Brief biography of Bizet. Georges Bizet

Georges Bizet is a short biography of the French composer presented in this article.

Georges Bizet short biography

Alexandre César Leopold Bizet was born October 25, 1838 to Paris in a musical family. The boy's talent was discovered early: at the age of four he already knew all the notes, and at the age of nine he entered the famous Paris Conservatory. He had phenomenal hearing, memory, brilliant pianistic and compositional abilities, which delighted all his teachers.

Bizet was awarded more than once at conservatory competitions, and after completing courses at the conservatory in 1857, he was awarded the right to spend 3 whole years in Italy for the purpose of improvement. These were years of intense creative search. The composer tried his hand at various musical genres: he created a symphonic suite, a one-act operetta, a cantata, piano romances and plays. But Bizet's true vocation was musical theater.

Upon returning from Italy, he wrote the opera “The Pearl Fishers” (1863) on an exotic plot, telling about the love drama of Leila and Nadir, and after that “The Beauty of Perth” (1867). Both musical works were not successful, and the composer continued his intense search for something new in his work. “I am going through a crisis,” he wrote in those years.

The opera “Djamile” (1872) marked the onset of his creative maturity - psychological expressiveness in its music is perfectly combined with the brightness of oriental flavor. Then the music was created for A. Daudet’s drama “The Arlesian”. Opera " Carmen“, was Bizet’s greatest creative achievement and at the same time his swan song. But its premiere ended in failure. He died of a heart attack just three months later, not knowing that Carmen would prove to be the pinnacle of his success and forever rank among the world's most recognizable and popular classics.

Talented child

On October 25, 1838, the future world famous composer Georges Bizet was born in Paris.

He grew up in a musical family (his father taught vocals, his mother was a professional pianist), so from early childhood Georges was surrounded by music.

His parents were his first teachers. By the age of four, the child already knew musical notation well and played the piano. The parents persistently pursued the boy's musical education, leaving him no time to play with his peers.

His successes were so significant that even before he was ten years old, Bizet entered the capital's conservatory. The young talent wrote his first musical compositions at the age of 13. In the morning, his mother took Georges to the conservatory, and after lessons she took him home.

A short break for lunch - and again music lessons in a separate room, where he was locked and where the boy played the piano until he was completely exhausted.

However, studying was not particularly difficult for Georges. After graduating from the conservatory at the age of 19, he wrote the cantata Clovis and Clotilde, for which he received the Grand Prix de Rome. By the way, no one has ever received such an award at such a young age.

First love and first hardships

In Italy, Georges met a cheerful girl Giuseppa and fell in love with her to the point of intoxication. He thought that by writing a couple of comic operas he would earn enough to provide a comfortable life with his beloved. But then the news came that my mother fell ill.

Georges, leaving home, promised the girl to return when her mother recovered. For her treatment, the young composer tried his best to earn money: he transcribed the scores of operas by other composers for the piano, for which he was regularly paid. But there was still not enough money.

The sick mother, who so dreamed of seeing her Georges rich and famous, tirelessly repeated that he should write a symphony that would glorify him and lead him out of poverty. He wrote, the pile of drafts grew, but there was less and less time left, and his debts grew. Mother was fading away. A whole year of hard work to save his mother did not bring the expected result. The mother died without ever seeing her son famous.

Passion for theater

Musical theater has long attracted Bizet. He wrote a lot for the stage. But criticism was not particularly kind to the young composer. He wrote the comic opera Don Procopio and several orchestral plays, but all this was not appreciated. Finally, in 1863, a certain shift occurred: the premiere of Bizet's opera The Pearl Fishers was noticed by critics, but without much enthusiasm.

The opera was performed on stage only 18 times, and then it was excluded from the repertoire. And again everything returned to normal: persistent and unsuccessful work on sleepless nights, other people’s scores, miserable music lessons.

