Georges Bizet: Carmen

Cambridge Opera Handbooks

by Susan McClary

Bizet's Carmen is probably the best known opera of the standard repertoire, yet its very familiarity often prevents us from approaching it with the seriousness it deserves. This Handbook explores the opera in a number of contexts, bringing to the surface the controversies over gender, race, class and musical propriety. After a study of Mérimée's story Carmen by Peter Robinson, Susan McClary examines the social tensions in nineteenth-century France that inform both that story and the opera, and traces the opera through its genesis and reception. The Handbook concludes with discussions of four films based on the opera. The volume contains a bibliography, music examples, and a synopsis and will be of interest to students, scholars, and operagoers.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published July 9, 1992

Reviews

[Ronja Christin]

Love the Drama. I'm exited to See the Opera next sunday.

[Vincenzo Minucci]

Davvero ottimo, l'ho usato per preparare un esame e mi ha letteralmente salvato le chiappe; ero assente alle lezioni in cui si è parlato di Carmen. Il libro ci dà una panoramica completa del racconto e della versione di Bizet, sia i significati dell'opera, sia la storia del libro in sé per sé. Consigliato a tutti coloro che vogliano approfondire la storia dietro il capolavoro di Merimée e apprezzarlo appieno, e a coloro che studiano musica, non rimarrete delusi. :)

[Hayley Abramowitz]

Susan said no tenor on earth has ever been valid and I love her for that