YourClassical

30 Days of Classical, Day 3: Bizet gets everyone dancing on the tables

30 Days of Classical, Day 3
Georges Bizet, photograph by Etienne Carjat, 1875
Georges Bizet, photograph by Etienne Carjat, 1875
Public Domain

Oh, she was a beauty. She was a temptress. She consorted with smugglers and worked in a cigarette factory. She started a ruckus with the other employees and, cheeky as always, managed to get an instantly love-smitten soldier to take the rap for her.

All he got for his trouble was a stint in the hoosegow and a flower. A flower she tossed to him before he was taken away. A flower he kept close to his heart.

Her name was Carmen, and as you can guess, she was a handful!

His name was Don Jose, and he thought the two of them could be very happy together. Boy was he wrong! George Bizet wrote an opera all about the two of them, and later yanked an orchestral suite out of it that has had everyone dancing on the tables.

MUSIC: Bizet: Carmen Suite - Telarc 80224

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