Lack of money and despair. Opera diva – Mogador

Acquaintance with the opera singer Mogador gave Georges Bizet a violent passion, which did not bring either happiness or even advancement in his career. She was a celebrity in Paris. She was known not only as the opera diva Madame Lionel, but also as the writer Celeste Venard and the socialite Countess de Chabrilan.

She was a lovely 42-year-old widow and the owner of the capital's musical theater. The 28-year-old Bizet was consumed by their mutual passion. But it was this woman who brought a lot of mental torment to Georges: she turned out to be capricious and absurd, constantly causing scandals and terrible scenes. And she no longer needed the young man’s love.

One day, in a fit of anger, Mogador poured a tub of ice water on Georges. The young man went out into the street. It was winter. He caught a cold. He became seriously ill for a long time: he worked in bed and practically lost his voice. His relationship with Mogador ended, but mental suffering, as well as physical, poisoned his life for a long time.

Marriage

In the spring of 1869, in the house of his teacher, Georges met his matured daughter Genevieve. Their romance developed slowly. Failure with the opera "The Beauty of Perth" (1866). Illness, loss of self-confidence, lack of money - all this devastated the composer’s soul. But one day Georges decided to propose to Genevieve.

At first, the young wife surrounded Bizet with love and care, creating comfortable conditions for him to work. Georges worked tirelessly: he composed music and still gave lessons. Soon Genevieve got tired of this life. One day her husband found her at home with her lover.

Opera "Carmen" (1874)

Georges Bizet's swan song was the opera Carmen, where the heroine is so similar to the passionate Mogador. At the premiere in the hall of the Paris Opera, Bizet was frozen with horror: was it really a shameful failure this time too? The public's reaction was lukewarm. Georges realized that no one appreciated his masterpiece again.

Genevieve left the theater after the first act. Crushed by yet another failure, the composer, in a fit of despair, threw himself into the Seine. This time his illness turned out to be fatal: fever, deafness, paralysis of arms and legs, heart attack - and death on June 3. 1875. He was only 37 years old.

He was not destined to see himself and his “Carmen” in the rays of the enchanting success that came 4 months after his death at the Vienna Opera. All the once unrecognized works of Georges Bizet, and first of all his “Carmen,” will forever be among the most brilliant creations of musical classics.

Alexandre Cesar Leopold Bizet (1838-1875) is a French composer, his work dates back to the Romantic period, he wrote pieces for piano, romances, works for orchestras and opera. He gained worldwide fame thanks to his most famous opera, Carmen.

Childhood

On October 25, 1838, a son was born into the family of a Parisian, a singing teacher, who was given the name Alexandre Cesar Leopold Bizet. During his baptism he was named Georges, and under this name he gained further fame.

The family where the boy was born was musical. In addition to the fact that my father taught singing at school, my mother was also involved in music; she played the piano professionally. Georges' maternal uncle was also a singing teacher.

Little Georges loved to play music with his parents. But at the same time, he, a child, so wanted to run around on the street and play with the children. However, his parents decided differently; they did not welcome street entertainment, so at the age of four, Georges was already well versed in notes and played the piano.

Conservatory

The boy was not yet ten years old when he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory. His parents decided to send him there to study, since his musical talent was clearly noticeable. The childhood of Georges Bizet, which practically never began, is over.

In the mornings, Georges’ mother would certainly take her to the conservatory. After school, she waited for him, and then every day the same scenario was repeated: they fed him at home, locked him in a room where he had to practice playing the piano. And the boy played the instrument until he fell asleep with it from fatigue.

Young Georges tried to resist his mother; he liked literature so much that he wanted to study it constantly and read a lot of books. But as soon as his mother caught him with another book in his hands, she monotonously repeated: “It’s not for nothing that you grew up in a musical family; you will become a musician, not a writer. And outstanding!”

Georges did not experience any difficulties in his studies; he grasped everything literally on the fly. During his studies, he proved himself to be a brilliant student in the piano class with teacher A. F. Marmontel, in the composition class with teachers C. Gounod, P. Zimmerman, J. F. F. Halévy.

