Georges Bizet

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Biography

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 to Read 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

Featured Georges Bizet CDs & DVDs:

Callas Edition - Bizet: Carmen / Prêtre, Guiot, Gedda, Et Al
Callas Edition - Bizet: Carmen / Prêtre, Guiot, Gedda, Et Al
Release Date: 08/19/1997   Label: Emi Classics  
Catalog: 56281   Number of Discs: 2
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Bizet: Carmen / Karajan, Baltsa, Carreras, Van Dam Et Al
Bizet: Carmen / Karajan, Baltsa, Carreras, Van Dam Et Al
Release Date: 11/17/1983   Label: Deutsche Grammophon  
Catalog: 410088   Number of Discs: 3
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La Belle Époche - Bizet, Lehar, Verdi / Maurice André
La Belle Époche - Bizet, Lehar, Verdi / Maurice André
Release Date: 09/07/1993   Label: Erato  
Catalog: 92126   Number of Discs: 1
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Bizet: Carmen / Sinopoli, Larmore, Gheorghiu, Moser, Ramey
Bizet: Carmen / Sinopoli, Larmore, Gheorghiu, Moser, Ramey
Release Date: 09/03/1996   Label: Teldec  
Catalog: 12672   Number of Discs: 3
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Bizet: Carmen - Highlights / Lombard, Crespin, Py, Van Dam
Bizet: Carmen - Highlights / Lombard, Crespin, Py, Van Dam
Release Date: 09/03/1996   Label: Erato  
Catalog: 13801   Number of Discs: 1
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Work: Carmen: Seguidilla

