<span class='italic'>Carmen</span> at Home and Abroad

doi:10.1017/9781108674515.001

1 - Carmen at Home and Abroad

from Part I - Establishment in Paris and the Repertoire

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020

Clair Rowden and

Richard Langham Smith

Edited by

Richard Langham Smith and

Clair Rowden

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Richard Langham Smith: Affiliation:
Royal College of Music, London
Clair Rowden: Affiliation:
Cardiff University

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Summary

Why a transnational history of Carmen? Because Carmen is intrinsically born of – and about –migration and linguistic fluidity, and because Bizet’s opera has been transcended by the myth or symbol of Carmen, taken to mean many things in multiple contexts. This chapter lays the foundations for the rest of the book by highlighting the main sources – Mérimée’s novella, the opera libretto, its first stagings and scores – as well as challenging the precepts of a transnational history of opera, and attempts to weave the individual chapters together, draw out overlapping themes, challenge expected narratives, point up contradictions. In short, whether in relation to genre, singers or binary oppositions of geography, identity, morality and progress, the chapter outlines the main debates addressed and synthesises the kaleidoscopic nature of the findings of all contributors. From Spanish gypsies to French Hispanomania in music and dance, from Parisian reception to transnationalism in opera studies, from Parisian opéra-comique to international hybrid spectacle, this chapter signals the issues that are omnipresent in the performance and reception of Carmen at home and abroad.

Keywords

Georges Bizet Henri Meilhac Ludovic Halévy Albert Carré Célestine Galli-Marié migration myth Prosper Mérimée transnationalism Carmen opéra-comique hybrid spectacle reception mise en scène

Type: Chapter
Information: Carmen Abroad
Bizet's Opera on the Global Stage
, pp. 3 - 25

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108674515.001 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2020

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References

Sources

Le Français

Le National

La Revue des deux mondes

Le Temps

Le Théâtre

L’Union

Newspapers

Le Français

Le National

La Revue des deux mondes

Le Temps

Le Théâtre

L’Union

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