Bizet studied at the Conservatory for nine years and successfully graduated in 1857. During his years of study, the young man began to try himself as a composer, he created many musical works, among them there is one symphony, which Georges wrote at the age of seventeen, which is still successfully performed by musicians all over the world.

In his last year of study, Georges participated in a competition in which he had to write a one-act operetta; he composed a cantata for a legendary ancient plot and received a prize. Bizet also received several awards during his studies for playing the piano and organ.

In his final year of graduation, Georges wrote the operetta Doctor Miracle. And upon graduation from the Paris Conservatory, he received his most valuable award, the Prix de Rome, for the cantata Clovis and Clotilde. She gave Bizet great opportunities - to live in Italy for four years and receive a state scholarship.

Italy

In 1857, after graduating from the conservatory, Bizet went to Italy, where he lived until 1860. He studied local life, traveled, admired the beauty of nature and fine arts, and also devoted a lot of time to his education.

For a long time, Georges could not decide on his future path in life; he could not find his own theme in music. Over time, Bizet decided to connect his future work with the theater. He was very interested in opera premieres and musical Parisian theaters. To some extent it was mercantile, because at that time it was easiest to achieve success in the theatrical musical world.

Georges later considered the years spent in Italy to be the most carefree in his life. He composed little by little, during which time he wrote several pieces for orchestras (they later became part of the symphonic suite “Memories of Rome”) and the symphony-cantata “Vasco da Gama.”

But the time for receiving an Italian state scholarship had come to an end; Georges had to return to Paris.

Return to Paris

Upon arrival in his hometown, not the best times began for Bizet; achieving recognition in Paris was not easy. He met with Antoine Choudan, who owned the most famous Parisian publishing house. Antoine looked at Georges in surprise: was this really the same young genius who received the prestigious Rome Prize? It was risky to get involved with a novice composer, but Shudan saw that the young man really needed money and was ready to take on any work. Antoine invited Bizet to transcribe operas by famous composers for piano.

For days on end, Georges had to work with other people's musical works, he also gave private lessons and wrote light music to order. He was paid money regularly, but there was always not enough of it. Soon his mother died, and the composer, on top of all his other problems, had nervous overstrain, and began to experience a sharp loss of strength.

He could make an excellent living as a pianist, as his friends advised him, but Georges was not looking for an easy path in life; after all, he was completely immersed in composing music.

Creative path

He was still attracted to musical theater, but everything that Bizet wrote did not find approval. Nobody appreciated the comic opera Don Procopio. But Georges continued to live in poverty, work and wait.

In 1863, he composed the opera “The Pearl Fishers”, its premiere took place, the work was staged eighteen times, but then removed from the repertoire. Sleepless nights working on other people's scores, music lessons that had become unloved, and poverty returned again. Working for little money, which was only enough to keep from starving, took up all of Bizet’s time; there was no time to engage in creativity. The only thing that saved Georges was walking around evening Paris and visiting the theater; in this he found an outlet for a seemingly hopeless situation.

The next opera, The Beauty of Perth, was staged in 1867, but was also not successful. In 1868, Bizet began to experience a creative crisis, and health problems arose. Georges was saved from prolonged depression by his marriage in 1869, but a year later he enlisted in the National Guard to participate in the Franco-Prussian War, which left its mark on family life, health, and the composer’s work.

Since 1870, Bizet returned to writing, and his musical works were published one after another:

• suite for piano “Children's Games”;
• romantic one-act opera “Jamile”;
• music for the play "Arlesienne".

However, all these works were not successful at that time, despite the fact that in the future they became part of the golden fund of world symphonic works.

In 1874-1875, Georges worked on an opera for P. Merimee’s short story “Carmen”. Its premiere took place on March 3, 1875. Surprisingly, the opera, recognized as the pinnacle of French realism, which went around all the world's opera stages, becoming the most popular and beloved work in the history of music, suffered a fiasco on the day of its premiere.

