Means of musical expression bizet habanera carmen. Musical characteristics of Carmen

J. Bizet's opera "Carmen"

The plot of J. Bizet's opera "Carmen" is taken from the novel of the same name by P. Merimee. At the center of the cycle of events is a beautiful, passionate and freedom-loving gypsy, who with her lifestyle and actions changes the lives of the people around her. This is the composer's last opera, performed thorny path to glory and the stages of world theaters. It is considered the culmination of Bizet's work and his life fiasco.

Summary of Bizet's opera "Carmen" and many interesting facts Read about this work on our page.

Summary

The opera takes place in Spain, in the first half of the 19th century. Carmen is a beautiful, passionate, temperamental gypsy who works in a cigarette factory. She noticeably stands out among other workers - as soon as this burning beauty appears on the street, all the admiring male gazes immediately turn to her. Carmen takes particular pleasure in mocking the men around her and their feelings. But the temperamental girl does not like the fact that Jose is indifferent to her; she tries in every possible way to attract his attention. Having failed, the gypsy, along with other girls, returns to work. However, a quarrel breaks out among them, which instantly turns into a fight. The culprit of the conflict turns out to be Carmen. She is sent to a cell, where she languishes while awaiting a warrant under the supervision of Jose. But the insidious seductress makes the sergeant fall in love with her, and he helps her escape from custody. This reckless act completely turns his life upside down: Jose loses everything - his girlfriend, family, respect, rank and becomes a simple soldier.

And all this time, Carmen continues to lead an idle life - together with her friends, she wanders through taverns, where she entertains visitors with her songs and dances. At the same time, the girl manages to collaborate with smugglers and flirt with the bullfighter Escamillo. Soon Jose appears at the tavern, but not for long - it’s time for him to return to the barracks for an evening check. However, the gypsy uses all her charm so as not to let the soldier leave her. Jose is fascinated by her, and the captain’s order means nothing to him now. He becomes a deserter and is now forced to be with Carmen and the smugglers. But soon the feelings of the burning beauty fade away - she is bored with Jose. Now she was seriously infatuated with the bullfighter, who even promised to fight in her honor. And the soldier in love is forced to temporarily leave her - from his ex-lover he finds out that his mother is dying, and he hastily goes to her.

Preparations for a bullfight are underway in a square in Seville. The gypsy prepares to join the celebration, but Jose appears on her way. He begs the girl to be with him again, confesses his love, threatens, but everything is in vain - she is cold towards him. In a fit of anger, he takes out a dagger and plunges it into his beloved.

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Interesting Facts

• Surprisingly Georges Bizet I've never been to Spain. Therefore, to create the necessary musical atmosphere, he reworked folk melodies, giving them the desired Spanish flavor.
• In 1905, scientists discovered a new asteroid, which was named “Carmen”.
• The famous German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was present at the screening of Carmen 27 times under various circumstances.
• English musicologist Hugh MacDonald wrote that French opera does not know a greater fatalist than Carmen. Outside France, its descendants could be Richard Strauss's Salome and Alban Berg's Lulu.
• The play premiered on March 3, 1875 and ended in complete failure. And exactly 3 months after it, the composer himself died. The causes of his death are still debated. According to one version, Bizet could not survive the fiasco of “Carmen” and the “immorality” of which he was accused after the premiere. The opera seemed indecent to the public, because its heroes were bandits, smoking factory workers, smugglers and ordinary soldiers. And when characterizing the main character of the opera, art connoisseurs did not mince words at all - she was the true embodiment of vulgarity and dirt.
• The opera was designated by the composer as comic. And the first performance took place at the Opera-Comic. What does the comic have to do with it, you ask? It's simple. By tradition French theater, all works whose main characters are simple people, classified as a comedy genre. It is for this reason that the opera alternates musical numbers with spoken dialogues - all comic operas in France were built according to this scheme.
• Shortly before his death, J. Bizet entered into a contract with the Viennese State Opera about the production of "Carmen". Despite some edits and differences from the author's original, the performance was a huge success. "Carmen" won praise not only from ordinary spectators, but also from such prominent composers as Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner. This was the first serious success of J. Bizet’s creation on the way to world recognition.
• On October 23, 1878, the first premiere of this work in the United States took place at the New York Academy of Music. In the same year, the opera appeared before the audience in St. Petersburg.
• One of the co-directors of the Opera Comique theater had to leave his position because of this work. Adolphe de Leuven believed that in a genre such as comic opera there should absolutely be no murder, especially such a terrible and sophisticated one. In his opinion, violence absolutely does not fit into the norms of a decent society. He tried in every possible way to convince the authors of this, repeatedly inviting librettists to talk with him, persuading them to make Carmen’s character softer and change the ending. The latter was required so that the audience left the theater in a great mood. However, they never reached agreement, and as a result, Adolf was forced to leave his post. This became a kind of sign of protest against the play, which promoted murder.
• “Carmen” was the last opera staged on the stage of the Bolshoi (Kamenny) Theater. It was with this work that the theater decided to end its history - after the last production it was closed, then transferred to the RMO, and then completely demolished. In 1896, the building of the St. Petersburg Conservatory was erected in its place.

