifling cream puffs as Boieldieu’s La dame

blanche, a work intensely hated by Bizet.While this opera had served as the prototypefor Auber’s bountiful light-hearted plots,which had held court at the Opéra-Comiquefor over 40 years, the latter’s death in 1871signaled an opportunity for revolt, andGeorges Bizet was ready to rise to thechallenge.

Of course, he still had to sell his idea totheater’s flighty management. The diversenatures of directors Adolphe de Leuven andCamille du Locle represented an amusingduality of vaudevillian polar opposites. DeLeuven was from the old school, once a closeassociate and collaborator of Alexandre

background notes 58

Dumas père. Du Locle was a bitmore progressive, also familiar inthe annals of opera for hisinvolvement in Verdi’s Don Carlos(1867) and Aida (1871). Du Locleand de Leuven constantlyundermined one another, blamingsuccessive box office failures on theother – not surprisingly thepartnership did not last long, andit appears Bizet’s new operabrought on the pivotal crisis. DeLeuven was against the projectfrom the start, and though coaxedwith a little toning down of theplot by co-librettist LudovicHalévy, he chose to resign from theOpéra-Comique rather thanscandalize his conservative public.

Halévy and Henri Meilhac believed they could add a few lighter touches, chiefly with antics performed by the sidekickteam of Remendado and Dancaïre, and dilute the tragedy of Carmen’s death by immersing it within a festive occasion.But the librettists were equally skittish. Though they had ventured into the realm of serious theater [in a workdeceptively entitled Froufrou, where the respectable title character dies(and a subject considered by Verdi prior to his acceptance of Aida)],they were mainly known for comedy, in particular for their libretti toJacques Offenbach’s satirical operettas. Their efforts to soften theotherwise lurid tale wouldn’t pay off.

These were the obstacles Bizet faced when his opera finally went intorehearsal in October 1874, after two postponements. And hisfrustration would only grow as cast, crew and orchestra revoltedthroughout the excessive five-month preparation. The chorus, whowas accustomed to being quite stationary with their eyes fixed on theconductor, reacted violently to the notion of moving through streetsand hills, fighting, and worst of all, smoking. The orchestra deemedthe score unplayable, and managers Ponchard and Victor, thebackbone of the Comique’s stage crew (and veteran fans of the Opéra-Comique’s glory days of La dame blanche and Ferdinand Herold’s Le Préaux clercs) dug in their heels. Emile Perrin, former director of theOpéra and du Locle’s uncle, was called in to arbitrate, but to littleavail. The saving grace was Bizet’s first Carmen, Célestine Galli-Marié, who enlisted the help of her first Don José, Paul Lhérie. Aconsummate singer-actress, Galli-Marié was naturally drawn to therole, defending the opera’s merits, and even participating in thecomposition of the Habañera, itself drawn from a popular cabaret song“El Arreglito” by Sebastián Yradier. Bizet was lucky to have her inhis corner.

59background notes

Unfortunately, it was not enough tosave the new opera from its disastrousMarch 3 premiere. Though Acts i andii were received with someencouragement as well as Escamillo’sToreador Song (described by thecomposer as “trash” suited to please hispublic), the audience was obviouslybaffled and chillingly silent as Bizetdeparted further and further from theOpéra-Comique’s trademarks. Thoughthe composer had just been nominatedto the prestigious Légion de l’Honneurthat very morning (some close to theproduction sneered at the timing,claiming that after the evening’sperformance it would no longer be possible to admit him), critics by and large were harsh, spiraling Bizet down into adeep depression exacerbated by the recurrence of throat abscesses, a chronic condition of his adult life. Recovering slightlyin May, he went for a swim in the Seine, contracted a fever and died on June 3, exactly three months after Carmen’spremiere. It was at first errantly reported the composer had committed suicide – though not intentional, through hisown recklessness it appears Bizet had.

Surprisingly, du Locle kept Carmen on the stage for several months, though audiences were sporadic and box office receiptsfailed to turn a profit. The opera was pulled for the summer months and revived briefly from November 1875 to February1876, achieving a total of 48 performances, posthumously outstripping any of the composer’s previous works. Elsewhere,Carmen rapidly rose to fame. In the fall of 1875, the opera received its Viennese premiere, where it was refitted withsung recitatives, and unencumbered by the conventions and expectations of the Opéra-Comique, was an enormoussuccess. Three years later in London and New York the opera was also greeted with enthusiasm, albeit in Italian

translation. The worksoon gained the respect offellow composers Brahms,Tchaikovsky and Wagner.Yet in France, whilepopular in the provinces,Carmen could not make aParisian comeback foranother eight years. Bythen, du Locle hadresigned as director of theOpéra-Comique due tofinancial difficulties andwas replaced by LéonCarvalho, former directorof the Théâtre Lyrique.

Though he had, during his tenure, commissioned two earlier works by Bizet, he did not care for Carmen, nor did heenjoy Galli-Marié’s sensuously realistic delivery. With many of the same concerns as de Leuven before him, he hadsteadfastly refused to remount the opera.

60background notes

In time, Carvalho was overwhelmed by public pressure, in particular from barrage of letters sent by Galli-Marié, and in1883 the impresario finally relented. He hastily produced a sanitized version, resetting the Act ii brothel scene insidea hotel lobby, replacing the dancing gypsies with ballerinas and altering much of the dialogue. This production failedto please, but incited further entreaties to bring back the original, to which Carvalho acquiesced later that year. Criticsreacted as though they had completely forgotten the two earlier productions, and lavished praise upon the opera as if ithad been a brand new work.

The urtext of Carmen remains in dispute. A critical edition of the work was created by Fritz Oser in 1964, based onorchestra parts that survived a disastrous fire in 1887 (for which Carvalho was briefly imprisoned), but when comparedto the original Choudens piano-vocal edition, it appears Bizet made many changes during the rehearsal period, and itis unclear what his final intent may have been. His depressed and unstable widow, Geneviève, gave away many of hisoriginal manuscripts, and it seems his letters and journals from that period have been heavily edited in an attempt tohide details of their troubled marriage. Though she failed to attend either the premiere of Carmen or her husband’sfuneral, Geneviève achieved personal security from the opera’s royalties, remarried in 1886 to a rich banker and emergedfrom her mental disease to become a bonne vivante, known for her lavish parties.

Both spouses have been accused of marital infidelity, and it has been suggested that Bizet and his leading lady hadenjoyed more than a solid friendship brought on by the trying rehearsals. Feeling uncommonly close to the composer,Galli-Marié claimed to have predicted Bizet’s demise during the 33rd performance – she felt a chill in the fortune-tellingscene when she drew the Ace of Spades. By the time the curtain fell, Bizet had lost consciousness and died early the nextmorning. Upon learning of her friend’s death, Galli-Marié too fell into a fever and was indisposed for the June 3 showing.As a result, du Locle pulled the production for that evening, and with harsh irony, replaced it with a revival of La dameblanche.

61background notes

Mérimée and His Novella

Known today as a mere footnote to Bizet’stremendously popular opera, Prosper Mérimée

(1803–1870) was not only a noted author, but also anarchaeologist, historian and linguist. Born to a liberal-minded, artistic and bourgeois household, Mériméelearned English from his anglophile mother and becameengrossed in the works of Byron, Shakespeare and Scott.He wrote his first prose tragedy, Cromwell, at the age of19, five years before Victor Hugo’s more famous andgroundbreaking setting. Later, a series of romanticdramas written under the pen name of the fictitiousSpanish actress, Clara Gazul, brought him to theattention of the leading proponents of the RomanticMovement, earning him the distinctive anagram premièreprose, crafted out of his name by Hugo himself. By 1828,after receiving a pistol wound in a duel with a jealoushusband, the author used the incident as inspiration foranother tale, La vase étrusque. (Mérimée’s ardent heartwould later lead him into a brief dalliance with notoriousauthor and compulsive lover of writers and musicians,George Sand). Other works from this period include LaJacquerie, La famille de Carvajal and the historical novelChronique du règne de Charles IX, a fictionalized recreationof France at the time of the 16th-century Huguenotmassacre. Another story, Mateo Falcone, dealt with thedefense of family honor amidst high drama – as a result itwould become the source of several future operatictreatments.

In 1830, Mérimée embarked on a six-month journey to Spain. There he met the future Count de Montijo, his youngdaughter Eugenia and his wife Maria. It was Señora de Montijo who recounted the very topical Andalusian tale of abraggart fugitive who boasted of the murder of his lascivious gypsy girlfriend (she also encouraged him to write a historyof medieval monarch Pedro “the cruel” of Castile). Upon his return to France, Mérimée accepted a position with theprogressive government of the newly empowered King Louis-Philippe and served as Inspector General of HistoricalMonuments. Though his writing slowed, his storytelling skills were the not lost on the king, who engaged the authorto entertain visiting dignitaries, including Queen Victoria. During this period, he would complete his second-mostpopular story, Colomba, featuring another real-life woman of conviction, based on a story the author had heard in Corsica.

With regard to many of his subjects, Mérimée has been described as “romantic” in the same vein as Hugo (and evenparticipated in the playwright’s infamous “Battle of Hernani”), but his writing style had shed much of the ponderousdescription and minute detail that plagued Romantic literature of his era. In fact, with Carmen, he began to movetoward the more avant-garde style of Realism, which reached its fruition in Henry Murger, Scènes de la vie de bohème (laterPuccini’s La bohème), and Alexandre Dumas fils, La dame aux camélias (later Verdi’s La traviata). Anticipating these twoworks, Mérimée would adopt a similar tone, telling his story in the first person in parts one and two, and later switchingto the second person for his then-final chapter (a barely relevant fourth section about Romany gypsies, told in the thirdperson, was tacked on the end a little later). The first two parts are centered around a nameless French narrator, whostumbles across the bandit/smuggler Don José, who is already on the outs with his girlfriend Carmen. They share a

prosper mérimée 62

smoke, a meal and a night at the inn, but soon part ways. In the nextsection, the narrator happens upon Carmen herself (already vividlydescribed by José), and she offers to tell his fortune (among other things)back at her modest dwelling. Their encounter is hastily interrupted bya visibly angered José. In the process of the aborted seductiverendezvous, Carmen manages to steal the Frenchman’s gold watch.

Months later, the missing watch brings the narrator to the door of thecity jail, which now houses a multi-murderous Don José. He relaysthe subsequent events of his stormy relationship with Carmen, andchapter three becomes the basis of Halévy and Meilhac’s libretto.Several events they chose to exclude, such as Carmen’s one-eyedhusband García (killed by José for cheating at cards), Remendado’swounding (and later offing by García) during a smuggling run gonewrong and Carmen’s shacking up with an Englishman in Gibraltar aspart of a future swindle. Micaëla was born out of a casual reference toJosé’s hometown girls with blue skirts and golden, plaited hair, andEscamillo was augmented from the slight mention of the picadorLucas, who is pursued by Carmen, but defeated in the ring, crushedbeneath the weight of his horse and the subjugating bull (clearly hisdiminutive image as a faultering sidekick to the all-importantmatador had to be improved, although the term toreador is really aFrench bastardization of the Spanish word torero, a generic term forall the different players in the Corrida).

Following the publication of Carmen in the Revue des deux mondes,Mérimée completed his Histoire de Don Pèdre Ier, roi de Castile, in thesame periodical, as well as La dame de pique, a French translation ofAlexander Pushkin’s Russian play. His fortunes were about to

improve a second time as the new French emperor, Napoleon III married family friend Eugenia de Montijo in 1853.From then on he lived in the shadow of the court as a confidant of the empress and among his reduced output includeda collaboration with the emperor on a history of Julius Caesar, a series of articles on Peter the Great, a novella dedicatedto the empress, La chambre bleue, translations of works by Ivan Turgenev and the author’s final manuscript, Lokis. Thefeared outcome of the Franco-Prussian War with the likely fall of the Second Empire and his ruling patrons likelyhastened his final illness, and Mérimée died in 1870, missing the premiere of Bizet’s opera Carmen by just five years.

Throughout the 20th century, Carmen has continued to be a potent subject for the exploration of modern psychology,having yielded at least 10 film versions, several ballets and a theater piece, La tragégie de Carmen, by Peter Brook. Partof the story’s enduring allure is its femme fatale, a reverse Don Juan, whose pathological libido similarly leads to theruin of others as well as herself. For her prey she chooses the only man that pays her no mind, Don José, whose bourgeoisupbringing and behavior is still controlled by the destructive hold of his distant mother. Though in Mérimée we areintroduced to him as a dangerous outlaw whose quick impulses have already led to murder, the opera initially representsJosé as a virtual innocent, ready for a drastic character reversal and eventual downfall. Carmen refers to him more thanonce in the derogatory as “canary bird,” a reference to his yellow dragoon uniform and general lack of valor. She has noqualms about cheating on him, at once dancing and flirting with his commanding officer, maintaining an ongoingrelationship with her half-estranged husband and seducing English merchants for financial gain. Throw in the opera’svirginal young woman along with a virile, undefeated conqueror, and a complex and dysfunctional love quadrangleensues. Clearly the smartest of the bunch, Carmen aptly sums it up right from the start in her Habañera: amour is quiteunpredictable – lacking when you want it and uncontrollable when it is there.