The failure of his beloved brainchild led to the composer's tragic end. Georges Bizet died, and four months later the enchanting success of Carmen took place at the Vienna Opera. He never found out that a year later this work was staged on all the largest stages in Europe, recognized as the pinnacle of his work, that Carmen became the most popular opera in history and in the world.

Personal life

Georges' first love was a girl named Giuseppa, whom he met in Italy. The young man was short-sighted and slightly overweight, and his curls were so tightly intertwined on his head that it was impossible to comb them, so the composer himself considered himself not very attractive to representatives of the opposite sex. While talking to women, he blushed, spoke quickly, got confused, his palms sweated, and he was very embarrassed about all this.

Georges was intoxicated by the fact that Giuseppa paid attention to him. But the father sent a letter informing him about his mother’s illness. Bizet had to return to Paris, he invited his young bride with him, but Giuseppa could not just give up everything and go to another country. Georges promised the girl that he would write a couple of comic operas, earn a lot of money, return to her and they would live like kings. This did not happen, the composer himself barely survived, he was left only with memories of his first youthful love.

Georges was already 28 years old when an experienced woman appeared in his life and taught him true love. He met her on the train, it was Mogador (opera diva Lionel, Countess de Chabrilan, writer Celeste Vinard). It was by the age of 42 that the woman became a writer, and her youth was spent in brothels. After a stormy youth, she danced on stage for a long time, and then began to write her novels about life. At the same time, her books did not stay in Parisian stores, Mogador was not mentioned out loud in society, but everyone in Paris knew about this woman.

All of Georges' sorrow was drowned in the passion of this woman. He was happy with her, but not for long. It was hard to withstand her mood swings; when Mogador was angry, all her worst and negative qualities woke up. But Bizet had too vulnerable a soul and delicate taste to endure all this. In addition, Mogador was getting old, she had problems with finances, and Georges could not help with money, so this woman no longer needed his love. But he could not part with her. Once, during a scandal, Mogador poured a tub of ice water on Georges and drove him out into the street.

The consequence of this was purulent tonsillitis, which doctors discovered in him. Considering that Georges suffered from sore throats and colds since childhood, his health deteriorated even more. The composer fell ill and could not speak, but such physical suffering was insignificant compared to mental suffering. The break with Mogador, a miserable existence, a failure in creativity - Bizet approached a state of deepest depression.

Georges Bizet gained worldwide fame as the author of one, albeit very popular, work. In the history of music, such cases are rare. This work was the opera "Carmen".

Bizet was born in Paris on October 25, 1838. He was named after the sonorous names of three commanders: Alexander - Caesar - Leopold, but in the family they called him Georges. With this new name, Bizet went down in history. His parents were musical: his father was a singing teacher, his mother played the piano and became his first music teacher; They played a lot of music in the house.

The boy's outstanding abilities were revealed early: at the age of four he already knew music, at ten he entered the Paris Conservatory, where he stayed for nine years. Despite the fact that, as Bizet later said, he “devoted himself to music only reluctantly” - he was more attracted to literature - his studies at the conservatory were successful. The young musician repeatedly received prizes at internal conservatory competitions - in piano and organ playing, polyphony and composition, which ended in 1857 with the receipt of the Grand Prize of Rome, which granted the right to a long trip abroad.

Phenomenally gifted with an ear for music, memory, and creative intuition, Bizet easily mastered the knowledge that the conservatory provided. True, the composition theory course suffered from dogmatism. Bizet studied most outside the conservatory with Gounod, with whom, despite the significant difference in age, he established warm, friendly relations. But we must also pay tribute to his immediate teacher Fromental Halévy, a subtle and serious musician, with whom Bizet later became related by marrying his daughter.