The text was completely ready by the spring of 1873, and then the composer began work. The opera was completely finished in the summer of 1874.

However, rejection of this opera appeared long before its production, as soon as the idea was voiced - the abundance of dramatic events and the intensity of passions were not suitable for the stage in which the first production was planned. The thing is that the Opera Comique was considered a secular theater, which was visited only by representatives of the wealthy class. Going to the theater, they knew in advance what they would see light genre with lots of funny situations. This audience was far from frenzied passions, and certainly from bloody murders. The opera presented characters and passions unacceptable to the public - girls unencumbered by morality, cigarette factory workers, robbers, military deserters.

The image of the young Spanish gypsy Carmen was originally described in the novel of the same name by P. Merimee in 1845. The big picture The character of the fatal beauty is formed from men's book narratives.

The narrator meets a gypsy woman on the embankment. The Frenchman has mixed feelings when looking at the maid dark forces. He looks at her with interest, which turns into fear and alienation. The gloomy light, the background of a dark night river, add tragedy and a gloomy atmosphere that will haunt the heroes throughout the entire story.

Georges Bizet, the creation of an opera

Bizet began work on the opera in 1874. The stage "Carmen" subsequently underwent major changes. The libretto was rich in drama and deep emotional contrasts, acting heroes became brighter. A colorful folk gypsy theme was added to the opera. The premiere of the story of the life and love of a Spanish woman took place in 1875, but was absolutely unsuccessful, since the concepts of morality of that time differed from those embodied in the opera.

The first person to appreciate the girl’s image was Tchaikovsky. According to him, this masterpiece of Bidet reflects all the musical goals of the era. 10 years later, the film “Carmen” is becoming increasingly popular and winning the hearts of viewers.

Bizet's opera brought the gypsy to life folk features character. To do this, the composer moved the scene of events to the square and to the unimaginably beautiful mountainous expanses. The wild gorges and gloomy city slums have been replaced by the sunny streets of Seville. Bizet created a Spain full of joyful life.

He placed in all places a mass of people who are in constant motion, depicting happy life. An important aspect of the opera was the inclusion of folk episodes. The gloomy features of the drama took on the appearance of an optimistic tragedy of what was happening.

Bizet put into the idea of ​​the opera the importance of asserting the rights of people to express freedom of feelings. The opera was a collision of two points of view of the psychological development of mankind. If Jose defends only the patriarchal view, then the gypsy tries to prove that life in freedom, which is not constrained by the norms and dogmas of accepted morality in society, is much better and more beautiful.

Gypsy image of Carmen in the opera "Carmen"

The Gypsy is one of the brightest heroines opera life. Passionate temperament, feminine irresistibility and independence - all this literally screams in the image of Carmen. She has virtually nothing to do with her literary heroine in description. All this was done intentionally in order to reveal more passion in the heroine and remove the cunning and thieving habits of the book character. Moreover, Bizet gave her the opportunity to seek the right to gain her freedom with a tragic condition - the loss of her own life.

