Carmen by Georges Bizet - Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Carmen by Georges Bizet - Report - Essay ExampleThe costumes of the opera singers were typically in the character of a Spanish Seville setting. At one point we saw certain Toreador clothing. PERFORMANCE SETTING According to the Grove Music Online the opera was chosen after a French book. A distant cousin of Bizet was one of the two people who wrote the libretto. The librettist were Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy. (Grove 2011)They wrote for other French composers. Bizet chose the able himself. He wanted to use melodrame as it had been utilize since 1850 in opera comique . (Grove 2011) An opera where there was dialog accompanied by music was a technique that came from Italy in the opera buffa. TYPE(S) OF MUSIC . The opera was an opera comique taking after the opera buffa in the classical period. There were spoken parts. Carmen, the provocative bohemiane capital of Italy was a mezzo- soprano. Don Jose was a tenor which is higher than a bass. Before the opera began there was a light spoken introduction. I did not listen. I was too excited to hear the performance begin. Carmen is a gypsy who provokes men into loving her. A soldier, Don Josee, sees her drink down another women and takes her to the police. He falls in chouse and lets her go. When he finds her again, she is already married to someone else. He becomes a bandit. He kills Carmen out of jealousy or madness because she wont come back to him. This soldier is Don Josee. Carmen, Don Josee, Micaella, and Escamillo are the principal characters. It was so divergent seeing the opera on stage than seeing it on a screen the sounds of hearing the totally hall were amazing. Knowing that Bizet never had been to Spain makes one wonder how he could have written such Spanish sounding music. The Groves said his opera changed the Spaniards conception of their own music. The two parts of the opera chosen were. Carmens intend aria, and the Duet in Act IV before Don Josee kills Carmen. Carmens Habanara aria is u sing all of Bizets use of melodious genres. 1. It starts with the use of juncture as if were spoken drama with music being played under the voice. occupy note the music is not accompanying the voice at certain points where it is at others. 2. The voice is used in dialogue with the let loose answering 3. The voice is used as an accompaniment to the chorus 4. The voice is used as a solo without any instrumental accompaniment. 5. The full orchestra with the full chorus begins the constituent aria The second part chosen is in Act IV of the opera. It is the final bridge which ends the opera. The duet mingled with Carmen an Don Josee is exquisitely beautiful. It is long for a duet of the Romantic Era. Bizet uses many techniques to change the emotions and the color of the aria. In the beginning there is very little instrumental intervention and the voices are calm. He is singing of how he discernd her and she is saying she doesnt anymore. There is a build up of emotions when she sa ys in the bottom of her soul she doesnt love him. The percussion and strings are playing and there is a change of attitude of Don Josee. He starts to beg and she sings in duet that she cannot go away with him. At one moment we hear the chorus and orchestra playing the Toreador theme. Don Josee knows Escamillo is coming and starts to sing more quickly. When he sings he is going to kill her, the key (tone ) changes to minor and the bass instruments play to show the gravity of the situation. He does kill her and the Toreador, Escamillo comes. This is a duet with