63prosper mérimée

WORKS BY PROSPER MÉRIMÉE

Cromwell 1822

Théâtre de Clara Gazul 1825

La Jacquerie 1828

La famille de Carvajal 1828

Chronique du règne de Charles IX 1829

Mateo Falcone 1829

La double méprise 1833

La Mosaïque 1833

Notes d'un voyage dans le midi de la France 1835

Notes d'un voyage dans l'Ouest de la France 1836

Notes d'un voyage en Auvergne 1838

Colomba 1840

Carmen 1845

Il viccolo di Madama Lucrezia 1846

Histoire de don Pedro Ier, roi de Castille 1848

Les faux Démétrius 1853

Les deux héritages 1854

Mélanges historiques et littéraires 1855

Marino Vreto, contes de la Grèce moderne 1855

Les Cosaques d'autrefois 1865

Histoire du règne de Pierre le Grand 1867

La chambre bleue 1866

Lokis 1868

Djoûmane 1869

Dernières nouvelles. 1871

Lokis 1868

1 87 5• André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836) reportshis discovery that two current-carrying wiresexercise a reciprocal action upon one another. He

later established a mathematical theory of knownelectrical phenomena, and experimentally

demonstrated the principles of the electrodynamics ofadjacent current–carrying conductors.

• Successful new crops are introduced for cultivation onplantations – clove into Zanzibar and cotton into Angola.Both crops are for export rather than local consumption,and their success depends on promoting the internalAfrican slave trade for labor.

religion, philosophy, learning

• Friedrich Engels, German Socialist, is born.• Jesuits are driven out of Rome.

literature

• Washington Irving publishes The Sketch Book of GeoffreyCrayon, a collection of fanciful tales, including Rip VanWinkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

• Edmund Kean appears as Richard III in New York.• Keats writes Ode to a Nightingale.• Pushkin writes the poem Ruslan and Ludmila.• Sir Walter Scott writes Ivanhoe.• Percey Shelley writes Prometheus Unbound.

visual arts

• Discovery of the Venus de Milo.• William Blake creates Illustrations to the Book of Job.• John Constable paints Harwich Lighthouse.• Henri Vieuxtemps, French violinist and composer, is born.

music

• Gioachino Rossini premieres Maometto II in Naples.• Ludwig van Beethoven writes Piano Sonata No. 30 in E

Major, opus 109 in Vienna.• Giacomo Meyerbeer premieres Margherita d’Anjou in Milan.• Gaetano Donizetti premieres Le nozze in villa in Mantua.

daily life

• “Ballown,” a kind of soccer, is played for the first time inthe United States

• Florence Nightingale, English nurse, is born (d 1910).• Susan B. Anthony, American suffragette leader, is born.• The population of the U.S. reaches 10 million.• The legendary frontiersman, Daniel Boone, dies.

World Events in 1875

history and politics

• Southern Africa is thrown into turmoil by thegreat Mfecane wars. Since the defeat of thepreviously all-powerful Ndwandwe army bythe Zulus at Mhlatuze last year, there has been achain reaction of defeated armies fleeing andattacking rival chiefdoms. While the Zulus aresubduing people to the south, remnants of the Ndwandwearmy form raiding parties, know as Ngoni, as far as MaputoBay in Mozambique.

• The Frenchman Claude de Freycinet explores the coasts ofNew Guinea, the Mariannes, and Hawaii (1818–1819). Thefirst American missionaries arrive in Hawaii in 1820.

• Founding of Singapore by Sir Stanford Raffles.• About four thousand British colonists (Albany Settlers)

settle in the eastern coastal region of South Africa, held bythe British Government, giving the colony for the first timea noticeable English tinge.

• The Egyptian pasha Mohammed Ali conquers the Sudanand the region of Kordofan.

• Revolution in Spain – King Ferdinand VII is forced torestore Constitution of 1812.

• King George III of England dies. He is succeeded by thePrince Regent as George IV.

• Caroline, wife of George IV demands recognition as queen;the king wishes to dissolve marriage, but popular sympathyfor her demands inquiry into her conduct.

• Assassination of the Duc de Berry, heir presumptive toFrench throne; his son, the Comte de Chambord is born thesame year.

• Plan to blow up the British cabinet, including the primeminister, in the Cato Street Conspiracy is foiled; leaders ofthe plot are executed.

• Final Act of Vienna Congress is passed as a result of theNapoleanic Wars.

• Revolution in Portugal, demand for constitution.• U.S. Land Law fixes land price at a minimum of $1.25 per

acre, paving the way for westward expansion by rich landspeculators.

• Washington Colonization Society founds Liberia forrepatriation of Negroes. The Ship Mayflower of Liberia leavesNew York harbor for Sierra Leone in West Africa with 86free Negro aboard.

• Congress designates the slave trade a form of piracy.• President James Monroe is reelected in a landslide victory.

science and technology

• The doctors Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph BienaimeCaventou discover quinine.

world events in 1875 64

History of Opera

In the beginning …

jacopo peri 1561–1633claudio monteverdi 1567–1643

Although often considered an Italian innovation, opera had its debut inAncient Greece, where drama frequently incorporated singing, declamation anddance to tell a narrative tale. Ecclesiastical music dramas of the Middle Ageswere also important precursors. But the operatic art form familiar to us todayhas its roots in Florence, between 1580 and 1589, where a group of musicians,poets and scholars explored the possibility of reviving tragic drama of theancients.

The circle was known as the camerata and consisted of writers, theorists andcomposers, including giulio caccini , ottavio rinuccini and vincenzogalilei (father of the famed astronomer). Their efforts exacted musical com-positions that took special care to accentuate the dramatic inflection of theirchosen text, to evoke its precise emotional shading and to find the ideal marriage between words and music. jacopoperi , a rival of Caccini and a collaborator with Rinuccini, produced the first known (but no longer existing) opera,Dafne, in 1597.

The Camerata met at the home of the nobleman giovanni de’ bardi . Thus, no sooner had opera had made its firstappearance than it became a court activity, which fit the social and political conditions of the day. As a result of Bardi’sinfluence, these composers were hired by the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand i, who gave them their first wide expo-sure. When his daughter, Marie de’ Medici, married Henry iv of France, Peri’s Euridice was produced at the ceremony,and Italian opera gained its first international premiere. Even though Euridice was a simply staged production accom-panied by a small group of strings and flute, in 1600 this type of musical drama was considered revolutionary.

claudio monteverdi ’s Orfeo (1607) is the most significant opera of this period, more so than those works of theFlorentines. The boldness of his harmonies and the richness of his orchestration dramatically developed the art form,and this work, along with L’incoronazione di Poppea (1642) are still popular pieces performed today.

Opera in Venice

francesco cavalli 1602–1676antonio cesti 1623–1669

The new art form quickly spread to other Italian cities. By 1636, the first public opera house was opened in Venice andopera became quite popular among the people. Le nozze di Teti e di Pele, the first of francesco cavalli ’s thirty-plusoperas for the Venetian stage, premiered two years later. Competing with Monteverdi and antonio cesti (who tooka post in Innsbruck after producing only two works for Venice), Cavalli quickly rose to the top.

At the same time, Italian stage designers were fast improving their techniques and were able to produce stupendousspecial effects, a happy coincidence for the new operatic art form. The use of the proscenium arch allowed the spectatorto view the stage from a narrower angle, thus producing a better illusion of perspective. The proscenium also hid elab-orate flying apparatus, and allowed for quick and seamless scene changes with drops from the top and flaps from theside wings. Spectacular stage effects became a speciality of French opera, and with the inclusion of ballet, became thepart of established style of France by the 18th century.

history of opera 67

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s1971 production of Monteverdi’sL’incoronazione di Poppea

North of Italy, Hamburg composer reinhardkeiser (1694 – 1739) became the director ofone of the first public opera houses in Germany.He often set libretti by Venetian librettists.

Baroque Opera in France, Englandand Germany

jean-baptiste lully 1632–1687henry purcell 1658/59–1695george frideric handel 1685–1759christoph willibald gluck 1714–1787

In 1646, Giovanni Battista Lulli arrived in France from Florence and tried to establish Italian opera in the French Court.He was unsuccessful because the reigning monarch, Louis xiv, preferred dance. Nonetheless, jean-baptiste lully ,as he became known, rose in royal favor by composing ballets for the king and eventually gained control of the AcadémieRoyale de Musique, the official musical institution of France. Through Lully’s influence in this important position, andby way of his own compositions, a distinctive French operatic form began to emerge and thrive on its own.

The Italian and French forms of opera were slow to catch on among the English, who preferred spoken theater. A com-promise was reached in a form referred to as semi-opera , featuring spoken dialogue alternated with musical masques(which often included dance). henry purcell ’s The Fairy Queen (1692) is one popular example from this period.

Purcell’s first opera, Dido and Aeneas (1689), is hisonly opera in the Italian style and continues to beoccasionally revived in modern times.

A major player in the early part of the 18th centurywas george frideric handel , who began hiscareer in Hamburg. As early as 1711, Handelenjoyed success in England and would remainthere for the next forty years. During that time, hewrote 35 operas (many in the Italian style), most ofwhich focused on historical, classicalor romantic subjects. His inventivemusical style began to set newstandards for the art form,and his works redefinedthe dramatic potential ofopera as a vital and vividexperience.

Another German, christoph willibald gluck , arrived in England on the heels ofHandel’s last London operas, and later moving to Vienna, he began to see what he found to be flaws inthe conventional Italian opera of the day. Singers had taken control of the productions, demanding soloarias and sometimes adding their own pieces to show off their vocal technique. Operas were turning intoa collection of individual showpieces at the sacrifice of dramatic integrity. Although Gluck wrote someoperas which shared these flaws, one work, Orfeo ed Euridice (1762), reasserted the primacy of drama and music

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2008 production of Keiser’s The Fortunes of King Croesus

A scene from The Minnesota Opera’s1994 production of Handel’s Julius Caesar

68history of opera

Costume sketch for Minnesota Opera’s2010 production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice

by removing the da capo (repeated and embellished) part of the aria, by usingchorus and instrumental solos only to reinforce the dramatic action, and by notallowing the singers to insert their own music. Gluck completed his career in Paris,where he became a master of French opera’s serious form, the tragédie lyrique .

During the 18th century, opera began to fall into two distinct categories: operaseria and opera buffa . Opera seria (serious opera) focused on historical, reli-gious or Greco-Roman subjects. The glorification of saints, kings and gods wenthand-in-hand with the grandiose baroque style and the spectacular stage effects ofcourt opera. Librettist Pietro Metastasio provided 28 libretti that continued toserve composers again and again well into the 19th century. Opera buffa (comicopera) had its roots with the popular audience, each country specializing in its owndistinct form. In France, charles-s imon favart’ s operas of the 1740s parodiedthe serious tragédie lyriques of Lully (the Opéra-Comique, the Paris theater forcomic opera, would later be named after him). In Naples, Italy, the intermezzi(short comic works inserted in between acts of a serious opera), of giovanni bat-tista pergolesi paved the way to the development of opera buffa in the latterhalf of the 18th century. His masterpiece, La serva padrona (1733), is considered amilestone in the developmentof comic opera.

Opera during the Classical Period

giuseppe sarti 1729–1802

franz joseph haydn 1732–1809

giovanni pais iello 1740–1816

domenico cimarosa 1749–1801

antonio salieri 1750–1825

vicente martin y soler 1754–1806

wolfgang amadeus mozart 1756–1791

Two composers are invariably linked to the Classical Period – franz joseph haydn and wolfgang amadeusmozart . Of the former, few of his operas are produced today even though he wrote over 25, most of which were cre-ated and performed for his employer, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. Mozart’s operas, however, remain in repertory as someof the most frequently produced works. Of the five most favorite – TheAbduction from the Seraglio (1782), The Marriage of Figaro (1786), DonGiovanni (1787), Così fan tutte (1790), The Magic Flute (1791) – two aresingspiels (a popular German form, replacing sung recitative withspoken dialogue), two opera buffas and one opera “semi-seria.” Twoopera serias (the form Mozart preferred, incidently) frame his adultcareer – Idomeneo (1781) was his first mature opera and La clemenza diTito (1791) was his last commission.