During his years at the conservatory, Bizet created many works. The best among them is a symphony written by a seventeen-year-old author in a very short time - in seventeen days. This symphony, first published in 1935, is now successfully performed. Her music attracts with its classical precision of form, clarity and liveliness of expression, and light coloring, which would later become an integral quality of Bizet’s individual style. In the year he graduated from the conservatory, having composed a cantata on an ancient legendary plot, he took part in a competition announced by Offenbach to write a one-act operetta. Together with the work of Lecoq, who later became famous in this genre, the prize was awarded to Bizet's operetta Doctor Miracle.

However, if by this time Bizet the composer was spoken of only as a promising talent, then as a pianist he achieved universal recognition. Later, in 1863, Berlioz wrote: “Bizet reads scores incomparably... His pianistic talent is so great that in the piano transcription of orchestral scores, which he does at first sight, no difficulties can stop him. After Liszt and Mendelssohn, there are not many performers of his strength.”

Bizet spent 1857-1860 as a laureate of the Conservatory in Italy. These were years of greedily absorbing various life experiences, among which, however, musical ones were in last place. “Bad taste poisons Italy,” Bizet complained. “This is a lost country for art.” But he read a lot, traveled, got acquainted with the life of peasants and shepherds. His creative imagination, as it will be later, lights up with many plans. “My head is full of Shakespeare... But where can I find a librettist!” - Bizet complains. He is also interested in the stories of Moliere, Hugo, Hoffmann, and Homer. One feels that he has not yet found a topic that is close to him and is creatively scattered. But one thing is clear - his interests lie in the field of theater music.

This was partly due to practical considerations - it is easier to achieve success here. Bizet half-jokingly wrote to his mother: “When I get 100 thousand francs (that is, I provide for myself until death), dad and I will stop giving lessons. We'll start life as a rentier, which isn't a bad thing at all. 100 thousand francs is nothing: two small successes in comic opera. A success like “The Prophet” (Meyerbeer’s opera) brings in almost a million. So, this is not a castle in the air!..”

But it was not only mercantile considerations, due to the family’s more than modest material resources, that prompted him to do this. The musical theater attracted Bizet, his letters are full of questions about Parisian opera premieres. As a result, he decided to write a comic opera called Don Procopio. The score sent to Paris did not receive approval from the venerable professors, although the author’s “casual and brilliant manner, fresh and bold style” was still noted. The subject matter of this essay caused severe condemnation. “We must point out that M. Bizet,” we read in the conservatory’s review, “is that he presented a comic opera when the rule required a mass.”

But clerical subjects are alien to Bizet. And after a short creative pause, he began to write the symphony-cantata “Vasco da Gama” based on the plot of “The Lusiad” - the famous epic poem by the classic of Portuguese literature Luis Camões. He turned to the vocal-symphonic genre, widespread in France since the time of Berlioz, and to oriental themes, the popularity of which was strengthened by the success of Félicien David's ode-symphony “The Desert” (1844). Next, Bizet created a number of orchestral pieces, some of which would later be included in the symphonic suite “Memories of Rome.” Now the peculiar features of the composer’s style with his desire to embody colorful, colorful folk scenes and pictures of life, full of dynamics and movement, are more clearly evident.

After a three-year stay in Italy, Bizet returned to Paris, confident in his abilities. But bitter disappointment awaited him: the path to public recognition in the Second Empire was difficult and thorny. The difficult years of struggle for existence begin.

Bizet contains seven private lessons, composing music in a light genre, transcriptions and proofreading of other people's works. In his letters we find exciting lines: “I haven’t slept for three nights, my soul is gloomy, and tomorrow I need to write fun dance music.” Or in another letter: “I work like a black man, I’m exhausted, I’m literally torn to pieces, I’m stunned, finishing a four-hand adaptation of Hamlet (A. Thom’s opera). What is the work! I just finished romances for a new publisher. I'm afraid it turned out mediocre, but I need money. Money, always money - to hell!..”

Bizet’s entire subsequent life passed in such an overstrain of creative forces. This was the reason for such an early death of the brilliant composer.

