Born: 1838
Died: 1875
Country: France
Period: Romantic
Known for one of the world's most popular operas, Carmen, Georges Bizet deserves attention as well for other works of remarkable melodic charm. Many of his works received cool receptions on their premieres but are now considered central to the repertory of classical music.
Bizet was born in Paris on October 25, 1838, and grew up in a happy, musical family that encouraged his talents. He learned to read music at the same time he learned toRead more read letters, and equally well. Entering the Paris Conservatory before he was ten, he earned first prize in solfège within six months, a first prize in piano in 1852, and eventually, the coveted Prix de Rome in 1857 for his cantata Clovis et Clotilde. His teachers had included Marmontel for piano and Halévy for composition, but the greatest influence on him was Charles Gounod, of whom Bizet later said "You were the beginning of my life as an artist." Bizet himself hid away his Symphony in C, written when he was 17, feeling it was too much like its models, Gounod's symphonies. The two years spent in Rome after winning his prize, would be the only extensive time, and a greatly impressionable one, that Bizet would spend outside of Paris in his brief life. When he returned to Paris, he lost confidence in his natural talents and began to substitute dry Germanic or academic writing for his own developing idiom. He composed a one-act opera for production at the Opéra-Comique, but the theater's director engaged him to write a full-length opera instead, Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers). It was not a success at the time, but despite a few weaknesses, the work was revived in 1886, and its sheer beauty has earned it a respected position among the lesser-played operatic repertory. In 1863 Bizet's father bought land outside Paris where he built two bungalows, one of which Bizet frequently used as a compositional retreat. He began a friendship (apparently not a physical one) with a neighbor-woman named Céleste Mogador, a former actress, author, courtesan, circus rider, and dance-hall girl. She is said to have been the model for his masterpiece's title role of Carmen. Bizet earned his living as an accompanist and publishing house arranger. Meanwhile, he poured his creative efforts into an immense five-act opera in the grand tradition, Ivan IV, but it was never performed. This proved to be a pattern for the rest of his career. Bizet would work hard to get an opera produced, and even if he did, it would usually receive only a handful of performances. Bizet's corpus of unfinished works is large, and testifies to his unsettled existence and his difficulty in finding a place in France's notoriously hierarchical and conservative musical world. In 1869 Bizet married Geneviève Halévy, daughter of his teacher. The marriage did not turn out to be a happy one, primarily due to her family's history of mental illness. In 1872, Bizet's splendid incidental music for the play L'arlèsienne was poorly received, but when the composer assembled the music into an orchestral suite for a November performance, it found great acclaim. At last confident of his creative vision, Bizet was able to steer his final masterpiece through various obstacles, including the objections of singers and theater directors who were shocked by Carmen's subject matter. When the opera had its premiere on March 3, 1875, it was received barely well enough to hang on for future productions. Although it took audiences only a few weeks to catch on, Bizet died convinced it was a failure. Read less
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 23401
Release Date: 09/18/2012
Number of Discs: 6
Composer:
Vincenzo Bellini,
Gaetano Donizetti,
Francesco Cilèa,
Umberto Giordano
...
Performer:
Maria Callas,
Giuseppe Morresi,
Ebe Stignani,
Raffaele Arié
...
Conductor:
Tullio Serafin,
Nicola Rescigno,
Georges Prêtre
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Milan Teatro alla Scala Orchestra,
Milan Teatro alla Scala Chorus,
Philharmonia Orchestra
...
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 59794
Release Date: 08/28/2012
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi,
Gaetano Donizetti,
Léo Delibes,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
...
Performer:
Maria Callas,
Nicola Rescigno,
Sir Malcolm Sargent,
Jeffrey Tate
Conductor:
Oliviero de Fabritiis,
Georges Prêtre,
Nicola Rescigno,
Alfredo Simonetto
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra Rome,
ORTF National Orchestra,
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
...
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 59776
Release Date: 08/28/2012
Number of Discs: 13
Composer:
Giacomo Puccini,
Francesco Cilèa,
Umberto Giordano,
Alfredo Catalani
...
Performer:
Maria Callas,
Monica Sinclair,
John Lanigan,
Joseph Rouleau
...
Conductor:
Tullio Serafin,
Nicola Rescigno,
Georges Prêtre,
Antonio Tonini
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra,
Milan Teatro alla Scala Orchestra,
Philharmonia Chorus
...
Label: Decca
Catalog: 001675702
Release Date: 05/08/2012
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Sergei Rachmaninov,
Georges Bizet,
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
...
Performer:
Cecilia Bartoli,
Lang Lang,
Andrea Bocelli,
Anna Netrebko
...
Conductor:
Myung-Whun Chung,
Antonio Pappano,
Gustavo Dudamel,
Marco Armiliato
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
I Fagiolini
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 8501054
Release Date: 04/24/2012
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Gioachino Rossini,
Giuseppe Verdi,
Georges Bizet
...