Lesser composers of this period include antonio salieri (born inLegnago, settling later in Vienna), who served the court of EmperorJoseph ii. Through the emperor’s influence with his sister, MarieAntoinette, Salieri made headway in Paris as well, establishing himselfas a worthy successor of Gluck in the serious vein of his tragédielyriques. Returning to Vienna in 1784, Salieri found himself in strict

69history of opera

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s 1996 production ofMozart’s Don Giovanni

Artist rendering of Minnesota Opera’s2008 production of Mozart’s

The Abduction from the Seraglio

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2009 production of Argento’s Casanova’sHomcoming [which included a scene from

Metastasio’s opera seria Demofoonte (1733)]

competition with other leading composers of the day, giovanni pais iello and vincente martín y soler . Thesetwo composers were known partly from their brief service to Catherine the Great of Russia, along with several otheradvanced Italian composers including giuseppe sarti and domenico cimarosa .

After the Revolution – French Grand Opera

luigi cherubini 1760–1842

ferdinando paer 1771–1839

gaspare spontini 1774–1851

daniel-françois-esprit auber 1782–1871

giacomo meyerbeer 1791–1864

In the decades following the French revolution, french grandopera developed extensively, moving from a private entertain-ment for royalty to an art form eagerly consumed by the upward-ly mobile bourgeoisie. Opera in France at the turn of the 19th cen-tury was dominated by expatriate Italian composers. First andmost notable was luigi cherubini , who established residencein Paris in 1785. Eventually rising to the position of director of thenational conservatory, he virtually ceased composing operas in1813. The most lasting work in his oeuvre is Médée of 1797.

ferdinando paer came to prominence during the first empire of Napoleon i – he was engaged as the Emperor’smaître de chapelle in 1807 and later became the director of the Opéra-Comique. Just before Napoleon’s abdication, Paerassumed directorship of the Théâtre Italien, a post he held until it was yielded to Rossini in 1824. None of his manyoperas survive in the modern repertory, although the libretto he wrote for one, Leonora (1804), served to inspire Ludwigvan Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio (1805). gaspare spontini was another Italian who moved to Paris and eventual-

ly ran the Théâtre Italien, a theater devoted to producingItalian works in their native language. Most popular amonghis repertoire were La Vestale (1807) and Fernand Cortez(1809).

French grand opera came into its own through the efforts oftwo composers: daniel-françois-esprit auber andgiacomo meyerbeer . Collaborating with Eugène Scribe(whose plays would later serve as inspiration for a number ofVerdi operas), Auber produced La muette de Portici (1828), thefirst definite grand opéra of this period, which proved extreme-ly popular with French audiences. Characteristic of the genrewas a five-act framework that incorporated spectacular stageeffects, large crowd scenes and a ballet. A specific, manneredformula for the drama’s unfolding was also inherent in the artform.

Meyerbeer brought grand opera to fruition first with Robert lediable (1831), then with Les Huguenots (1836), and with theseworks, also established a close relationship with Scribe. Twolater works of note include La prophète (1849) and L’Africaine(1865), also cast in the grand opera schema.

70history of opera

Paris Opéra – Palais Garnier (completed in 1875; still in use)The old Opéra on the Salle de la Petelier, birthplace of

French Grand Opera, burned down in 1873

Today’s Opéra National de Parisat the Place de la Bastille (completed in 1989)

Early 19th-century Italy – The Bel Canto composers

gioachino rossini 1792–1868

gaetano donizetti 1797–1848

vincenzo bellini 1801–1835

Back in Italy, opera saw the development of a distinctive style known as bel canto .Bel canto (literally “beautiful singing”) was characterized by the smooth emission oftone, beauty of timbre and elegance of phrasing. Music associated with this genre con-tained many trills , roulades and other embellishments that showed off the par-

ticular singer’s technique.Traditionally, a bel canto ariabegins with a slow, song-likecantabile section followed byan intermediate mezzo sectionwith a slightly quicker tempo. It ends with a dazzling cabaletta ,the fastest section, where the singer shows off his or her talents.Often these were improvised upon, or replaced with “suitcase” ariasof the singers’ own choosing, much to the consternation of the com-poser.

gioachino rossini was the first and perhaps best known of thethree composers associated with this style. In his early years,between 1813 and 1820, Rossini composed rapidly, producing twoor three operas a year. The pace slowed after he moved to France in1824 – there he producedfive works for the Paris

Opéra, several of which show tendencies of the French grand opera style.WilliamTell was his last opera – Rossini retired at age 37 with 39 more years to live.

gaetano donizetti and vincenzo bellini were two other Italian BelCanto composers who premiered operas in both Paris and Italy. A tendency thatbegan with Rossini and continued into their works was the practice of accom-panied recitatives. Opera to this point had been organized in a very specific man-

ner with more elongated “numbers”(arias, duets, ensembles) alternatedwith recitative (essentially dialogueset to music, intended to move theaction along). In Mozart’s day, theserecitative would be played by aharpsichord or fortepiano (some-times doubled with cellos and bass-es) and was known as recitativosecco . As Rossini’s style pro-gressed, the orchestra took overplaying the recitatives whichbecame known as rec itat ivoaccompagnato . The practice con-tinued into Verdi’s day.

71history of opera

Promotional material forMinnesota Opera’s

2001 production of Bellini’sThe Capulets and the

Montagues

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2000 production of Rossini’s Semiramide

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2004 production of Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia

Set model for Minnesota Opera’s2010 production of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux

Three Masters of Opera

giuseppe verdi 1813–1901

richard wagner 1813–1883

giacomo puccini 1858–1924

giuseppe verdi ’s roots began in bel canto but the composertransformed the Italian style into a more fluid, less structuredform. With a legacy of 26 operas, Verdi is never out of therepertory and four of these (Rigoletto, 1851; Il trovatore, 1853;La traviata, 1853; Aida, 1871) are some of the most familiar ofthe art form.

Verdi’s contemporary, richard wagner , is also consideredone of the greats. Taking the idea of “fluidity” one step further,Wagner developed his operas into freely flowing music-dra-mas united by melodic motifs that become associated with persons, places and things. Taking the grandeur of French operaone step further, he crafted his own libretti out of Nordic legends and created spectacular operatic moments. Wagner alsogreatly expanded the orchestra and developed his own particular brass instruments for greater impact. AWagnerian singer

is one with great stamina – theymust sing over a large orchestrain an opera that can be up tofour hours long.

Italian opera’s successor to Verditurned out to be giacomopuccini . With a gift of popu-lar melody and musical econo-my, his operas La bohème (1896),Tosca (1900) and MadameButterfly (1904) remain at thetop of the standard repertory.

72history of opera

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s1998 production of Verdi’s Aida

Set model for Minnesota Opera’s1992 production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman

Costume sketch for Minnesota Opera’s1994 production of Verdi’s

Il trovatore

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2004 production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly A scene from Minnesota Opera’s

2002 production of Verdi’s Don Carlos

Later French Opera

hector berlioz 1803–1869

charles-françois gounod 1818–1893

jacques offenbach 1819–1880

edouard lalo 1823–1892

camille saint-saëns 1835–1921

léo delibes 1836–1891

georges bizet 1838–1875

jules massenet 1842–1912

gustave charpentier 1860–1956

The grand opera schema continued into the latter half ofthe 19th century in such works as hector berlioz ’s LesTroyens (composed 1856 – 58), and charles-françois gounod ’s Faust (1859) and Roméo et Juliette (1867). An ele-ment of realism began to slip into the French repertoire, seen in works by georges bizet (Carmen, 1875) and gus-tave charpentier (Louise, 1897). jacques offenbach revolutionized the art of comic operetta in such works asOrphée aux enfers (1858), La belle Hélène (1864) and La Périchole (1868). Other composers of this period include camille

saint-saëns (Samson et Dalila, 1877), edouard lalo (LeRoi d’Ys, 1875) and jules massenet (Manon, 1884;Werther, 1892; Cendrillon, 1899).

Verismo in Late 19th-century Italy

ruggero leoncavallo 1857–1919

pietro mascagni 1863–1945

umberto giordano 1867–1948

A realist vein began to penetrate Italian opera toward the end of the 19th century, influenced in part by naturalism inFrench literature of the period and by the writings of an Italian literary circle, the scapigliatura . Translated as the“dishevelled ones,” the Scapigliatura displayed their distaste for bourgeois society in works of gritty realism, often bor-dering on the morbid and the macabre. Nearly all the members of the group (lead by giovanni verga ) led tragiclives ending in early death by alcoholism and suicide.

73history of opera

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2009 production of Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2009 production of Gounod’s Faust

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2008 production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette

Operas to come out of the resulting verismo school includepietro mascagni ’s Cavalleria rusticana (1890), ruggeroleoncavallo ’s Pagliacci (1892) and umberto giordano ’sMala vita (1892). Other works are attributed to this movementby nature of their rapid action with passionate tension and vio-lence quickly alternating with moments of great sentimentality.

Opera in Russia

mikhail ivanovich glinka 1804–1857

pyotr il’yich tchaikovsky 1840–1893

nikolay andreyevich rimsky-korsakov 1844–1908

modest petrovich musorgsky 1839–1881

sergei prokofiev 1891–1953

dmitri shostokovich 1906–1975

Opera was introduced in Russia during the succession of powerful czarinas that culminated in the reign of Catherinethe Great (ruled 1762 – 1796). She employed a number of important Italian composers (see above) and established St.Petersburg as a major city for the production of new opera, later to be elevated to the same par as London, Paris and

Vienna by her descendent, Nicholas i (ruled 1825 – 1855). Of native Russiancomposers, the first to come to prominence was mikhail glinka with A Life forthe Tsar (1836), and later, Ruslan and Lyudmila (1842). pyotr tchaikovsky ,now known more for his ballets and symphonies, was a prolific composer of opera.His best works include Eugene Onegin (1879), Mazepa (1884) and The Queen ofSpades (1890). Other Russian composers of the latter 19th century include niko-lay rimsky-korsakov (The Snow Maiden, 1882; The Tsar’s Bride, 1899; TheGolden Cockerel, 1909) and modest musorgsky (Boris Godunov, 1874).

Russian opera continued into the 20th century with works by sergei prokofievcomposed The Love for Three Oranges (1921) and The Gambler (1929), among oth-ers. His crowning achievement, written toward the end of his life, was War andPeace (1948), based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy. dmitri shostokovich ’s mostnotable work is Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1934). Both artists sufferedcensure from the Soviet government.

Into the 20th Century

claude debussy 1862–1918

richard strauss 1864–1949

paul dukas 1865–1935

arnold schoenberg 1874–1951

igor stravinsky 1882–1971

alban berg 1885–1935

darius milhaud 1892–1974

paul hindemith 1895–1963

kurt weill 1900–1950

benjamin britten 1913–1976

74history of opera

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s1978 production of Prokofiev’sThe Love for Three Oranges

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2001 production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s1996 production of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande

claude debussy ’s impressionist score for Pelléas etMélisande (1902) paved the way for the radical changes in20th-century opera. Also based on a Symbolist text byMaurice Maeterlinck was paul dukas ’ Ariane et Barbe-Bleue (1907), an opera about the notorious Bluebeard andhis six wives. But causing the most sensation was richardstrauss ’ Salome (1905), which pushed both tonality andthe demands on the singers to the limits. He followed thatopera with an even more progressive work, Elektra (1909),drawn from the Greek tragedy by Sophocles.

Important innovations were taking place in Vienna.arnold schoenberg made a complete break withtonality in his staged monodrama Erwartung (1909), giv-ing all twelve tones of the chromatic scale equal impor-tance. He codified this approach in his twelve-tonesystem where a theme is created with a row of notes using

all twelve notes of the chromatic scale. This “row” can be played in transposition, in reverse, upside-down, or in anycombination of the three. Schoenberg also evolved a particular style of singing, sprechstimme , an intoned speechhalfway between singing and speaking.

Sprechstimme was well suited to the expressionist nature of operas being produced at this time. Schoenberg’s student,alban berg , employed it in Wozzeck (1925) and used the serialized twelve-tone method in his opera Lulu (1937).Another avant-garde composer, paul hindemith , created a series of expressionist one-act operas that shocked audi-ences of the day: Murder, Hope of Women (1921), Das Nusch-Nuschi (1921) and Sancta Susanna (1922). Two later operasinclude one based on a short story by E.T.A. Hoffmann (Cardillac, 1926) and a satire on modern social behavior (News ofthe Day, 1929). At about the same kurt weill was causing an uproar with his new works: The Threepenny Opera (1928),The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1930) and Der Silbersee (1933). The up-and-coming Nazi party did not favorhis works, and he was forced to leave the country, eventually to settle in America.