The opera's overture is the initial description of Carmen's musical image. A fatal passion plays out between a gypsy woman and a Spaniard, Jose. The music is reminiscent of a leitmotif from a bullfighter festival, it is sharp and hot-tempered. Subsequently, this motif returns in dramatic scenes.

Portrait of a Spanish woman

The full image of Carmen is revealed through the famous Spanish dance habanera, which is the progenitor of tango. Bizet created a whole range of languid, sensual, passionate movements to the true melody of Cuban freedom. This is not just a portrait of a hot gypsy, but also a story in movements about her desire to be free in her love - this is her position in life.

The girl's characterization continues in the dance variation until the third act. This is a series of scenes with songs and dances to Spanish rhythms. Gypsy folklore completes the picture when the interrogation sequence comes. In it, Carmen performs a playful gypsy song, she mocks and defies, singing one verse after another.

Spanish-gypsy character

More meaningful description Carmen's image appears in Spanish folk dance Seguidilla. Under the virtuoso playing, the gypsy shows her unique Spanish character, and the composer compares the minor and major scales.

The cymbals, tambourine and triangle in the next action return the gypsy appearance to the image of Carmen. The increasing dynamics of the tempo gives the girl a perky, energetic and temperamental look.

Image of Carmen in a duet

The military guy Jose, in love with the gypsy, watches with joy in his eyes her songs and dances using a castanet. The melody is simple enough that Carmen sings it without using words. Jose admires the girl, but remembers his military duty as soon as he hears the call for military training.

However, freedom-loving Carmen does not understand this affection; even after Jose declares her love, she does not stop reproaching the guy. Afterwards the duet turns into a solo gypsy woman who wants to lure the young military man into her life of freedom. Here you can see a very simple and frivolous image of a passionate gypsy.

Big solo outing

Her solo performance takes great place at the opera. It is built on the themes of saying goodbye to one’s debt and escaping to one’s native land. The second theme is accompanied by a tarantella dance, and the first by song motifs. As a result, all this turns into a kind of hymn to freedom.

However, the conflict worsens, and the more the girl’s experience grows, the deeper and more dramatic the image of Carmen becomes. Crucial moment occurs only during the aria in the fortune telling scene. Carmen finally realizes that having exclusively selfish intentions to select those around her to her will, she is losing her own “I”. For the first time, the gypsy thinks about how she is wasting her life.

The end of the opera

In the fortune telling scene, the characterization of Carmen's image takes three forms. The first and last are funny songs with girlfriends, the second is a separate aria of a gypsy. The expressiveness of the performance of the aria is distinctive feature the image of Carmen in this phase of the opera. The song was originally intended to be performed in a minor key, without dance accompaniment. The low tones of the orchestra part, the gloomy coloring of which is achieved thanks to the sound of the trombones, bring an atmosphere of mourning. The wave principle of vocals is adjacent to the rhythmic pattern of musical accompaniment.

The gypsy performs the last act in duets with Escamillo, who brings a touch of love to the image of Carmen. The second duet is embodied with Jose, it resembles a tragic duel, full of sorrow - it is the culmination of the entire opera "Carmen". The image of Carmen is adamant in the face of José's pleas and threats. She responds dryly and laconically to the melodic songs of the military man. The theme of passion appears again in the orchestra.

The development of events takes place along a dramatic line with the invasion of screams from outsiders. The opera's finale ends with Carmen's death while Escamillo is being celebrated as the winner. Born in freedom, the gypsy decides to commit suicide and prove that she is also free in this choice. The festive sound of the bullfighter march theme is juxtaposed with a fatal motif.

Good afternoon to everyone who stopped by!

It is with this review-article that I begin a series of analyzes of foreign works second half of the 19th century.