Performer:
Adrianne Pieczonka,
Boje Skovhus,
Renato Girolami,
Janusz Monarcha
...
Conductor:
Michael Halász,
Will Humburg,
Alexander Rahbari,
Rico Saccani
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia,
Hungarian Radio Chorus,
Failoni Orchestra Budapest
...
Recommendation
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 94868
Release Date: 06/21/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Georges Bizet
Performer:
Angela Gheorghiu,
David Alagna,
Inva Mula-Tchako,
Roberto Alagna
...
Conductor:
Michel Plasson
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Toulouse Capitole Orchestra,
Les Elements Chamber Choir
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 001529409
Release Date: 03/08/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Hector Berlioz,
Camille Saint-Saëns,
Georges Bizet,
Manuel de Falla
...
Performer:
Elina Garanca
Conductor:
Gustavo Dudamel
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 001477702
Release Date: 10/25/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Francisco Barbieri,
Georges Bizet,
Franz Lehár,
Michael Balfe
...
Performer:
Elina Garanca,
Roberto Alagna,
Alessandro Milani,
J. M Gallardo Del Rey
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Conductor:
Karel Mark Chichon
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra Milan,
Turin Teatro Regio Chorus
Recommendation
Label: Hafg
Catalog: 10314
Release Date: 10/15/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Charles Gounod,
Hector Berlioz,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Giuseppe Verdi
...
Performer:
Géori Boué
Conductor:
Sir Thomas Beecham
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Symphony Orchestra
Label: Decca
Catalog: 001459102
Release Date: 08/17/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Georges Bizet
Performer:
Andrea Bocelli,
Marina Domashenko,
Bryn Terfel,
Eva Mei
Conductor:
Myung-Whun Chung
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Preiser Records
Catalog: 93460
Release Date: 06/08/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Christoph W. Gluck,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Giuseppe Verdi,
Georges Bizet
...
Performer:
Martha Mödl,
Johanna Blatter,
Wolfgang Windgassen,
Rudolf Schock
Conductor:
Hans Löwlein,
Arthur Rother,
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt,
Joseph Keilberth
...
Label: Danacord
Catalog: 691/96
Release Date: 06/08/2010
Number of Discs: 6
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Richard Wagner,
Bedrich Smetana,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
...
Performer:
Anny Konetzni,
Lauritz Melchior,
Zedenka Zikova,
Viorica Tango
...
Conductor:
Hans Weisbach,
Nicolai Malko,
Bruno Walter,
Egisto Tango
...
Recommendation
Label: Eloquence
Catalog: 4803520
Release Date: 04/20/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Georges Bizet
Performer:
José Van Dam,
Placido Domingo,
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa,
Tatiana Troyanos
Conductor:
Sir Georg Solti
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Philharmonic Orchestra,
John Alldis Choir
Recommendation
Label: London/Decca Grand Opera Series
Catalog: 421897
Release Date: 04/08/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
George Forrest,
Franz Lehár,
Johann Strauss Jr.,
Richard Strauss
...
Performer:
Ian Wallace,
Regina Resnik,
Waldemar Kmentt,
Birgit Nilsson
...
Conductor:
Annuncio Paolo Mantovani,
Richard Bonynge,
Herbert von Karajan,
Sir Georg Solti
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Mantovani Orchestra,
National Philharmonic Orchestra,
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
...
Label: Berlin Classics
Catalog: 149512
Release Date: 01/12/2010
Number of Discs: 3
Composer:
Otto Nicolai,
Richard Wagner,
Gaetano Donizetti,
Christoph W. Gluck
...
Performer:
Armin Ude,
Grace Bumbry,
Siegfried Lorenz,
Sona Cervana
...
Conductor:
Bernhard Klee,
Otmar Suitner,
Hans Vonk,
Václav Neumann
...
Label: Berlin Classics
Catalog: 149522
Release Date: 01/12/2010
Number of Discs: 3
Composer:
Charles Gounod,
Giuseppe Verdi,
Otto Nicolai,
Richard Wagner
...
Performer:
Sylvia Geszty,
Evelyn Lear,
Thomas Stewart,
Hanne-Lore Kuhse
...
Conductor:
Kurt Masur,
Heinz Fricke,
Otmar Suitner,
Siegfried Kurz
...
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 49219
Release Date: 12/01/2009
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Georges Bizet,
Giacomo Puccini,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Vincenzo Bellini
...
Performer:
Maurice André
Conductor:
Michel Plasson
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Toulouse Capitole Orchestra
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Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi,
Agustín Lara,
Jules Massenet,
Pietro Mascagni
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Performer:
José Carreras,
Katia Ricciarelli,
Agnes Baltsa,
Ruggero Raimondi
Conductor:
Jacques Delacôte
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Arts Orchestra
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 457901
Release Date: 06/19/2009
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Georges Bizet
Performer:
Marcia Baldwin,
Colette Boky,
Marilyn Horne,
James McCracken
...
Conductor:
Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Manhattan Opera Chorus,
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus