Bizet, George
NAME:
Bizet, George.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
Wrote “Carmen.”
NICKNAME/ALIAS:
None.
DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH:
25th October 1838, Paris, France.
DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH:
3rd June 1875, Bougival, near Paris, France. Aged 37.
DISCIPLINE:
Composer.
FIELD:
Music.
LANGUAGE:
French.
PARENTS:
Adolphe Bizet and Aimee Marie Louise Delsarte.
SIBLINGS:
None.
SPOUSE:
Genevieve Fromental Halevy.
CHILDREN:
One son, Jean, by Marie Reiter and another, Jacques, by his wife.
EDUCATION:
Paris Conservatoire.
MAJOR WORK:
"Carmen" (1875), "Symphony in C Major" (1855).
LIFE AND TIMES:
Bizet entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1848, at the age of ten. He was taught counterpoint by the eminent piano professor, Pierre Zimmerman, the future father-in-law of the composer Gounod*, and when Zimmerman died, Bizet studied composition under Halevy, a successful operatic writer.
In 1855, he wrote his "Symphony in C Major" which he began four days after his seventeenth birthday and finished in a few weeks. The symphony was never performed in
his lifetime, but is considered a major work.
The composer Offenbach* offered a prize, in 1856, for a one-act operetta with a libretto from Moliere's, "The Miracle Doctor". Bizet wrote his score very rapidly and, out of seventy-eight entries, shared first prize. As part of the prize, the winning operettas were performed in Paris.
In 1857, he won the Prix de Rome, the highest honour available to a student, for his Cantata "Clovis and Clotilde". The prize entitled him to a five year scholarship, with two years at the Villa Medici in Rome. With his fellow students, he travelled to Lyons and through Provence to the south of France, before entering Italy at Genoa, and arriving in Rome at the start of 1858.
There he wrote "Don Procopio", an opera in the style of Donizetti*, and began work on a second symphony which he then abandoned. At the end of 1859, he was given permission to spend a third year at the Villa Medici, and was joined there by his friend Ernest Guirard.
He set out for Paris with Guirard in 1860, planning to travel over the next six months. In Rimini he conceived a plan for a new symphony, in which each movement would be given the name of a different Italian city.
Back in Paris, for his end of course presentation in 1861 he submitted a Scherzo and Funeral March for orchestra, together with an overture: "The Hunt of Ossian".
He considered teaching at the Conservatoire, but rejected the idea. He also turned away from a career as a concert pianist in spite of the fact that Liszt* and Berlioz* were among those who praised his reading and touch.
For the next few years he worked as a musical hack as well as composing operas and other works. He became an assistant to Gounod, writing out scores and playing accompaniments. He acted as accompanist for the rehearsals of Berlioz's "Childhood of Christ" and made arrangements of dance music and operas for publishers.
In April 1863, he was offered the libretto of "The Pearl Fishers", the music for which he completed in August of that year. The opera was performed at the Lyric Theatre in September, but had a lukewarm reception. He was commissioned to write for the Lyric Theatre and began writing "Ivan IV", but the opera was repeatedly postponed and eventually turned down by the Opera House.
He continued working on his "Rome" symphony, and on music for the piano. Living at Le Vesinet on the Seine, he met a neighbour, Celeste Mogador and they developed a close friendship. Mogador was an actress and a courtesan and it is believed by some that she was Bizet's inspiration for Carmen.
In 1866, he wrote the ( Verdi*-influenced) opera, "The Fair Maid of Perth", based on Sir Walter Scott's* work and performed in December 1867. It was well received by the critics. In 1869 he married Genevieve, the daughter of his old teacher Halevy, and saw the first performance of his "Rome" symphony.
During the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, he joined the National Guard despite his immunity from the draft, by virtue of being a holder of the Prix de Rome.
After the war, his mother-in-law got Bizet the post of chorus master at the Opera House but he resigned in protest of their treatment of the composer Ernest Reyer. At this time, he wrote a set of twelve pieces for piano duet called "Children's Games".
In 1872, he wrote a one-act opera "Djamileh", from De Musset's* "Namouna" which was not a success. The singers were poor and there was very little drama in the piece. The critics were hostile, accusing Bizet of lack of rhythm and tonality.
His fellow composers were more generous and both Massenet* and Saint-Saens* praised his music so, in the same year, he wrote the incidental music for the play "L'Arlesienne" by Alphonse Daudet.
Following the war with Prussia, the Societe Nationale de Musique was founded with the aim of encouraging young French musicians and providing a forum for their work. Bizet was on the committee, together with the composers Faure* and Cesar Franck.
In 1873, the Concert National began to put on new works and Bizet's "Little Suite for Orchestra" from his "Children's Games" was performed. In the same year, he began writing his opera "Carmen," based on a story by the contemporary author Merimee*. The orchestra complained that the music was too difficult and the chorus were outraged by the fact that they were expected to act and move around, as well as sing.
He was awarded the Legion of Honour in March 1875 and in the evening of that day, "Carmen" was premiered at the Opera-Comic. It was the start of a new direction for French opera, with real emotions portrayed on stage and a dramatic construction which led naturally to a finale.
The audience, used to the trivial concoctions of comic opera, did not know how to react and sat in silence. Many were offended by the dramatic intensity of the heroine and the story was condemned as obscene.
Shortly afterwards Bizet was taken ill and died.
ASSESSMENT: Bizet’s work has made him infamous, particularly after his death, for his contribution to opera, most notably with "Carmen". He heralded the new realism in opera seen at the end of the century.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None.
ONELINER: George Bizet, composer of “Carmen”
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Dean, Winton, Bizet, J M Dent & Sons Ltd., 1975.