Today we will have an analysis "Carmen" by P. Merimee

• Stages of creativity of P. Merimee
• The structure of an ellipsis novella
• Composition of the novella
• Plot Features
• Image of Don Jose
• Image of Carmen

​Stages of P. Merimee’s creativity

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Traditionally, literary criticism distinguishes 3 stages in the work of P. Merimee:

1. 1822-1833 (P. Merimee leaves the channel of romanticism, but at the same time he still does not comprehend this direction ironically. He begins to choose genre forms. Actively writes short stories as a single cycle, is interested in the history of France)
2. 1833-1846 (at this stage the genre of the short story-ellipsis appears)
3. 1846-1870 (actively translating foreign literature, including Russian)

The structure of an ellipsis novella

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According to Wikipedia

Ellipsis(from ancient Greek ἔλλειψις - lack) in linguistics - deliberate omission of words that are not essential to the meaning of the expression

The same principle applies in a work of art. Only instead of words, entire events are skipped.

Novella-ellipsis -

This piece of art, in which all content is organized around two centers, equal in rights and interacting with each other. In terms of plot, only the center serves as the basis of the short story, while the others form the outline. A dynamic plot that emphasizes the storytelling situation.

If translated from Russian into Russian, then:

• Two equal centers are Carmen and Jose
• They interact closely with each other
• The plot develops dynamically: Don Jose tells his story to the narrator, which is the basis of the novella
• The short story tells only the most important things to reveal the characters' images
• Jose's story is the center, and parts 1 and 4 of the novella are the essay

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Composition of the novella

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My favorite type of composition! Of course, in the middle of the 19th century it was no longer new.

This story within a story

If you imagine the composition schematically, you will get a square within a square or a circle within a circle

External frame short stories are the speech of a narrator-traveler-archaeologist (which is also very important). The hero-narrator conveys Jose's story to the reader.

Interior short stories - the story of Jose's life and his love for Carmen.

It is very important to pay attention to points of view here. Jose sees Carmen very differently from the narrator

This is how our hero-archaeologist saw her:

suddenly some woman, having climbed the stairs from the river, sat down next to me. In her hair she wore a large bouquet of jasmine, the petals of which emit an intoxicating scent in the evening. She was dressed simply, perhaps even poorly, in all black, like most grisettes in the evenings. Society women wear black only in the morning; in the evening they dress a la Francesa. Approaching me, my bather dropped the mantilla that covered her head onto her shoulders, “and in the gloomy light streaming from the stars,” I saw that she was short, young, well-built, and that she had huge eyes.

And this is how Carmencita appeared before Jose:

She was wearing a very short red skirt, which allowed her to see white silk stockings, rather holey, and pretty red morocco shoes, tied with fiery-colored ribbons. She pulled back her mantilla to reveal her shoulders and a large bouquet of acacia tucked into the neckline of her shirt. She also had an acacia flower in her teeth, and she walked, moving her hips, like a young Cordovan stud mare.

The same woman is seen completely differently by two heroes. It is called points of view. For an archaeologist, only the external part is important: eyes, height, build, hair. Jose notes something completely different: what Carmen did and how

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Plot Features

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At first glance, the plot may seem very simple: a certain criminal, before his death, decides to tell the story of his life to a casual acquaintance, the acquaintance remembers this story, and then publishes it.

In fact, everything is not so simple (that’s why I love literature)

• The plot develops in exotic setting

For Don José Lizarrabengoa, the place where events unfold is not his homeland; he is Basque by nationality, and, having found himself in a foreign environment, he contrasts sharply with it.

Carmen is a gypsy, and gypsies are nomadic people. In addition, Andalusia is also not a native place for her - she was born in Etxalar and grew up in Seville:

“I’m from Elizondo,” I answered her in Basque, excited that she spoke my language.

“And I’m from Etxalar,” she said. (This is four hours away from us.) - The gypsies took me to Seville. I worked in a factory to save up enough to return to Navarre to my poor mother, who has no other support than me and a small barratcea with two dozen cider apple trees.

• pinnacle plot

The apex of the plot refers to the ellipse.

