I don’t want to see the Met’s new CARMEN, but I look forward to hearing it from my score desk. Everyone, even people who’ve never been to the opera, knows the Habanera and the Toreador Song, but my favorite parts of Bizet’s opera are somewhat less familiar.
My CARMEN highlights begin with the atmospheric chorus of the girls from the cigarette factory, who come out into the sunshine to have a smoke during their break:
CARMEN ~ Dans l’air nous suivons des yeux la fumee
Above: James McCracken and Adriana Maliponte in Act I of CARMEN
Next is the lovely duet for Don José and Micaela, his sweetheart from his home village. Micaela brings José a kiss from his mother:
Adriana Maliponte & James McCracken – CARMEN ~ duet
The prelude to Act III of the opera is so hauntingly beautiful:
CARMEN ~ Act III prelude – L Maazel cond
Carmen’s En vain pour éviter, wherein she reads her fortune in the cards – “Death! First me, then him! For both of us…death!” – forebodes the opera’s violent ending. Jean Madeira (above) was a classic Carmen, with a formidable chest register.
Jean Madeira – Air des Cartes ~ CARMEN
In one of the greatest final scenes in all opera, a defiant Carmen utterly rejects Don José, practically daring him to kill her. The tragedy was brilliantly played out when the great Régine Crespin (above) drove William Lewis to the brink of madness in this sensational rendering from the 1975 Met broadcast.
CARMEN – final scene – Crespin – Wm Lewis – Met 1975
Mme. Crespin sent me the photo after I wrote her a congratulatory letter after listening to the broadcast. Later, I had the good fortune to see her in the role in Boston.
~ Oberon
Oberon's Glade 