In Paris, Russian igor stravinsky was shockingaudiences and causing riots with his ballet music. Hisearly operas include The Nightingale (1914) and Mavra(1922). Oedipus Rex (1927) is representative of his firstneoclassical works, using forms from the 18th centurywith modern tonality and orchestration. His later (andlongest) opera, The Rake’s Progress (1951), is a culmina-tion of this neoclassical style. French composer dariusmilhaud was extremely prolific in all genres of music.In opera, he produced the one-act Le pauvre matelot(1927) and a large-scale work in the tradition of grandopera, Christophe Columbe (1930). Later in his life hecomposed La mère coupable (1966), based on theBeaumarchais Figaro trilogy (which includes The Barberof Seville and The Marriage of Figaro).

In England, benjamin britten emerged as one of Britain’s foremost composers of opera since Henry Purcell. Out ofhis 16 original works for the stage the most popular include Peter Grimes (1945), Billy Budd (1951), Gloriana (1953)and The Turn of the Screw (1954).

75history of opera

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s1999 production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2010 production of Strauss’ Salome

20th- and 21st-century American Composers of Opera

virgil thomson 1896–1989

george antheil 1900–1959

samuel barber 1910–1981

gian carlo menotti 1911–2007

carlisle floyd 1926–

dominick argento 1927–

conrad susa 1935–

philip glass 1937–

john corigliano 1938–

john adams 1947–

Paris in the 20s served to inspire the next generation ofcomposers, several of which were expatriates fromAmerica. george antheil was the first Americancomposer to have an opera premiered in Europe – his work, Transatlantic, was written in France but premiered inFrankfurt in 1930. Compatriot virgil thomson studied with famed teacher Nadia Boulanger and later producedFour Saints in Three Acts (1934) and The Mother of Us All (1947), both to texts by Gertrude Stein. samuel barberstayed on American soil, studying at the newly founded Curtis Institute in 1935. He went on to compose Vanessa(1958), and to open the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, Antony and Cleopatra (1966).

On Vanessa, Barber collaborated with another composer, gian carlo menotti , who wrote the libretto. Also theauthor of 25 libretti for his own operas, Menotti is best known for The Medium (1946), The Consul (1950), Amahl andthe Night Visitors (1951) and The Saint of Bleecker Street (1954). Another American composing at about the same time was

carlisle floyd , who favored American themes and liter-ature. His most important works include Susannah (1955),Wuthering Heights (1958), The Passion of Jonathan Wade(1962) and Of Mice and Men (1970).

During the sixties and seventies, the minnesota operawas the site of many world premieres of lasting significance:conrad susa ’s Transformations (1973) and Black River(1975), and dominick argento ’s The Masque of Angels(1964), Postcards from Morocco (1971), The Voyage of EdgarAllen Poe (1976), Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night (1981) andCasanova’s Homecoming (1985; revived in 2009). OtherArgento works of merit includeMiss Havisham’s Fire (1979)and The Aspern Papers (1988).

Other composers currently at the fore include philip glass , john corigliano and john adams . The Minimalistmusic of Philip Glass has won popular acclaim among even non-opera-going audiences – his oeuvre includes Einstein onthe Beach (1976), Ahknaten (1984), and most recently, The Voyage (1992), commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera tocommemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America. The Met also commissioned The Ghosts ofVersailles from john corigliano in 1991 – like Milhaud’s opera of 1966, its text involves Beaumarchais’ third partof the Figaro trilogy with the playwright himself appearing as the lover of 18th-century Queen of France Marie

76history of opera

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s1998 American premiere of Antheil’s Transatlantic

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s1989 production of Glass’ The Juniper Tree

Antoinette. john adams ’ focus on contemporaryevents lead him to compose Nixon in China (1987)and The Death of Klinghoffer (1991).

Opera continues to be a living and vital art form inthe revival of many of these works as well as thecommissioning of new pieces. Among world pre-mieres in the last two decades include tobiasp icker ’s Emmeline (1996) by Santa Fe Opera,daniel catán ’s Florencia en el Amazonas (1996)by Houston Grand Opera, myron fink ’s TheConquistador (1997) presented by San DiegoOpera, anthony davis’ Amistad (1997) presentedby Lyric Opera of Chicago and Central Park (1999)by Glimmerglass Opera, a trilogy of short operasset by three composers. Recent seasons includeds u c hn e wworks

as poul ruders ’ The Handmaid’s Tale (Royal Danish Opera; 2000), brightsheng’s Madame Mao (Santa Fe Opera; 2003), DANIEL CATÁN’S Salsipuedes(Houston Grand Opera; 2004), R ICHARD DANIELPOUR’s Margaret Garner(Michigan Opera Theatre; 2005), ricky ian gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath(Minnesota Opera; 2007), jonathan dove’ s The Adventures of Pinocchio(Opera North, Leeds; 2008), HOWARD SHORE’s The Fly (Los Angeles Opera;2009), jake heggie’s Moby Dick (Dallas Opera; 2010), kevin puts ’ SilentNight (Minnesota Opera; 2011) and DOUGLAS J . CUOMO and JOHN PATRICK

SHANLEY’s Doubt (Minnesota Opera; 2013).

75history of opera

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2003 American premiere of Ruders’

The Handmaid’s Tale

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2005 production of Adams’ Nixon in China

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s Pulitzer Prize-winning2011 world premiere of Puts’ Silent Night

Costume sketch for Minnesota Opera’s2009 American premiere of Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio

History of the Minnesota Opera

Minnesota Opera combines a culture of creativity and fiscal responsibility to produce operaand opera education programs that expand the art form, nurture artists, enrich audiencesand contribute to the vitality of the community.

Minnesota Opera’s roots were planted in 1963 when the Walker Art Centercommissioned Dominick Argento to compose an opera (The Masque of Angels) forits performing arts program, Center Opera. Center Opera focused on thecomposition and performance of new works by American composers, and, underthe influence of the Walker Art Center, emphasized visual design. The companygrew steadily, and in 1969 became an independent entity, changing its name in1971 to The Minnesota Opera.

Throughout the first 12 years of its history, The Minnesota Opera was known as a progressive, “alternative” operaproduction company, a complement to the traditional orientation of the annual Metropolitan Opera tour and theproductions of the St. Paul Opera. In 1976, The Minnesota Opera merged with the St. Paul Opera, adding a focus ontraditional repertory to its program of contemporary opera.

In January 1985, The Minnesota Opera entered a new era with the opening ofthe Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, one of the nation’s mostrespected performance halls. Today, the company presents its entire season at theOrdway.

In September 1990, the company moved its scenic and costume shops, rehearsalfacilities and administrative offices to the 51,000 square-feet Minnesota OperaCenter, which comprises three renovated warehouses on the Mississippiriverfront in Minneapolis. Winner of a 1990 Preservation Alliance of MinnesotaAward, the Minnesota Opera Center is one of the finest opera productionfacilities in the nation and has served to strengthen the company both artisticallyand institutionally.

Throughout the 1990s, the company gained a national reputation for its high-quality, innovative productions of standardrepertoire operas like Aida, Carmen and Turandot, which were seen on stages across the nation, and firmly establishedMinnesota Opera’s reputation as a lead coproducer in the industry. In that decade, Minnesota Opera also grewinstitutionally, launching an artistic development campaign to establish a foundation for the expansion of its season andincreased artistic quality.

In 1997, the company launched its Resident Artist Program to bridge the gap between an artist’s academic training andtheir professional life on the world stage. The RAP is acclaimed for its exceptional, intense and individualized training aswell as the elite group of young artists it produces. Alumnihave earned engagements at prestigious houses such as theMetropolitan Opera, the Salzburg Festival and Covent Garden.

In 2000, Artistic Director Dale Johnson articulated a newartistic vision for the company inspired by bel canto (“beautifulsinging”), the ideal upon which Italian opera is based. Bel cantovalues, which emphasize intense emotional expressionsupported by exquisite technique, inform every aspect of thecompany’s programs, from repertoire selection, casting andvisual design to education and artist training. As onemanifestation of its philosophy, Minnesota Opera is committedto producing one work from the early 19th-century Bel Cantoperiod each season, attracting luminary singers like Bruce Ford,Vivica Genaux, Brenda Harris and Sumi Jo to its stage.

Set design for Minnesota Opera’s1971 production of Dominick Argento’s

Postcard from Morocco

history of the minnesota opera 76

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s 1984 production ofPeter Schickele’s The Abduction of Figaro

Minnesota Opera is also recognized for its progressive andfar-reaching educational programs. Residencies in schools,opera education classes and pre-performance discussions arebuilding an audience for tomorrow and enhancing theenjoyment of audiences today.

Throughout its history, Minnesota Opera has attractedinternational attention for its performances of new operasand innovative productions of masterworks. Among itsmost renowned world and American premieres are:Dominick Argento’s Postcard from Morocco, The Voyage ofEdgar Allan Poe and Casanova’s Homecoming, WilliamMayer’sA Death in the Family, Libby Larsen’s Frankenstein, TheModern Prometheus, Oliver Knussen and Maurice Sendak’sWhere the Wild Things Are, Conrad Susa’s Transformations andBlack River, PDQ Bach’s The Abduction of Figaro, RobertMoran’s From the Towers of the Moon, Gioachino Rossini’sArmida, Evan Chen’s Bok Choy Variations, George Antheil’sTransatlantic, Poul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale, Laurent Petitgirard’s Joseph Merrrick dit Elephant Man, Saverio Mercadante’sOrazi e Curiazi, Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath, Reinhard Keiser’s The Fortunes of King Croesus, Jonathan Dove’s TheAdventures of Pinocchio, Kevin Puts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night and Douglas J. Cuomo’s Doubt.

Building on the legacy of its commitment to new work and following the overwhelming success of its commission of TheGrapes of Wrath in 2007, Minnesota Opera launched the New Works Initiative, a landmark program designed to invigoratethe operatic repertoire through the production and dissemination of new commissions and revivals of contemporaryAmerican works. The seven-year, $7 million program includes an international coproduction (The Adventures of Pinocchio,2009), three revivals (Casanova’s Homecoming in 2010; Wuthering Heights in 2011 and The Dream of Valentino in 2013) andthree commissions (Silent Night in 2011; Doubt in 2013 and The Manchurian Candidate in 2015).

On the Minnesota Opera stage, talented national and internationally known artists are brought together to createproductions of the highest artistic integrity, emphasizing the balance and total integration of theatrical and musical values.Throughout the past five decades, the company has presented such artists as Tim Albery, Isabel Bayrakdarian, John LeeBeatty, Harry Bicket, Richard Bonynge, William Burden, John Conklin, Roxana Constantinescu, David Daniels, BruceFord, Elizabeth Futral, Vivica Genaux, Colin Graham, Denyce Graves, Greer Grimsley, Nancy Gustafson, Brenda Harris,Jason Howard, Judith Howarth, Robert Indiana, Robert Israel, Sumi Jo, Kelly Kaduce, Antony McDonald, CatherineMalfitano, Daniel Massey, Johanna Meier, Suzanne Mentzer, Erie Mills, Sherrill Milnes, Julia Migenes, Fernando de laMora, James Morris, Suzanne Murphy, Maureen O’Flynn, Susanna Phillips, Ashley Putnam, Patricia Racette, JamesRobinson, Neil Rosenshein, William Shimell, James Valenti, David Walker and Keith Warner.

Minnesota Opera, now the 13th

largest opera company in thenation with an annual budget of$10.2 million (Fiscal Year 2012),is guided by President and GeneralDirector Kevin Ramch andArtistic Director Dale Johnson.

Today Minnesota Opera isenjoying unprecedented stabilityand unity of mission, workingtoward its vision to create a new,dynamic opera company modelbased upon innovation, world-class artistic quality and strongcommunity service.