In literary criticism, pinnacle is understood as a reflection of only the main events that are turning points for the hero’s fate. If we were to imagine a coordinate axis, then there would be dots on it indicating decisive events, after which the line would move down, indicating a decrease in tension. Ultimately, the drawing is mountains. That is why we call this phenomenon in texts apexism.

In "Carmen" The main events This:

Meeting of Carmen and Jose ➜ Jose in prison ➜ murder of the hussar ➜ murder of Carmen's husband ➜ murder of Carmen

• Fragmentation plot

By fragmentation, literary scholars understand the reflection of only a series of the most important key events, omissions of details that are not related to each other and do not entail consequences for each other

In "Carmen" one can observe transitions in time, all murder events seem to be of the same order. And Jose tells the narrator-traveler only the most important things from his life. That's why it's a short story and not a novel.

Image of Jose

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Jose is a Basque, a purebred Christian, the type of hero is a careerist. This is of course related to the idea of ​​Napoleonism at the time:

Soon I became a corporal, and they promised to promote me to sergeant

When I joined the army, I imagined that I would at least become an officer. Long, Mina, my compatriots, Chapalangarra, “black”, like Mina, and who, like him, found refuge in your country, rose to the rank of captain general; Chapalangarra was a colonel, and how many times I played ball with his brother, a poor man like me.

In the image of Jose, it is very important to pay attention to alienation motive:

• Fight (an event due to which the hero was forced to leave his homeland

Once, when I won, an Alawian youth started a quarrel with me; we took up maquilas, and I defeated him again; but because of this I had to leave.

• Releases the criminal, commits a crime (an event after which the hero joins the circle of smugglers)

Suddenly Carmen turns around and punches me in the chest. I fell backwards on purpose. In one leap she jumps over me and starts running, showing us a pair of legs!..

It seemed rather unnatural, to tell the truth, that a fragile girl could knock down a young man like me with one blow of her fist. All this seemed suspicious, or rather, too clear. When the changing of the guard came, I was demoted and sent to prison for a month. This was my first reprimand. Farewell, sergeant's braid, which I already considered mine!

On the eve of his death, José tells the story of his life - this biography-confession

Image of Carmen

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Carmen begins a series of femme fatales in literature; she has masculine traits (independent, free, “at home” among criminals, smokes a cigar)

• She can't help but stand out from the crowd, she's always the center of attention, but at the same time she doesn't let herself be offended.
• Acts as a tempter (serpent) - biblical implications:

It was on Snake Street that Jose lets Carmen go; on the same street she later bought a dozen oranges.

For Jose, Carmen is a tempting serpent who offers to go over to the robbers.

Jose expected that Carmen would submit to him, but this freedom-loving woman could not do this, she is a gypsy, this is not in her national character.

This is what I wrote Yu. B. Vipper about the character of Carmen:

The ability of Carmen and Don Jose to surrender to all-consuming passion is the source that amazes the reader with the integrity of their natures and the charm of their images. Carmen absorbed a lot of bad things from the criminal environment in which she grew up. She cannot help but lie and deceive; she is ready to take part in any thieving adventure. But Carmen’s contradictory inner appearance also conceals such wonderful spiritual qualities that pampered or hardened representatives of the master’s society lack. This is sincerity and honesty in the most intimate feeling for her - love. This is a proud, unyielding love of freedom, a willingness to sacrifice everything, including life, for the sake of preserving internal independence.

Carmen - this is the embodiment of the entire Gypsy people. She absorbed all the brightest features of this people. It is through her image that the life and customs of the gypsies are shown.

Lukov:

“Framing” was created by Merimee not at all for stylistic reasons (to contrast the “scientific” narrative with the description of the passions of Carmen and Jose), it is an important part of the ideological plan. The author is primarily interested not in Carmen, but in the gypsy people. Carmen is called upon to emphasize his main features, “physiognomy”, to solve his riddle. The tragic collision between Carmen and Jose is not a consequence at all individual properties their characters: two nationalities and, accordingly, two views of the world collided.

That's how many secrets are hidden in P. Merimee's short story "Carmen". Of course, I have not revealed all the secrets of this novel, but I think this is enough to interest you in the work of P. Merimee

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Carmen

Life brought to Wiese's musicdazzling sparkle.