Browse 1-25 of 146 Available Recordings
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  • 1.
    Icon: Maria Callas - La Divina
    Icon: Maria Callas - La Divina
    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  ... 
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  • 2.
    Maria Callas - The Live Recitals
    Maria Callas - The Live Recitals
    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  ... 
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  • 3.
    Maria Callas - The Studio Recitals
    Maria Callas - The Studio Recitals
    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  ... 
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  • 4.
    Classical 2012
    Classical 2012
    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
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  • 5.
    Great Opera
    Great Opera
    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  ... 
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  • 6.
    Popular Opera Arias
    Popular Opera Arias
    Label: Berlin Classics   Catalog: 300250 Release Date: 09/13/2011   Number of Discs: 3
    Composer:  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,  Gioachino Rossini,  Gaetano Donizetti,  Giuseppe Verdi  ... 
    Performer:  Walter Berry,  Edith Mathis,  Hilde Gueden,  Reiner Süss  ... 
    Conductor:  Otmar Suitner,  Heinz Fricke,  Kurt Masur,  Siegfried Kurz  ... 
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  • 7.
    Bizet: Carmen - Highlights / Alagna, Gheorgiu, Et Al
    Bizet: Carmen - Highlights / Alagna, Gheorgiu, Et Al
    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
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  • 8.
    New Year's Eve Concert 2010 / Garanca, Dudamel, Berlin Philharmonic
    New Year's Eve Concert 2010 / Garanca, Dudamel, Berlin Philharmonic
    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
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  • 9.
    Georges Thill Vol 4 - Bizet, Berlioz, Delibes, Rimsky-Korsakov
    Georges Thill Vol 4 - Bizet, Berlioz, Delibes, Rimsky-Korsakov
    Label: Hafg   Catalog: 10249 Release Date: 11/22/2010   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Georges Bizet,  Hector Berlioz,  Giacomo Puccini,  Friedrich von Flotow  ... 
    Performer:  Raymonde Visconti,  Georges Thill,  Marthe Nespoulous
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  • 10.
    Habanera / Elina Garanca
    Habanera / Elina Garanca
    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  ... 
    Conductor:  Karel Mark Chichon
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra Milan,  Turin Teatro Regio Chorus
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  • 11.
    Géori Boué - Recordings 1947-1955
    Géori Boué - Recordings 1947-1955
    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
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  • 12.
    Bizet: Carmen Arias & Duets / Bocelli, Chung, Terfel, Domashenko
    Bizet: Carmen Arias & Duets / Bocelli, Chung, Terfel, Domashenko
    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
    CD: $12.99
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  • 13.
    Dokumente Einer Sangerkarriere: Martha Modl
    Dokumente Einer Sangerkarriere: Martha Modl
    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  ... 
    CD: $39.99
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  • 14.
    Great Singers And Musicians In Copenhagen, 1931-1939
    Great Singers And Musicians In Copenhagen, 1931-1939
    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
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  • 15.
    Divertissement
    Divertissement
    Label: Brass Classics   Catalog: 3004 Release Date: 05/04/2010   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Georges Bizet,  Maurice Ravel,  Gabriel Fauré,  Claude Debussy  ... 
    Performer:  Paul Archibald,  Juliet Edwards
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  • 16.
    Bizet: Carmen Highlights / Troyanos, Domingo, Solti
    Bizet: Carmen Highlights / Troyanos, Domingo, Solti
    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
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  • 17.
    Regina Resnik - Opera Gala
    Regina Resnik - Opera Gala
    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  ... 
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  • 18.
    Opera - Le Gala Du 30 Anniversaire
    Opera - Le Gala Du 30 Anniversaire
    Label: Atma Classique   Catalog: 2627 Release Date: 01/26/2010   Number of Discs: 2
    Composer:  Léo Delibes,  Giuseppe Verdi,  Jules Massenet,  Giacomo Puccini  ... 
    Performer:  Aline Kutan,  Raphaëlle Paquette,  Antoine Bélanger,  Annamaria Popescu  ... 
    Conductor:  Alain Trudel
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Grand Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra
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  • 19.
    Da Capo - Opera Highlights
    Da Capo - Opera Highlights
    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  ... 
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  • 20.
    Passione - Opera For Lovers
    Passione - Opera For Lovers
    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  ... 
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  • 21.
    Maurice Andre Plays Opera Arias
    Maurice Andre Plays Opera Arias
    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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  • 22.
    Maria Callas - The Legendary Duets
    Maria Callas - The Legendary Duets
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 98346 Release Date: 11/17/2009   Number of Discs: 2
    Composer:  Georges Bizet,  Amilcare Ponchielli,  Gioachino Rossini,  Gaetano Donizetti  ... 
    Performer:  Maria Callas,  Nicolai Gedda,  Fiorenza Cossotto,  Tito Gobbi  ... 
    Conductor:  Alceo Galliera,  Tullio Serafin,  Georges Prêtre
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Philharmonia Orchestra
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  • 23.
    Jose Carreras & Friends
    Jose Carreras & Friends
    Label: Domovideo   Catalog: 514 Release Date: 09/29/2009  
    Composer:  Giuseppe Verdi,  Agustín Lara,  Jules Massenet,  Pietro Mascagni  ... 
    Performer:  José Carreras,  Katia Ricciarelli,  Agnes Baltsa,  Ruggero Raimondi
    Conductor:  Jacques Delacôte
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  London Arts Orchestra
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  • 24.
    The Essential Guitar: Music Of Beauty And Romance
    The Essential Guitar: Music Of Beauty And Romance
    Label: Abc Classics   Catalog: 4763338 Release Date: 06/23/2009   Number of Discs: 2
    Composer:  Anonymous,  Joaquin Rodrigo,  Enrique Granados,  Agustín Barrios Mangoré  ... 
    Performer:  Slava Grigoryan,  Karin Schnaupp,  Gareth Koch,  Leonard Grigoryan  ... 
    Conductor:  Brett Kelly,  David Porcelijn,  Benjamin Northey
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Saffire (Guitar Quartet),  Guitar Trek
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  • 25.
    Bizet: Carmen Highlights / Horne, Bernstein
    Bizet: Carmen Highlights / Horne, Bernstein
    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
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