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s 2000 production ofGioachino Rossini’s Semiramide

A scene from Minnesota Opera’s2001 production of Carl Orff’s Carmina burana

history of the minnesota opera 77

2013–2014Manon Lescaut (Puccini)

Arabella (Strauss)Macbeth (Verdi)

The Dream of Valentino (Argento)Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)

2012–201350th anniversary season

Nabucco (Verdi)Anna Bolena (Donizetti)

§ † Doubt (Cuomo)Hamlet (Thomas)

Turandot (Puccini)

2011–2012Così fan tutte (Mozart)§ † Silent Night (Puts)

Werther (Massenet)Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)

Madame Butterfly (Puccini)

2010–2011Orfeo ed Euridice (Gluck)La Cenerentola (Rossini)

Maria Stuarda (Donizetti)La traviata (Verdi)

Wuthering Heights (Herrmann)

2009–2010Les pêcheurs de perles (Bizet)

Casanova’s Homecoming (Argento)Roberto Devereux (Donizetti)

La bohème (Puccini)Salome (R. Strauss)

2008–2009Il trovatore (Verdi)

Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart)Faust (Gounod)

* The Adventures of Pinocchio (Dove)Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)

2007–2008Un ballo in maschera (Verdi)L’italiana in Algeri (Rossini)

Roméo et Juliette (Gounod)* Croesus (Keiser)Rusalka (Dvorák)

2006–2007La donna del lago (Rossini)

Les contes d’Hoffmann (Offenbach)§ † The Grapes of Wrath (Gordon)

Lakmé (Delibes)Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart)

2005–2006Tosca (Puccini)

Don Giovanni (Mozart)* Orazi e Curiazi (Mercadante)

* Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man (Petitgirard)

2004–2005Madama Butterfly (Puccini)Maria Padilla (Donizetti)

Carmen (Bizet)Nixon in China (Adams)

2003–2004Rigoletto (Verdi)Lucrezia Borgia (Donizetti)Passion (Sondheim)Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)

2002–2003Die lustige Witwe (Lehár)Norma (Bellini)Der fliegende Holländer (Wagner)La traviata (Verdi)* The Handmaid’s Tale (Ruders)

2001–2002Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)La clemenza di Tito (Mozart)La bohème (Puccini)Little Women (Adamo)Don Carlos (Verdi)

2000–2001Turandot (Puccini)I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (Bellini)Street Scene (Weill)Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)Pagliacci/Carmina burana (Leoncavallo/Orff)� The Barber of Seville (Rossini)

1999–2000Der Rosenkavalier (R. Strauss)Macbeth (Verdi)Semiramide (Rossini)Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart)� The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)

1998–1999Otello (Verdi)Madama Butterfly (Puccini)The Turn of the Screw (Britten)Faust (Gounod)� Madame Butterfly (Puccini)

1997–1998Aida (Verdi)La Cenerentola (Rossini)* Transatlantic (Antheil)Tosca (Puccini)� Cinderella (Rossini, Massenet)

1996–1997La traviata (Verdi)Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)The Rake’s Progress (Stravinsky)Carmen (Bizet)� Carmen (Bizet)

1995–1996La bohème (Puccini)Don Giovanni (Mozart)Pelléas et Mélisande (Debussy)Les contes d’Hoffmann (Offenbach)� The Bohemians (Puccini)

1994–1995Turandot (Puccini)Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)Rigoletto (Verdi)§ † Bok Choy Variations (Chen and Simonson)� Figaro’s Revenge (Rossini, Paisiello)

Minnesota Opera Repertoire – 1963–2014

§ World Premiere

* American Premiere

† Commissioned by The Minnesota Operaor by The Minnesota Opera Midwest Tour

� Tour production

� Outreach/Education tour

• New Music-Theater Ensemble production

repertoire 78

1993–1994Julius Caesar (Handel)

* Diary of an African American (Peterson)Il trovatore (Verdi)

§ The Merry Widow and The Hollywood Tycoon (Lehár)� Don Giovanni (Mozart)

1992–1993Der fliegende Holländer (Wagner)

* Armida (Rossini)Madama Butterfly (Puccini)

The Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert & Sullivan)

1991–1992Tosca (Puccini)

Les pêcheurs de perles (Bizet)Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart)

§ † From the Towers of the Moon (Moran & La Chiusa)� The Magic Flute (Mozart)

Carousel (Rodgers & Hammerstein)

1990–1991Norma (Bellini)

The Aspern Papers (Argento)Carmen (Bizet)

Così fan tutte (Mozart)� Così fan tutte (Mozart)

� Swing on a Star (Winkler)

1989–1990La bohème (Puccini)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten)Roméo et Juliette (Gounod)

§ † Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus (Larsen)My Fair Lady (Lerner & Loewe)

• § Snow Leopard (Harper & Nieboer)� Madame Butterfly (Puccini)

Where the Wild Things Are (Sendak/Knussen)

1988–1989Don Giovanni (Mozart)

Salome (R. Strauss)The Mikado (Gilbert & Sullivan)The Juniper Tree (Glass & Moran)Show Boat (Kern & Hammerstein)

§ † • Without Colors (Wellman & Shiflett)§ † • Red Tide (Selig & Sherman)

§ † • Newest Little Opera in the World(ensemble)

� Cinderella (Rossini)� Tintypes (Kyte, Marvin, Pearle)

1987–1988Die Fledermaus (J. Strauss)

Rigoletto (Verdi)Rusalka (Dvorak)

• Cowboy Lips (Greene & Madsen)§ † • Fly Away All (Hutchinson & Shank)

• Book of Days (Monk)Oklahoma! (Rodgers & Hammerstein)

� Carmen (Bizet)� Jargonauts, Ahoy! (McKeel)

1986–1987Les pêcheurs de perles (Bizet)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (Paulus)Ariadne auf Naxos (R. Strauss)

South Pacific (Rodgers & Hammerstein)� Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck)

§ † � Jargonauts, Ahoy! (McKeel)

1985–1986*Where theWild Things Are/Higglety Pigglety Pop! (Knussen/Sendak)

La traviata (Verdi)L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti)

The King and I (Rodgers & Hammerstein)§ † Opera Tomorrow

� The Fantasticks (Schmidt)� The Magic Flute (Mozart)

§ † � The Music Shop (Wargo)

1984–1985* Animalen (Werle)§ † Casanova’s Homecoming (Argento)The Magic Flute (Mozart)� La bohème (Puccini)� Meanwhile, back at Cinderella’s (Arlan)

1983–1984Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck)Madama Butterfly (Puccini)La Cenerentola (Rossini)§ The Abduction of Figaro (PDQ Bach)� The Boor (Argento)� Chanticleer (Barab)� Don Pasquale (Donizetti)

1982–1983Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck)Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)§ A Death in the Family (Mayer)Kiss Me, Kate (Porter)� The Barber of Seville (Rossini)� The Frog Who Became a Prince (Barnes)� Zetabet (Barnes)

1981–1982Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck)The Village Singer (Paulus)Gianni Schicchi (Puccini)The Barber of Seville (Rossini)§ Feathertop (Barnes)§ The Mask of Evil (Mollicone)� Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck)§ Rosina (Titus)

1980–1981The Merry Widow (Lehar)Black River (Susa)Carmen (Bizet)A Water Bird Talk (Argento)§ Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night (Argento)� The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)� The Threepenny Opera (Weill)

1979–1980The Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart)The Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert & Sullivan)La bohème (Puccini)§ † Rosina (Titus)� A Christmas Carol (Sandow)

1978–1979The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev)§ The Jealous Cellist (Stokes)The Passion According to St. Matthew

(J.S. Bach)La traviata (Verdi)The Consul (Menotti)� Viva la Mamma (Donizetti)

1977–1978* Christopher Columbus (Offenbach)The Mother of Us All (Thomson)The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)§ Claudia Legare (Ward)

1976–1977The Bartered Bride (Smetana)The Passion According to St. Matthew

(J.S. Bach)Candide (Bernstein)Mahagonny (Weill)

1975–1976§ † Black River (Susa)El Capitan (Sousa)Così fan tutte (Mozart)§ † The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe (Argento)

repertoire 79

1974–1975§ † Gallimaufry (Minnesota Opera)§ Gulliver (Blackwood, Kaplan, Lewin)The Magic Flute (Mozart)Albert Herring (Britten)

1973–1974El Capitan (Sousa)Transformations (Susa)Don Giovanni (Mozart)§ † The Newest Opera in the World

(Minnesota Opera)

1972–1973The Threepenny Opera (Weill)Postcard from Morocco (Argento)The Barber of Seville (Rossini)§ † Transformations (Susa)

1971–1972§ † Postcard from Morocco (Argento)§ † The Business of Good Government

(Marshall)The Good Soldier Schweik (Kurka)The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)

1970–1971§ † Christmas Mummeries & Good Government

(Marshall)§ † Faust Counter Faust (Gessner)The Coronation of Poppea (Monteverdi)The Mother of Us All (Thomson)

1969–1970§ † Oedipus and the Sphinx (Marshall)* Punch and Judy (Birtwistle)* 17 Days and 4 Minutes (Egk)§ † The Wanderer (Paul and Martha Boesing)

1968–1969Così fan tutte (Mozart)§ † Horspfal (Stokes)The Wise Woman and the King (Orff)

1967–1968The Man in the Moon (Haydn)A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten)

1966–1967The Mother of Us All (Thomson)The Sorrows of Orpheus (Milhaud)* The Harpies (Blitzstein)Socraties (Satie)Three Minute Operas (Milhaud)

1965–1966The Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart)The Good Soldier Schweik (Kurka)

1964–1965The Rape of Lucretia (Britten)The Wise Woman and the King (Orff)

1963–1964§ † The Masque of Angels (Argento)The Masque of Venus and Adonis (Blow)Albert Herring (Britten)

§ World Premiere

* American Premiere

† Commissioned by The Minnesota Operaor by The Minnesota Opera Midwest Tour

� Tour production

� Outreach/Education tour

• New Music-Theater Ensemble production

The Standard Repertory

eighteenth century

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756–1791The Abduction from the Seraglio 1782The Marriage of Figaro 1786Don Giovanni 1787Così fan tutte 1790The Magic Flute 1791

nineteenth century

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827Fidelio 1805

Gioachino Rossini 1792–1868The Barber of Seville 1816La Cenerentola 1817

Gaetano Donizetti 1797–1848The Elixir of Love 1832Lucia di Lammermoor 1835Don Pasquale 1843

Vincenzo Bellini 1801–1835Norma 1831

Richard Wagner 1813–1883The Flying Dutchman 1843Tannhäuser 1845Lohengrin 1850Tristan und Isolde 1865Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg 1868The Ring Cycle 1876—Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung

Parsifal 1882

Giuseppe Verdi 1813–1901Rigoletto 1851Il trovatore 1853La traviata 1853La forza del destino 1862Don Carlos 1867Aida 1871Otello 1887Falstaff 1893

Charles-François Gounod 1818–1893Faust 1859Roméo et Juliette 1867

nineteenth century (continued)

Jacques Offenbach 1819–1880Les contes d’Hoffmann 1881

Georges Bizet 1838–1875Carmen 1875

Modest Musorgsky 1839–1881Boris Godunov 1874

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1840–1893Eugene Onegin 1879

Engelbert Humperdinck 1854–1921Hänsel und Gretel 1893

Ruggero Leoncavallo 1857–1919Pagliacci 1892

Pietro Mascagni 1863–1945Cavalleria rusticana 1890

twentieth century

Giacomo Puccini 1858–1924Manon Lescaut 1893La bohème 1896Tosca 1900Madama Butterfly 1904Turandot 1926

Claude Debussy 1862–1918Pelléas et Mélisande 1902

Richard Strauss 1864–1949Salome 1905Elektra 1909Der Rosenkavalier 1911Ariadne auf Naxos 1912

Alban Berg 1885–1935Wozzeck 1925Lulu 1937

Benjamin Britten 1913–1976Peter Grimes 1945Albert Herring 1947Billy Budd 1951The Turn of the Screw 1954

the standard repertory 80

The Elements of Opera

in the beginning

A subject is selected by a compos-er. It may be mythical, biblical,historical, literary or based on cur-rent events. A librettist isemployed to adapt the story intopoetic verse and the composer thenwrites the music (or score).

the opera company

An opera company’s artisticdirector agrees to stage thework. In many cases, an opera hasalready been written and stagedmany times.

sets and costumes

A design team is assembled con-sisting of a stage director, setdesigner and costume design-er. They agree on a visual conceptfor the opera and sets and cos-tumes are created.

casting

The opera company’s artisticdirector selects performers fromauditions. These performers aredivided into principals, compri-marios (singers in secondary roles),choristers, and players for theorchestra. Often in a produc-tion, supernumeraries areemployed (people who act but donot sing). Sometimes the opera hasa ballet which requires dancers,or a banda which requires orches-tra members to play on stage.

administration

The company’s marketingdepartment sells tickets and thedevelopment department raisesfunds through donations to coverthe costs of the production. Thefinance department controlscosts and balances the production’sbudget. The education depart-ment prepares the audience forwhat they are going to see onstage.

rehearsal

The production goes into rehearsal. Principals, choristersand the orchestra often rehearse separately until the directorbegins staging. The conductor of the orchestra attends stag-ing rehearsals which are accompanied by a répétiteur, orrehearsal pianist. The orchestra joins the singers for the firsttime at the sitzprobe. During tech week, sets and lightingare put into place at the theater. Several dress rehearsals(with the performers in costume and the orchestra in the pit)occur before the first performance of the opera. Sometimesthese rehearsals are attended by a select audience.

Often called “all the arts in one” opera includes the Aristotelian elements of drama: theme, spectacle, plot, diction, movement and music. A production is trulysuccessful only when these components work together. Many individuals are engaged to accomplish this purpose.

elementsofopera

81

elementsofopera

82

the premiere

The first presentation of the opera to the general public is known as the premiere. Long before the curtaingoes up, preparations are being made.

6:00 pm Continuitystagehands (1) set the scenery for the first act of the production.