A. V. Lunacharsky

On March 3, 1875, the first performance of Georges Wiese's opera Carmen took place on the stage of the Opera Comique theater in Paris. First-class performers took part: Maria Celestina Galli-Marier sang Carmen, Paul Lery - Don José, Joseph Andre Bui - Escamillo. The first two acts were well received, the third with restraint, the fourth with icy silence, and as a result the opera was declared “immoral.” She was sharply criticized: “Modest mothers, respectable fathers of the family! - wrote one of the Parisian newspapers. - With faith in tradition, you brought your daughters and your wives to give them a decent, dignified evening's entertainment. What did you feel at the sight of this prostitute who moves from the arms of a mule driver to a dragoon, from a dragoon to a bullfighter, until the dagger of a deserted lover ends her shameful life?.. The ugly, meaningless music of the opera corresponded exactly to what we expected from Georges Bizet " But friends highly appreciated the music of the opera: “Finally I saw Carmen. I find it wonderful, I tell you.” the real truth» , - wrote C. Saint-Saens Bizet . Despite the fact that “Carmen” aroused warm approval among the democratic public, official criticism continued to blaspheme it, bourgeois society could not come to terms with the challenge that the composer threw at him by bringing people from the people to the stage. Bizet He never lived to see the true success of his opera; he died three months after the premiere. A year later, “Carmen” was removed from the repertoire. Meanwhile, outside of France, she received wide recognition. To stage it in 1876 in Vienna, Bizet’s friend, composer E. Guiraud, replaced the spoken dialogues written for the Opera-Comique Theater with musical recitatives. Only eight years later “Carmen” returned to her homeland.

Faust

The literary source for the libretto, created by A. Meillac and L. Halévy, was the short story of the same name by P. Mérimée. One of the subtle, original short story writers, Merimee reflected

Above: first performers: Carmen - Maria Celestina Galli-Marier, José - Paul Lery,

Escamillo - Joseph Andre Bui, Michaela - Marguerite Chapuis.

Below: Carmen - N.A. Obukhova, Escamillo - S.I. Migai. Grand Theatre THE USSR.

Life in all its truth and unvarnished, acted as a realist artist. Heroeshis are indomitable, strong characters, possessed by violent passion. The librettists somewhat softened the harsh tone of the novella, the wildness of morals, and introduced a new lyrical character - Michaela. Bizet elevated heroes with his music,summarized the main conflict and raised it todeeply human drama. In full-bloodedcrowd scenes widely and diversely show the people participating in the events taking place. - these are choral layers or small scenes - group portraits; all of them beforein total - paintings folk life Spain, stormy, blooming, hot. In addition, they serve

Carmen - Ivana Miksova, Jose - Martin Ritzmann, Berlin Opera, GDR.

a concrete background for the development of personal drama heroes.

The opera opens with a brilliant, sparkling overture, captivating with its stormy temperament.

This colorful world of life, festivity and light is reflected in two marching themes: the jubilant procession and the bullfighter theme. He is confronted by another world - of dark passions, tragic fate Carmen: it is revealed by the pathetically mournful “motive of doom” that accompanies the heroine throughout the entire opera, like a shadow.

The action takes place in Seville. In the first actThe composer paints the life of the city with precise strokes. All folk scenes are uniqueWe,original, truthful: rhythmically chiseled, perky chorus of dragoons, sonorous marching choir of boys, dreamy chorus of menand the last chorus - of tobacco factory workers.

The main character of the opera is Carmen. She is attractive, full of passion and violent spontaneous impulses, thoughtlessly surrenders to the inclinations of her heart - this is a true child of nature. “It was a strange and wild beauty, a face that struck at first sight, but which could not be forgotten,” we read from Merimee, “especially her eyes had some kind of voluptuous and at the same time stern expression, which I I haven’t seen it in any human eyes since.”

The musical characteristics of Carmen are bright, catchy, based on folk songs. Her dynamic image gradually develops from solo numbers, individual lines, and ensembles.

