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: Preiser Records
Catalog: 89589
Release Date: 04/27/2004
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Gioachino Rossini,
Vincenzo Bellini,
Georges Bizet,
Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Jennie Tourel
Conductor:
Pietro Cimara,
Fausto Cleva,
Jean Paul Morel,
Maurice Abravanel
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 57502
Release Date: 04/06/2004
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Georges Bizet
Performer:
Angela Gheorghiu,
Inva Mula-Tchako,
David Alagna,
Roberto Alagna
...
Conductor:
Michel Plasson
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Toulouse Capitole Orchestra,
Les Elements Chamber Choir
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 62684
Release Date: 11/04/2003
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Carl Maria von Weber,
Gioachino Rossini,
Arrigo Boito,
Georges Bizet
...
Performer:
Maria Callas,
Sir Malcolm Sargent
Conductor:
Georges Prêtre
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra,
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Label: Bis
Catalog: 5020
Release Date: 10/01/2003
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Bo Nilsson,
Nils Lindberg,
Edward "Duke" Ellington,
Franz Schubert
...
Performer:
Magnus Lindgren,
Malena Ernman,
Mats Bergström,
Hans Backenroth
Label: Decca
Catalog: 475017
Release Date: 08/12/2003
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Strauss Jr.,
George Forrest,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Richard Strauss
...
Performer:
Waldemar Kmentt,
Regina Resnik,
Robert Merrill,
Peter Gougaloff
...
Conductor:
Herbert von Karajan,
Annuncio Paolo Mantovani,
Mstislav Rostropovich,
Sir Georg Solti
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra,
Vienna State Opera Chorus,
Mike Sammes Singers
...
Recommendation
Label: Opera D'oro
Catalog: 8016
Release Date: 07/01/2003
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Georges Bizet,
Jacques Halévy,
Gustave Charpentier,
Edouard Lalo
...
Performer:
Rosa Ponselle,
Emmy Destinn,
Lawrence Tibbett,
Enrico Caruso
...
Conductor:
Erno Rapée,
Carlo Sabajno,
Rosario Bourdon,
Alberto Erede
...
Label: Preiser Records
Catalog: 89563
Release Date: 02/25/2003
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Engelbert Humperdinck,
Wilhelm Kienzl,
Giacomo Puccini,
Otto Nicolai
...
Performer:
Marie-Luise Schilp,
Erna Berger,
Irma Beilke,
Helge Rosvaenge
Conductor:
Arthur Rother,
Arthur Grüber,
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt,
Winfried Zillig
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra,
Berlin State Opera Orchestra
...
Label: Apex
Catalog: 48727
Release Date: 02/18/2003
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Georges Bizet
Performer:
Jennifer Larmore,
Thomas Moser,
Angela Gheorghiu,
Samuel Ramey
Conductor:
Giuseppe Sinopoli
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bavarian State Orchestra,
Bavarian State Opera Chorus
Label: Opera D'oro
Catalog: 1002
Release Date: 02/04/2003
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi,
Vincenzo Bellini,
François Boieldieu,
Giacomo Meyerbeer
...
Performer:
Giuliano Cianella,
Piero Cappuccilli,
Maria Callas,
Nicolai Gedda
...
Conductor:
Carlos Kleiber,
Tullio Serafin,
Jean Fournet,
Henry Lewis
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Milan Teatro alla Scala Orchestra,
Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra Rome,
Hilversum Radio Chorus
...
Label: Preiser Records
Catalog: 89561
Release Date: 01/28/2003
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Joseph Canteloube,
Camille Saint-Saëns,
Jules Massenet,
Jacques Offenbach
...
Performer:
Gladys Swarthout,
Ramon Vinay,
Lucielle Browning,
Thelma Votipka
Conductor:
Jean Paul Morel,
François Morel,
Erich Leinsdorf,
Alexander Smallens
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Label: Decca
Catalog: 44120
Release Date: 10/29/2002
Number of Discs: 5
Composer:
Giacomo Puccini,
Georges Bizet,
Umberto Giordano,
Charles Gounod
...
Performer:
Giuseppe Di Stefano,
Marilyn Horne,
Renata Tebaldi,
Carlo Bergonzi
...
Conductor:
Franco Patanè,
Henry Lewis,
Tullio Serafin,
Nello Santi
...
Composer:
Georges Bizet,
Giuseppe Verdi,
Giacomo Puccini
Performer:
Maria Callas,
Dennis Wicks,
Renato Cioni,
Tito Gobbi
...
Conductor:
Georges Prêtre,
Carlo Felice Cillario
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Label: Preiser Records
Catalog: 89556
Release Date: 07/30/2002
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Richard Strauss,
Georges Bizet,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Ambroise Thomas
...
Performer:
Erna Berger,
Risë Stevens,
Raoul Jobin
Conductor:
Fritz Reiner,
Georges Sebastian,
Erich Leinsdorf,
Frieder Weissmann
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
Orchestra
Label: Preiser Records
Catalog: 89526
Release Date: 04/24/2001
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Georges Bizet,
Giuseppe Verdi,
Johannes Brahms,
Franz Schubert
...
Performer:
Genia Guszalewicz,
Else Knepel,
Maria Olszewska,
Emil Schipper
...
Conductor:
Leo Blech,
Fritz Zweig,
Sir John Barbirolli
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin State Opera Orchestra,
Orchestra
Label: Lifestyles
Catalog: 215002
Release Date: 01/16/2001
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Gioachino Rossini,
Ruggero Leoncavallo,
Giuseppe Verdi,
Georges Bizet
...
Performer:
Luigi Alva,
Sesto Bruscantini,
Fiorenza Cossotto,
Richard Tucker
...
Label: Preiser Records
Catalog: 90428
Release Date: 12/19/2000
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Traditional,
Taras Shevchenko,
M. Voloshyn,
Mykola Lysenko
...
Performer:
Ira Malaniuk,
N. Kupdehraben
Conductor:
Andriy Hnatyszyn,
Hans Swarowsky
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Orchestra,
Saint Barbara Church Choir of Vienna,
Vienna Volksoper Orchestra
Label: Emi Seraphim
Catalog: 74127
Release Date: 10/24/2000
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Georges Bizet
Performer:
Jon Vickers,
Grace Bumbry,
Kostas Paskalis,
Bernard Gontcharenko
...
Conductor:
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Paris Opera Chorus,
National Theater Opera Orchestra of Paris
Label: Preiser Records
Catalog: 89406
Release Date: 10/24/2000
Number of Discs: 4
Composer:
Engelbert Humperdinck,
Carl Maria von Weber,
Ruggero Leoncavallo,
Richard Wagner
...
Performer:
Claire Dux,
Robert Hager,
Tiana Lemnitz,
Ludwig Hofmann
...