6:15 pm Makeup callsprincipals and comprimarios (2) begin to arrive at the theater to be put into costume bydressers, then are wigged by the wigmaster (1a) and made up with theatrical makeup.

6:30 pm House opensOpera patrons are admitted to the auditorium (4) and seated by ushers (5). The house manager (6)oversees the activities in the front of the house, including the ushers and concession sales. The boxoffice manager (7) takes care of any last minute ticket purchases. Patrons may remain in thelobby (8) to attend an informational session of Opera Insights, led by the Opera’s music staff.

6:45 pm NotesThe stage director may give last minute instructions to the cast before the performance begins.

7:00 pm Warm-upsprincipals and comprimarios (2) warm-up in their dressing rooms.

7:15 pm Chorus and orchestra warm-upsThe chorus (10), who have already put on their costumes, warms up with the chorusmaster. Theorchestra warms up in the orchestra pit (11).

7:25 pm PlacesThe production stage manager (12) calls places. Two other stage managers (13) are posted stageleft and stage right to cue the entrances of the singers and choristers.

7:28 pm Orchestra tuneThe principal oboe gives a concert “a” to which the orchestra tunes. The surtitle prompter (15)cues the preshow titles. The conductor shakes the concertmaster’s hand and mounts the podium.

7:30 pm CurtainThe house lights goes out, and the flyman (1a) raises the curtain (16). The show begins.

8:25 pm IntermissionThe audience returns to the lobby (8) for refreshments while the stagehands (1) reset the stage(14) for the next act.

10:15 pm Curtain callsThe performance ends, and the stage director, designers, conductor and singers get to takea bow for all their hard work.

stagehands move scenery and propsand handle lighting. dressers helpthe cast into their often elaboratecostumes.

principals sing the major roles.comprimarios sing minor namedroles. choristers make up the rest ofthe singing cast and are prepared bythe chorusmaster.

The conductor leads the orchestra.The stage director instructs the castwhere to move onstage. He or shegenerally stays only for the premiere.

The production stage manager

“calls” the show, announcing entranceand lighting cues. Two other stagemanagers assist in getting the castand chorus on and off the stage. Thesurtitle prompter cues the Englishtranslations projected above the stagefrom the control booth.

The orchestra rehearses severaltimes independently from thesingers. The first rehearsal duringwhich singers and orchestra performtogether is called a sitzprobe. Theconcertmaster is the first violin andis responsible for “bowing” the stringparts so the performers all move theirbows together.

PROP TABLE

BOX OFFICE (7)

CURTAIN (16)

WIGS AND

MAKEUP

CHORUS WARM-UPAND DRESSING

ROOMS (10)

OFFSTAGE

SCENERY

OFFSTAGE

SCENERY

LOBBY (8)

BACKSTAGESTAGE (14)BACKSTAGE

5 5

6

1A

13 13

12

1

3

2

2

3A

AUDITORIUM (4)

CONTROL BOOTH (15)

ORCHESTRA PIT (7)

The Elements of Opera – The Singers

the soprano

High-voiced woman. Voted “MostLikely to Die Before the CurtainGoes Down.” Putty in the handsof the tenor, baritone andoccasionally even the mezzo(especially if she is in pants).

the mezzo-soprano

Middle- to lower-voiced woman.Nobody’s pawn. May hook upwith the baritone, unless she’splaying a young man, in whichcase she usually gets the soprano.

the contralto

Lowest-voiced woman. Usuallythe mother, maid or duenna (anolder woman charged withmonitoring the virtue of theimpressionable soprano).Generally the contralto callsherself a mezzo in order to getmore work.

the bass and baritone

Middle- to lowest-voiced man.Usually the bad guy, the father orguardian, or the hero’s best friend.If he hooks up with another singer,it’s usually a mezzo.

the tenor

High-voiced man. Whethercomic or tragic, most often themisunderstood romantic role.Often kill themselves; almostalways get the girl.

the fat lady

There is no fat lady in helmet andhorns—that is a myth. It ain’t over tillthe curtain goes down for the last timeand everyone around you is clapping.

The most important part of the opera is the singers. They are categorized into six different voice types.

elements of opera 84

1DON CARLOS2

1 - SOPRANO; 2 - MEZZO; 3 - CONTRALTO;

4 - TENOR; 5 - BARITONE; 6 - BASS

DON CARLOS

1 2

THE CAPULETS AND THE MONTAGUES

LA BOHÈME

1

4

1

THE MERRY WIDOW

1

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR4

5

DON CARLOS

66

LA CLEMENZA DI TITO

1 2

PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE

3

CLOCKWISE, LEFT TO RIGHT: ÉLISABETH; EBOLI; GIULIETTA, ROMEO; MIMÌ, RODOLFO;

EDGARDO, ENRICO; LUCIA; HANNA; PHILIPPE, GRAND INQUISITOR; GENEVIÈVE;

SERVILIA, ANNIO

Glossary of Opera Terms

acoustics The science of sound; qualities which determine hearing facilities in an auditorium, concerthall, opera house, theater, etc.

act A section of the opera, play, etc. usually followed by an intermission.

area lights Provide general illumination.

aria (air, English and French; ariette, French). A formal song sung by a single vocalist. It may be intwo parts (binary form), or in three parts (see da capo) with the third part almost a repetitionof the first. A short aria is an arietta in Italian, ariette or petit air in French.

arioso Adjectival description of a passage less formal and complete than a fully written aria, butsounding like one. Much recitative has arioso, or songlike, passages.

azione teatrale (It.: ‘theatrical action’, ‘theatrical plot’). A species of Serenata that, unlike many works in thisgenre, contained a definite plot and envisioned some form of staging.

atonality Lack of a definite tonal focus, all sharps and flats being applied in the score when necessary.With no key and therefore no sense of finality, such music sounds odd to the conservative ear,but with practice the listener can find pleasure in it.

artistic director The person responsible for the artistic concept of the opera – the overall look and “feel” of theproduction.

backdrop A large, painted surface at the rear of the stage, associated with old-fashioned stage settings,two-dimensional, but often striving with painted shadows and perspective to suggest a thirddimension.

backstage The area of the stage not visible to the audience, usually where the dressing rooms are located.

ballad opera A play with many songs; the number has ranged from fifteen to seventy-five. In the earlyeighteenth century its music was drawn from popular folk song or quite sophisticated songsappropriated from successful operas.

banda A group of musicians who perform onstage or slightly offstage.

baritone The male singing voice which is higher than a bass but lower than a tenor.

baroque A style of art and music characteristic in particular of the Louis xiv period in France and theCharles II period and after in England. Baroque pictorial art is associated with theatricalenergy and much decoration but nevertheless respects classical principles. The music theaterof the Baroque, highly pictorial, developed the opera seria, with comic intermezzi between theacts.

bass The lowest male singing voice.

bel canto Although meaning simply “beautiful song,” the term is usually applied to the school ofsinging prevalent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Baroque and Romantic) whichgave much attention to vocal purity, control, and dexterity in ornamentation.

bravo (a) ( i ) An acknowledgement of a good performance shouted during moments of applause (the endingis determined by the gender and the number of performers).

bravura Implying brilliance and dexterity (bravura singing, a bravura aria, etc.). Intended for displayand the technical execution of difficult passages.

glossary of opera terms 85

cabaletta A fast, contrasting short aria sung at the close of or shortly following a slower aria (called acantabile, often for vocal effect only but sometimes dramatically motivated.

cadence A resting place or close of a passage of music, clearly establishing tonality.

cadenza An elaborate passage near the end of an aria, which shows off the singer’s vocal ability.

camerata A group of musicians, poets and scholars who met in Florence in 1600 and created opera.

cantilena Originally a little song, but now generally referring to smooth cantabile (It: ‘singable,’ or‘singing’) passages.

cavatina Originally an aria without a repeated section. Later used casually in place of aria.

chorus A group of singers (called choristers) who portray townspeople, guests or other unnamedcharacters; also refers to the music written for these people.

chorus master Person who prepares the chorus musically (which includes rehearsing and directing them).

claque A group attending performances in the larger opera houses and paid by leading singers toencourage and direct applause (a member of which is a claqueur).

coloratura A voice that can sing music with many rapid notes, or the music written for such a voice.

commedia dell’arte Masked comedy or improvised Italian comedy of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenthcenturies. A popular theatrical form with a sketched-out plot and stock characters, a pair oflovers without masks surrounded by comedians—Arlecchino, Brighella, Pantalone, Dottore,etc. Some of Mozart’s and Rossini’s operas retain the vestiges of these characters. Strauss,Busoni, and other recent composers have deliberately used them.

comprimario A small singing role, often a servant or other minor character.

conductor The person who supervises all musical detail, rehearsals and leads the orchestra and advises theartistic director about the hiring of singers and musical staff (also called the music director).

contralto The lowest female singing voice.

countertenor The highest natural male voice, not a castrato. True male altos may be heard in choirs. Theterm falsettist is sometimes used but disputed.

cyclorama A curved curtain or wall enclosing the playing area of the stage and hiding the work areasbehind it.

da capo (It: ‘from the top, or back to the beginning’). A familiar direction in music. A da capo aria of theBaroque period repeats the first part of the aria, with different embellishments, after thesinging of a contrasting second part.

designer The person who creates the lighting, costumes or sets.

diaphragm The muscle which separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity. It is used by singersfor breath control and it allows them to “project” their voices to the back of the auditorium.

director The person who instructs the singer/actors in their movements on stage and in theinterpretation of their roles.

downstage The front of the stage nearest the audience.

drame lyrique (It: dramma lirico). Modern term for opera, not necessarily of a lyrical character. The Englishterm “lyrical drama” is used in the same way.


dramma per musica A term that refers to text expressly written to be set by a composer and by extension also tothe composition. The term was the one most commonly used for serious Italian opera in theeighteenth century (as opposed to the modern term opera seria, with which it is in effectinterchangeable).

duet Music written for two people to play or sing together.

embellishment Decoration or ornament. A grace-note addition to the vocal line (also instrumental) of anykind, a four-note turn, or a trill.

ensemble Three or more people singing at the same time, or the music written for such a group.

falsetto The falsetto voice is of high pitch and produced by the vibrations of only one part of the vocalfolds. The normal male voice sounds strained and effeminate in falsetto, but a natural alto orhigh tenor can produce effective vocal sound by this method. It is a singing mannerism toproduce high tenor notes in falsetto.

festa teatrale (It.: ‘theatrical celebration’). A title applied to a dramatic work. Feste teatrali fall into two quitedistinct classes: opera and serenatas.

finale The last musical number of an opera, or of an act of an opera.

fioritura (It: ‘flowering’, ‘flourish’; plural fioriture). When a composition for the voice contains decorativewriting such as scales, arpeggios, trills and gruppetti (the groups of notes sometimes knownin English as ‘turns’), it is described as ‘florid’ and the decorations themselves will be describedcollectively as ‘fioritura’. It is a more accurate term than ‘coloratura’, which is frequently usedas an alternative.

flats Stretched canvas and wood panels on which scenery is painted.

flies The space above a stage where scenery is “flown” when not in use. A counterweight systemsimplifies raising and lowering flats, larger set pieces, and back drops.

full dress rehearsal The final rehearsal before opening night with all singers present in full costume.

grand opera Traditionally, a serious epic or historical work in four or five acts which makes extensive useof the chorus and also includes a ballet. Also contains magnificent special effects.

grid Gridiron. Framework from which lines are hung and battens attached for the “flying” ofscenery. The grid is situated high in the flies just beneath the ceiling of the fly loft.

handlung für musik (Ger: ‘action in music’). Term used by Wagner to describe the libretto for Lohengrin and Tristanund Isolde; it has occasionally been used since.

interlude A short piece of instrumental music played between scenes or acts to fill in delays broughtabout by scenery changes.

intermezzo An instrumental interlude played between acts, or short two-act comic opera played betweenthe acts of an opera seria.

leitmotiv A recurring musical figure used to identify a person, event or idea.

legato A smooth, flowing line. In vocal music it demands steadiness of emission and a sensitivity tophrasing.

libretto The words of an opera.


masking A scenic frame or device to prevent the audience from seeing into the wings of the stage. Doorand window openings are usually masked, often with realistic backings.

masque An entertainment popular in the late sixteenth century and throughout the seventeenth. Aform of “total theater,” it combined music, scenic splendor, poetry, and some drama. Milton’sComus, with music by Henry Lawes, is the most celebrated.

melodrama A basically serious play, frequently using comedy for relief, it only outwardly resemblestragedy. The conflicts and calamities are more interesting in themselves than are thecharacters, who tend to be stereotyped, good and bad. Passion, excitement, and action, oftenunmotivated, are emphasized. Intended for undiscriminating audiences, it uses much musicto stimulate the emotions and much scenic effect to please the eye.

mélodrame In addition to being the French word for melodrama, this term refers to a technique, whichbecame popular during the eighteenth century, of playing orchestral music under or betweenthe phrases of spoken dialogue.

melodramma Dramma per musica (drama for music) and Melodramma (sung drama) antedate by many yearsthe term opera, now in general use for works of this kind.

mezza voce Half-voice, with reference to a passage required to be sung softly throughout. A similar term,messa di voce, has the different meaning of beginning a tone softly, swelling it gradually, andthen softening it again.

mezzo-soprano The middle female singing voice, lower than soprano but higher than contralto.

motive A short musical idea on which a melody is based.

musical play A convenient but inexact designation which has become popular in English-speakingcountries to distinguish the more ambitious works in the popular field of lyric theater from(a) European operetta or imitations thereof, (b) musical comedy of the vaudevillian sort, and(c) opera, especially in New York where the form is supposed to belong to the Metropolitanand the New York City Opera Company and is somewhat provincially considered “poison atthe box office.” David Ewen regards Show Boat, 1927, as the first work of the new genre, themusical play. By the 1930s, this term had become a catchall.

opera A term now used to cover musical-dramatic pieces of all kinds except musical comedy andoperetta, although comic opera comes very close to these forms. The seventeenth-centuryItalian term for opera was Dramma per musica or Melodramma.

opera buffa A precise Italian definition, meaning Italian comic opera of the eighteenth and earlynineteenth centuries. Musical numbers are strung along a continuum of dry recitative.

opéra comique French light opera of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Strictly speaking, any theaterpiece written with spoken dialogue between the musical numbers (Faust, Carmen, and Manon)whether a comedy or not. The Paris Opéra Comique is also called the Salle Favart and wasoriginally the home of all works using spoken dialogue, while the Opéra confined itself tothrough-composed works.

opera seria Literally “serious opera.” An opera form of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centurieswhich uses historical, biblical or mythological subjects with a focus on revenge, danger anddeath.


operetta A loosely used term, often used interchangeably with comic opera, opéra bouffe, and musicalcomedy. In Italian it originally meant “little opera,” a short, light musical work. It has cometo mean a full-length piece on a light subject, with musical numbers and spoken dialogue, andcharacterized by ingratiating tunes, decorative dances, colorful settings, social irresponsibility,a slender dramatic line, and the requirement of at least two well-trained voices.

oratorio A musical-dramatic work originating in the twelfth century, now generally performed, incontradistinction to opera, without action, costumes, and scenery. They are invariablyassociated with sacred subjects.

orchestra pit The sunken area in front of the stage where the orchestra sits.

overture An orchestral introduction to the opera, usually played before the acting begins.

parlando (It: ‘in speaking style’). An informal and realistic technique occasionally used in Italian opera,bringing singing close to speaking.

portamento An Italian singing term, asking the voice to glide from one note to another at some distance.An authentic and effective device, to be distinguished from the mannerism of scooping.

principal A major singing role, or the singer who performs such a role.

proscenium The stage opening, resembling a three-sided picture frame. Immediately behind it andconcealing the acting areas is the curtain. The proscenium arch was originally created in the1700s to conceal the machinery used to create special stage effects.

quartet Four singers, or the music written for that group.

recitative Musical singing in the rhythm of speech.

recitativo A sung passage with orchestral accompaniment, lacking the formality of an aria, yet moreaccompagnato declamatory and agitated than recitativo secco.

recitativo secco Dry recitative. A sung passage so close to everyday speech that although the pitches and timevalues are respected, a conversational quality prevails. A keyboard instrument generallysupplies the sketchy accompaniment. Commonly used in Italian opera seria and opera buffa.

repertory A system of stage production in which a number of works are played, virtually in rotation, bya resident company throughout a season.

répétition French term for “rehearsal.” A répétition générale is a dress rehearsal to which critics andguests are invited.

revolve Revolving stage. Turntable. A section of the stage floor (permanently established) or a circularconstruction on a central pivot which revolves, to change scenery or supply movement ofobjects as well as people.

ritornello A short instrumental piece, literally meaning repetition or refrain. In Monteverdi’s works itusually consists of a few bars played between the verses of a strophic song.

rococo In art, associated with the late Baroque period and the late eighteenth century. In contrast tothe dignity, heaviness, and occasional pomposity of Baroque, Rococo art is playful, lighter intone and color, and adorned with scrolls, acorns, and shells.

role The character that a singer portrays.


romanticism The movement strongly associated with nineteenth-century Germany, but felt through allEurope and responsible for far-reaching changes in all forms of art. Rebels against theestablishment (which was founded on a deep respect for the classics), the romanticists opposedauthority and advocated freedom from formal regulations. They encouraged a subjective,strongly emotional approach as an antidote to classical decorum.

score The music of an opera or other musical work in which the parts for different performers appearvertically above one another.

scrim A thin curtain, often painted. When lit from behind, one can see through it.

serenata A dramatic cantata, normally celebratory or eulogistic in intent, for two or more singers withorchestral accompaniment. In dramaturgical respects the serenata most closely resembles theBaroque oratorio.

sinfonia A symphonic work the precedes an opera (English: overture); a shorter version is referred to asa prelude.

singspiel A German form of comic opera with spoken dialogue.

sitzprobe A sit-down rehearsal where the performers sing with the orchestra for the first time.

soprano The highest female singing voice.

sprechstimme A form of declamation halfway between speech and song. Instead of exactly notated pitch anapproximation is given. The time, however, is given exactly and the singer is not allowedabsolute license. Notations up and down are also meant to be respected. This style of singingis found in the works of Schoenberg and Berg.

stage left The left side of the stage from the performer’s perspective as s/he faces the audience.

stage right The right side of the stage from the performer’s perspective as s/he faces the audience.

stretta An accelerated passage at the end of an aria, scene, or act.

tenor The highest male singing voice.

tessitura Literally “texture.” The approximate range of a role or an aria.

through-composed Through-composed opera is a continuous music drama uninterrupted by spoken dialogue orobviously recognizable recitative.

tragédie lyrique A French term associated mainly with Lully and Rameau. Tragédie lyrique comes somewhatcloser to the spoken play in dramatic expressiveness than does the Italian opera seria of thesame period, which may exceed it in vocal expressiveness.

trill A musical ornament requiring the rapid alternation of two adjacent notes.

trouser role Also called “pants role.” The part of a male character sung by a woman, usually a mezzo-soprano.

understudy A replacement for a particular role in case of illness or emergency (also called a “cover”).

verismo A type of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Italian opera that emphasized realisticsubjects.

wandelprobe Musical rehearsal which allows the conductor to hear what the singers sound like when theyperform on the set.

wings The sides of the stage where the performers wait before making their entrances.

Sources: Opera: Dead or Alive, by Ronald E. Mitchell. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1970.New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie. London: MacMillan Press Limited, 1992.New York City Opera Education Department, Edmonton Opera


Glossary of Musical Terms

adagio Slowly and smoothly.

ad libitum As you please; freely.

affectuoso Expressively; tenderly;lovingly.

agitato Agitated.

alberti bass Stereotyped figures ofaccompaniment, consistingof broken chords.

allargando Slowing and broadening.

allegretto Fairly lively; not as fastas allegro.

allegro Lively; fast.

a mezzo voce With half the voice.

andante Going; moving; at amoderate rate.

andantino Sightly faster thanandante.

animato With spirit; animated.

appoggiatura An extra or embellishingnote preceding a mainmelodic note or tone.Usually written as a note ofsmaller size, it shares thetime value of the main note.

arpeggio Producing the tones of achord in succession but notsimultaneously.

assai Very; very much.

a tempo At the preceding rateof speed.

atonal Music that is not anchored intraditional musical tonality; ituses the chromatic scaleimpartially, does not use thediatonic scale and has nokeynote or tonal center.

augmentation The presentation of amelody in doubled values sothat, e.g. the quarter notesbecome half notes.

bar A vertical line across thestave that divides the musicinto units.

buffo, buffa Comic.

cadenza A flourish or brilliant part ofan aria commonly insertedjust before a finale.

cantabile Songlike; singingly.

cantata A choral piece generallycontaining scripturalnarrative texts.

con brio With spirit.

continuo A bass part (as for akeyboard or stringedinstrument) that was usedespecially in baroqueensemble music; it consistsof a succession of bass noteswith figures that indicatethe required chords. Alsocalled figured bass,thoroughbass.

counterpoint Music consisting oftwo or more lines thatsound simultaneously.

crescendo Gradually gettinglouder.

diatonic Relating to a major or minormusical scale that comprisesintervals of five whole stepsand two half steps.

diminuendo Gradually gettingsofter.

diminution The presentation of a melodyin halved values so that,e.g. the quarter notes becomeeighth notes.

dissonance A mingling of discordantsounds that do notharmonize within thediatonic scale.

dolorosamente Sadly; grievingly.

91glossary of musical terms

dominant The fifth tone of the diatonicscale: in the key of C, thedominant is G.

fermata Pause sign; prolongedtime value of note somarked.

forte Loud.

fortissimo Very loud.

furioso Furious; violent.

giocoso Playfully.

giusto Strict; exact.

glissando A rapid sliding up or downthe scale.

grandioso With grandeur;majestically.

grave Slow; heavy; solemn.

grazioso Elegantly; gracefully.

lamentoso Mournfully.

larghetto Somewhat less slowlythan largo.

largo Broadly and slowly.

legato Smoothly andconnectedly.

leggiero Light; airy; graceful.

lento Slow.

maestoso Majestic; stately; grand.

maestro From the Italian “master”:a term of respect toconductors, composers,directors, and greatmusicians.

marcato Marked.

mezzo Half; middle; medium.

misterioso With mystery.

moderato Moderately; at amoderate rate.

molto Much; very.

morendo Dying away.


mosso Moved; agitated; lively.

moto Motion; movement.

obbligato An elaborateaccompaniment to a solo orprincipal melody that isusually played by a singleinstrument.

octave A musical intervalembracing eight diatonicdegrees: therefore, from C1

to C2 is an octave.

ornamentation Extra embellishing notes –appoggiaturas, trills,roulades, or cadenzas – thatenhance a melodic line.

overture An orchestral introductionto an act or the whole opera.An overture can appear onlyat the beginning of anopera.

ossia Or; or else; an alternatereading.

pentatonic A five-note scale, like theblack notes within an octaveon the piano.

piacere To please.

piano p Soft.

pianissimo pp Very soft.

pitch The property of a musicaltone that is determined bythe frequency of the wavesproducing it.

più More.

pizzicato For bowed stringedinstruments, an indicationthat the string is to beplucked with a finger.

poco Little.

polyphony Literally “many voices.” Astyle of musical compositionin which two or moreindependent melodies arejuxtaposed in harmony;counterpoint.

polytonal The use of several tonalschemes simultaneously.

portamento A continuous glidingmovement from one tone toanother.

presto Very fast; lively; quick.

quaver An eighth note.

rallentando Gradually slower.

ritardando Gradually slower.

ritenuto Held back; slower.

ritornello A short recurrentinstrumental passagebetween elements of a vocalcomposition.

romanza A solo song that is usuallysentimental; it is usuallyshorter and less complexthan an aria and rarely dealswith terror, rage and anger.

roulade A florid vocalembellishment sung to onesyllable.

rubato A way of playing orsinging with regulatedrhythmic freedom.

semitone One half of a whole tone,the smallest distancebetween two notes inWestern music. In the keyof C, the notes are E and F,and B and C.

semplice Simply.

sempre Always.

senza Without.

serial music Music based on a series oftones in a chosen patternwithout regard fortraditional tonality.

sforzando With accent.

sordino Muted.


sostenuto Sustained.

sotto Under; beneath.

staccato Detached; separated.

stringendo Hurried; accelerated.

strophe Music repeated for eachverse of an aria.

syncopation Shifting the beat forward orback from its usual place inthe bar; it is a temporarydisplacement of the regularmetrical accent in musiccaused typically by stressingthe weak beat.

tacet Silent.

tempo Rate of speed.

tonality The organization of all thetones and harmonies of apiece of music in relation toa tonic (the first tone of itsscale).

triste Sad.

twelve-tone The 12 chromatic tones ofthe octave placed in achosen fixed order andconstituting with somepermitted permutations andderivations the melodic andharmonic material of a serialmusical piece. Each note ofthe chromatic scale is usedas part of the melody beforeany other note getsrepeated.

veloce Rapid.

vibrato A “vibration”; a slightlytremulous effect imparted tovocal or instrumental tonefor added warmth andexpressiveness by slight andrapid variations in pitch.

vivace Brisk; lively.

Bibliography, Discography, Videography

bibliography – bizet and carmen

Ellen Bleiler Bizet’s Carmen (Dover Opera Guide)Toronto: General Publishing Company, © 1970.

Mina Curtis Bizet and His World.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1958.

Carl Dahlhaus Realism in Ninettnth-century Music.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

Winton Dean Georges Bizet – His Life and Work.London: J. M. Dent& Sons Ltd., 1965.

Evlyn Gold The Fate of Carmen.Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.

Prosper Mérimée Carmen and Other Stories.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

John, Nicolas English National Opera Guide No. 13: Carmen.editor London: John Calder Press, © 1982.

Susan McClary Cambridge Opera Handbooks: Carmen.Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, © 1992.

Leslie Alison Wright Bizet Before Carmen.Dissertation; 1981.

bibliography – opera in general

Dennis Arundell The Critics at the Opera.New York: Da Capo Press, 1980.

Cyrus H. Biscardi The Storybook of Opera.New York: Facts on File Publications, 1986.

James Camner How to Enjoy Opera.New York: Doubleday, 1981.

Terence Dwyer Opera in Your School.London: Oxford University Press, 1964.

Roger Englander Opera: What’s All the Screaming About?New York: Walker & Co., 1983.

David Ewen Opera.New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1992.

David Ewen Opera: Its Story Told Through the Lives and Works of its Foremost Composers.New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1972.

bibliography 94

Jean Grundy Fanelli Opera for Everyone: A historic, social, artistic, literary and musical study.Oxford: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2004.

Rudolph Fellner Opera Themes and Plots.New York: Simon and Schuster, 1958.

Philip Gossett Divas and Scholars: Performing Italian Opera.Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Philip Gossett The New Grove Master of Italian Opera: Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, Puccini.New York: W.W. Norton Press, 1983.

George Jellinger History through the Opera Glass.White Plains (New York): Pro/Am Music Resources, Inc., © 1994.

Donald Jay Grout A Short History of Opera. Third edition.New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.

Michael Hurd Young Person’s Guide to Opera.New York: Roy Publishers. Inc., 1968.

Alan Kendall The Chronicle of Classical Music.London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd., 1994.

Peter Kline Enjoying the Arts/Opera.New York: Richards Rosen Press, Inc., 1977.

Ronald E. Mitchell Opera: Dead or Alive.Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1970.

Ethan Mordden Opera Anecdotes.New York: Oxford University Press, © 1985.

Michael Raeburn The Chronicle of Opera.London: Thames & Hudson, Ltd., 1998.

Jane Rosenberg Sing Me a Story: The Metropolitan Opera’s Book of Opera Stories for Children(with introduction by Luciano Pavarotti).New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 1989.

Dorothy and The Fabulous World of Opera.Joseph Samachson New York: Rand McNally and Co., 1962.

Harold C. Schonberg The Lives of the Great Composers.New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1981 (revised edition).

Michael Walsh Who’s Afraid of Opera?New York: Simon & Schuster, © 1994.

John Warrack and The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera.Ewan West Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.

William Weaver Golden Century of Italian Opera.New York: Thames and Hudson Inc., 1980.

Herbert Weinstock and The World of Opera.Wallace Brockway New York: Random House, Inc., 1966.

bibliography 95

discography

naxos Alperyn, Lamberti, Titus, Palade; Rahbari8.660005-7 Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava)

deutsche grammophon Horne, McCracken, Krause, Maliponte471 750 Bernstein; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

deutsche grammophon Berganza, Cortrubas, Domingo, Milnes;419 636 Abbado, London Symphony Orchestra

london Troyanos, Te Kanawa, Domingo, Van Dam;414489-2lh3 Solti, London Philharmonic Orchestra

emi classics Callas, Guiot, Gedda, Massard;cdc 56281 Prêtre, Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus

videography

sony Migenes, Domingo, Raimondi, Esham, Le Roux

naxos McVicar, von Otter, Haddock; Glyndebourne Festival Opera

deutsche grammophon Bumbry, Vickers, Díaz, Freni, Miljakovic

deutsche grammophon Baltsa, Carreras, Ramey, Mitchell, Merritt

bibliography 96

Word Search

T T S O B C A R T S E H C R O L

E E E R A O D R O D A E R O T S

P Z V O S N C A E V H F S T R E

E I I T S D H P N M E C R O N O

S B L C C U O E S C E R N O J R

E S L E A C R F F E A N T E U D

D L E R R T U F A S N I D U R T

E A E I M O S L R C R U R A R F

C R O D E R E T L A N E T O D E

R O Z E N A E I B M S I W R M O

E P Z S C T B R I I G Q A O O R

M R E I N R O Y E L A Y U P L F

M O M I E K I E N L O I P I S F

N C U T O N A R P O S R R S T C

Z Q T B U L L F I G H T D A Y A

C O T E N O R H A B A N E R A D

1. The opera takes place in the region of ______ calledAndalusia. 1

2. At the beginning of Act II, Carmen, Frasquita andMercédès sing about what it is like to be a _______. 1

3. The ________________ provides musicalaccompaniment for an opera and is lead by a________. 4

4. The cards tell good _________ for ______________and ____________ but not for ________. 1

5. The crowd of townspeople gather in Act IV for the_______________. 1

6. The composer of Carmen was Georges _________. 1, 2

7. Carmen gives José a ________ in Act I, which he keepswith him in prison. 1

8. Carmen is a _______ opera but has Spanish dances,such as the _________. 1

9. The smugglers ________ and _________ sing a_________ with Frasquita, Mercédès and Carmen. 1

10. A ______ occurs when two people sing together. 4

11. __________ visits from Navarre with news of José’smother. 1

12. The _______ is made up of soldiers, factory girls,and townspeople. 1

13. Micaëla pursues ________ into the mountains. 1

14. Moralès and Don José are ___________ in thedragoons. 1

15. The _________ instructs the cast where to move onstage. 4

16. The bullring is located in the town of ________. 1

17. The orchestra plays an ____________ at thebeginning of most operas. 4

18. Escamillo sings a famous _______, commonlycalled the __________ Song. 1

19. The five vocal ranges are _______, _______,_______, _______, and _______. 4

20. The written text of an opera is called the___________. 4

word search 97

Answers can be found in the following articles:1 Synopsis

2 Bizet biography3 Background Notes

4 Glossary of opera terms

1 2

5 6

8

9

43

7

10

12 13

11

17

18 19

21

1514

22

24

25

23

26

20

16

Crossword Puzzle

down

1. Carmen premiered in 1875 at this Parisiantheater. 1, 3

2. Though Carmen was poorly received in Paris,it was received enthusiastically in thisAustrian capital. 3

4. In Act III, while telling fortunes with cards,Carmen draws the ___ ___ ______, thedeath card. 1

5. El ________ leads the band of smugglinggypsies. 1

6. The _______ Song is sung by Escamillo inAct II and is one of the opera’s most popularpieces. 1

7. _______ Bizet is the composer of Carmen. 1

9. Henri _______ is one of the librettists of theopera. 1

11. Carmen had its premiere in thiscosmopolitan city in France. 1, 3

14. Bizet caught a cold while ___________ inthe River Siene, which likely led his finalillness. 2

16. Carmen works in a ________ factory. 1

17. In Act I, _______ brings Don José a letterfrom his mother. 1

18. The opera is sung in this language. 1

19. In Act II, Carmen _______ for Don Joséwhile playing makeshift castenets. 1

22. Ludovic ________ is one of the opera’slibrettists. 1, 3

23. Carmen is an opera set in _____, but writtenby a French composer. 1

acro s s

1. In Act II, the gypsies meet at _____ _____’stavern. 1

8. El ___________ is El Dancaïre’s sidekick. 1

10. ________ is a famous bullfighter whoeventually gains Carmen’s affections. 1

12. Structurally, the opera is divided into four_____. 1

16. ______manages to escape prison by seducingDon José. 1

15. Frasquita and _______ are Carmen’s twoclosest friends. 1

20. In Act III, the gypsies move their contraband through the _____. 1

21. Prosper _______ is the author of the novella upon which the operais based. 1

23. In Act I, Carmen gets into trouble after she _____ another girl’sface. 1

24. While the Habañera, Carmen tosses a ______ to Don José, whichhe later keeps with him in prison. 1

25. Don José is from this region in northern Spain. 1, 3

26. In Act IV, Carmen is warned that ___ ____ has returned to townand still loves her. 1

crossword puzzle 98

Answers can be found in the following articles:1 Synopsis

2 Bizet Biography3 Background Notes

Answers

T T S O B C A R T S E H C R O L

E E E R A O D R O D A E R O T S

P Z V O S N C A E V H F S T R E

E I I T S D H P N M E C R O N O

S B L C C U O E S C E R N O J R

E S L E A C R F F E A N T E U D

D L E R R T U F A S N I D U R T

E A E I M O S L R C R U R A R F

C R O D E R E T L A N E T O D E

R O Z E N A E I B M S I W R M O

E P Z S C T B R I I G Q A O O R

M R E I N R O Y E L A Y U P L F

M O M I E K I E N L O I P I S F

N C U T O N A R P O S R R S T C

Z Q T B U L L F I G H T D A Y A

C O T E N O R H A B A N E R A D

O VL I L L A S P A S T I A

C E E D TG E R E M E N D A D O EE O A N N RO F C M A C ER S O E A AG P M I I DE S C A M I L L O R OS D Q H P O R

E U A AA C T S E C A R M E N

IS M E R C E D E SW I MI G I F DM O U N T A I N S C R AM R A E NI M E R I M E E N CN H T L C EG A T S L A S H E S

F L O W E R PE B A S Q U EV IY D O N J O S E

word search answers

1. Spain2. gypsy3. orchestra; conductor4. Frasquita; Mercédès;

Carmen5. bullfight6. Bizet7. flower8. French; habañera9. Dancaïro;

Remendado; quintet10. duet

11. Micaëla12. chorus13. Don José14. corporals15. director16. Seville17. overture18. aria; toreador19. soprano; mezzo;

tenor; baritone; bass20. libretto

answers 99

Opera Box Teacher’s Guide Evaluation

Carmen

1 I teach this subject and grade level(s):

2 I found the Opera Box useful:

YES NO

3 These are the items I used: (check all that apply)

_____Carmen FULL SCORE (Dover)

_____Carmen VOCAL SCORE (Dover)

_____Carmen LIBRETTO (G. Schirmer)

_____CD Carmen (Callas/Gedda, emi Classics)

_____CD Carmen (Berganza/Domingo, Deutsche Grammophon)

_____dvd Carmen (Ewing/Lima, rm Arts)

_____dvd Carmen (Migenes/Domingo, Triumph Films)

_____BOOK English National Opera Guide #13 – Carmen

_____BOOK Opera Journey’s Mini Guide – in Teacher’s Guide

_____BOOK Opera: Composers Works Performers by András Batta

_____Teacher’s Guide

4 I wish I had the Opera Box for a longer period of time:

YES NO

4a If YES, how much more time would you like to have?

5 Rental cost for the Opera Box was:

LOW ACCEPTABLE HIGH

6 I used the material in this Opera Box to: (circle all that apply)

Introduce my students to opera Continue my students’ study of opera

Prepare students prior to a performance Meet a Minnesota High Standard

7 Would you like to receive some training related to the content in the Opera Box?

YES NO

8 Items I would like to see in future Opera Boxes:

9 I would attend a summer workshop about how to teach opera (with graduate credit available):

YES NO

10 I used, or directed my students to, imagineopera.org website.

YES NO

11 Please offer any further comments or suggestions on the back of this form.

evaluation 100

acknowlegements 101

Acknowledgments

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the generous help received in creating this Teacher Guide from these verybusy and talented individuals. Without their comments and ideas, this project would never have gotten off the ground.

Marcia Aubineau (University of St. Thomas, St. Paul)Sandy Kaslow (Forest Lake Public Schools)Jane Kolp-Andrews (Valley View Middle School, Edina)Dr. Doug Orzolek (University of St. Thomas, St. Paul)David Sander (Dramaturg, Minnesota Opera)Dan Weinstein (Intern, Minnesota Opera)

The Minnesota Opera’s Education Department is supported through the generous contributions from the followingsponsors:

3MAmeriprise Financial

ComcastMedtronic Foundation

TravelersUnitedHealth Group

Anna M. Heilmaier Charitable FoundationEducation Minnesota Foundation

Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen FoundationTwin Cities Opera Guild

Allianz Life Insurance of North AmericaBobby and Steve’s Auto World Youth FoundationThe Lillian Wright & C. Emil Berglund Foundation

Cleveland FoundationEnterprise Rent-a-Car

Harian Boss Foundation for the ArtsThe Pentair FoundationRBC Foundation – USA

Sewell Family FoundationTarget

Xcel Energy Foundation

Gifts of $20,000+

Gifts of $10,000–$19,999

Gifts of $1,000–$9,999

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