Carmen's appearance in the first act among the lively crowd in the town square in Seville is significant and arresting. Carmen immediately introduces acute tension into the life around her. Her replicas are rich

shades, they are changeable - sometimes mocking, disdainful, sometimes inviting and passionate. The composer gave her most complete appearance in the habanera -

song free love, colorful and fiery. unique in intonation and rhythm.Bizet borrowed the melody of this Spanish folk dance song from a collection of songsSpanish composer S. Iradier.

Carmen's first meeting with Don Jose is silent. but expressive: having finished the habanera,Carmen approaches Jose and throws him a flower;and in response to her inviting look in the orchestraa passionate, bewitching melody is born - the theme of her love, ending with the “motivedoom." This short episode is the beginning dramas.

Subsequent scenes - a quarrel at the factory,Carmen’s arrest, her song “about a formidable husband,” seguidilla - highlight the multifaceted appearance of the gypsy in different ways. And again meeting Carmenwith Jose in the scene of a quarrel between factory workers -a living genre picture, as if snatchedfrom life itself: a furious dispute between two groups of women, proceeding tensely, rapidly,leads to the climax - the appearance of Carmen,accompanied by the already familiar passionate,

a bewitching melody - the theme of love. The mostvivid characterization of Carmen - song-danceseguidilla in the scene of Jose's seduction; Carmen’s appearance here is sometimes “alluring and close”, sometimes “elusive, elusive.” Organic in Seguidillaher dialogue with Jose is interwoven.

A symphonic intermission based on José's song "Dragoon of Alcala" opensThe second act of the opera is in the Lilas-Pastya tavern.Gypsy song-dance, spectacular marchEscamillo, a virtuoso quintet of smugglers - all this paints a vitally truthful atmosphere of the tavern.

The center of the action is the scene of Carmen and Jose. In their tragic love the beginning of the conflict is revealed. Intoxicating song-dance Carmen with castanets against the background of a trumpet playing“dawn.” - an amazing find from Wiese. Dialogueheroes represents a clash between two strong ones. opposite characters. And the expression of the ideals of each is a solo number:for Jose - the poetic aria “See how holyI’m keeping the flower that you gave me,” the culmination of his love: for Carmen - her freedom-loving song, a hymn to freedom “There, there to your native mountains.”

In the third act - the scene in the mountains - there is a conflictbetween Carmen and Jose reaches the highest tension. Light, pastoralThe symphonic intermission paints a tranquil picture of nature. Gloomy sextet with choirssubsequent chorus of smugglers showthe setting in which the drama developsCarmen and Jose. The central episode is the “scenefortune-telling", an unusually constructed terzetto - a scene of three characters, in which stands out

transparent, "classically" clear duet by Frasquitaand Mercedes. He is opposed by a gloomy ariosoCarmen. In the orchestral introduction flashes

"doom motive" Carmen's voice sounds mournful, as if before the ghost of death. The appearance of Escamillo and his duel with Jose further deepens the conflict between the heroes and leads to an inevitable break. Escamillo appears in the opera as the opposite of Jose; its musical characteristic is march-like, theatrically elevated, but always constant.

In the third act, Michaela is more prominently depicted; her pure appearance is contrasted with the freedom-loving, rebellious Carmen. Michaela's touching appeal to Jose with a request to return to his dying mother awakens bright feelings in his soul.

The intermission for the fourth act introduces the listener to the scene of a national holiday. Bright, colorful music, as if bathed in sunshine, built on melody and rhythm spanish dance“Polo”, borrowed by Bizet from the collection “Echoes of Spain”.

In Seville, the square in front of the circus is lively. This festive picture with a jubilant choir, a march of bullfighters, a passionate duet of EscamilloAndCarmen is contrasted by a dramatic scene - the last explanation of Jose and Carmen, built unusually sharply and laconically. The melody here is mainly of a recitative nature. Jose's phrases, at first mournful, pleading, and then threatening, are intertwined with Carmen's sharp, abrupt remarks. This mortal battle of the heroes is contrasted with the stormy rejoicing of the crowd in the circus.

Scenes from the opera "Carmen", Bolshoi Theater of the USSR

Four times the enthusiastic cries of the people intrude into their tragic dialogue, and Escamillo’s march sounds especially eerie at the moment of Carmen’s murder; the orchestra runs through the “motive of doom.”

Jose's last cry of despair speaks of his complete devastation. In this scene, the skill of Bizet the playwright was revealed with all his might.

"Carmen" is not only the pinnacle of Bizet's work, but also the pinnacle of world opera.

“Carmen is in the fullest sense a masterpiece, that is, one of those few things that are destined to reflect to the greatest extent the musical aspirations of an entire era... I am convinced that in ten years Carmen will be the most popular opera in the world.” , wrote P.I. Tchaikovsky in 1880.

Where did the image of Carmen come from in our culture, and what is it associated with? I asked fellow writers about this. “Which Carmen? The same one! “Love is free!.. tram-there-there!” Bizet’s opera…” they answered me. Don’t be surprised, these people know very well that the libretto of the opera “Carmen” is based on a short story by Prosper Merimee. Of course, they read it, some even in the original. However, opera has greatly displaced in our perception artistic text. And yet, it is with him that we will begin our slightly detective story about the image of Carmen.

Innovative platitude

Our heroine was born in France in 1845, under the pen of the wonderful prose writer Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870). "Carmen" was not very lucky from the very beginning. As often happens with original works, she was accused of... banality! Prose writer and literary critic Stendhal (Henri-Marie Beyle, 1783–1842) decided that Mérimée's short story was similar to the story of the 18th century writer Abbe Prévost (Antoine-François Prévost d'Exiles, 1697–1783) "The History of Manon Lescaut and the Chevalier des Grieux". But it’s hard to agree with this. "Carmen" is undoubtedly an innovative work. What is his innovation?

It is not in the plot, but in the style: events that Merimee’s predecessors and contemporaries would have told in a romantic manner, the writer presented realistically. For the modern reader, already accustomed to realism, it is quite difficult to feel this novelty, but then it looked unusual. And in distant Russia, Lermontov (1814–1841) appreciated such unusualness and used a similar storytelling technique when he wrote about the life of Pechorin.

Quasimodo with Esmeralda. Illustration for “The Cathedral” Notre Dame of Paris" In 2006, Jules Perrot's ballet based on Hugo's novel, interpreted by Andrei Petrov, was presented at the Kremlin Palace. From a theater review: “The dances and mise-en-scenes invented by Andrei Petrov certainly stood out for their lack of musicality and stylistic blunders, especially against the backdrop of authentically ancient fragments... Fortunately, the choreographer curbed his own imagination so much that only a mere misanthrope could not endure what he composed Quasimodo’s dance with the dead Esmeralda, cages with canaries in the hands of medieval knights, echoes of Yuri Grigorovich’s choreography in the monologues and erotic visions of Claude Frollo and other annoying little things scattered throughout the massive two-act performance.” Illustration from the Victor Hugo Central website

Egyptian warlocks

But there is something else in Carmen that is interesting to us. In this short story, for the first time in world literature, a gypsy woman is realistically depicted. However, we will still try to understand how realistic the image of Carmen is. In the meantime, a completely natural question arises: did no one describe gypsies before Merimee? Of course he did. For a long time Egypt was believed to be the homeland of the gypsies; the version about their Indian roots arose much later. The gypsy, uniquely dressed, with an original appearance, extremely musical, engaged in the black magic craft of fortune-telling, for which she received the nickname “satan’s servant,” could not help but attract writers. Already in the 16th century, Cervantes (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547–1616) wrote the short story “The Gypsy Girl”. However, the interpretation of the image of the gypsy in it is very interesting. The fact is that main character“Gypsy girls,” the lovely Preciosa, is not a gypsy by birth. Therefore, she differs from the rest of the camp in her morality - an innate trait, according to Europeans of that time, unusual for gypsies.

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