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PODCAST. This failure precipitated the death of Georges Bizet at the age of 36. He will no longer be there to taste the triumph of his opera, in Vienna in October.
Par Frédéric Lewino et Gwendoline Dos Santos
Published on
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This morning, Georges Bizet, 36, does not lead far. If he has the pleasure of reading in the Official newspaper whether he is on the list of recipients of the Legion of Honor, he knows that this day will end in total triumph or definitive ruin. This evening, the Opéra-Comique will give the premiere of its opera Carmen. He plays big, very big, because with his two librettists, he has completely flouted the laws of the genre. From the heroine of Prosper Mérimée’s short story, he made a lascivious, unfaithful Gypsy, not caring about God or the established order; a woman running after her only pleasure. Ultimate crime: he kills her in the last scene. How will Parisians receive this totally immoral character? Today, we can laugh at the author’s anguish while Car…