Bizet did not choose the easier path in art. He abandoned his career as a pianist, which undoubtedly promised him faster and more effective success. But Bizet wanted to devote himself completely to composing and therefore discarded everything that could interfere with it. He was attracted by many and varied operatic ideas; some were completed, but the demanding author took the already completed scores from the theater. This happened, for example, with the opera “Ivan the Terrible,” discovered only in the 30s of our century. However, two operas were staged.

In 1863, the premiere of the opera “The Pearl Fishers” took place.

Its plot is traditional. This was an oriental theme that was fashionable in France at that time. Bizet's opera is among the works that open this list. Its action takes place on the island of Ceylon, among pearl divers. Despite the formulaic dramatic situations and conventional stage action, Bizet’s music convinces with its melodic richness, naturalness and beauty of vocal parts, and fullness of life. This was not lost on Berlioz, who noted in his review that the opera’s score “contains many wonderful expressive moments, full of fire and rich color.” Crowd scenes and lyrical or dramatic episodes of the opera are also distinguished by their brightness.

However, what was fresh and new in Bizet’s work went unnoticed. The opera was not a great success, although it ran for eighteen performances. With the exception of Berlioz, criticism reacted coldly to her.

The premiere of the next opera, “The Beauty of Perth,” took place in 1867. The plot of Walter Scott's novel of the same name appeared in the libretto in a distorted, primitive form; there is especially a lot of cliche and cliché in the final act. “This is a spectacular play,” wrote Bizet while working on the opera, “but the characters are poorly outlined.” The composer failed to complete them with his music. At the same time, in comparison with its predecessor, this opera contains many concessions to the prevailing tastes of the bourgeois public, which caused a sharp rebuke from some progressive critics. Bizet was forced to agree with them with bitterness.

Failure temporarily disarmed Bizet. "I'm going through a crisis," he says. In the autumn of the same 1872, the premiere of another work by Bizet took place. This is music for Alphonse Daudet’s play “The Arlesian”, magnificent in color and expressiveness. The composer filled the performance with a large number of musical numbers, sometimes representing artistically complete plays.

Music with such outstanding artistic merit survived Daudet's play, establishing itself on the concert stage. Two suites from Le d'Arlesienne - the first composed by the author himself (1872), the second by his friend Ernest Guiraud (1885) - were included in the golden fund of world symphonic literature.

Bizet was aware of the large role the music for Le Arlesienne played in his creative evolution. He wrote:

“Whatever happens, I am satisfied that I have entered on this path, which I must not leave and from which I will never leave. I'm sure I've found my way." This road led him to Carmen.

Bizet became interested in the plot of “Carmen” while working on the opera “Djamile”, and in 1873-1874 he began to work on finishing the libretto and writing music. The plot of the opera is borrowed from Prosper Merimee’s short story “Carmen”, or more precisely, from its third chapter, which contains Jose’s story about the drama of his life. Experienced masters of theatrical dramaturgy, Meliac and Halevi, created an excellent, scenically effective libretto, the dramatic situations and text of which clearly outline the characters of the characters in the play. On March 3, 1875, the premiere took place at the Opera Comic Theater. Three months later, on June 3, Bizet suddenly died, without having time to complete a number of his other works.

His premature death was probably hastened by the social scandal that erupted around Carmen. The jaded bourgeoisie - ordinary visitors to boxes and stalls - found the plot of the opera obscene, and the music too serious and complex. Press reviews were almost unanimously negative. At the beginning of the next year, 1876, “Carmen” disappeared for a long time from the repertoire of Parisian theaters, and at the same time its triumphant success began on the theatrical stage of foreign countries.

Tchaikovsky immediately noted its outstanding artistic value. Already in 1875 he had the score of “Carmen”, and at the beginning of 1876 he saw it on the stage of the Parisian “Opera-Comique”. In 1877, Tchaikovsky wrote: “...I learned it by heart, all from beginning to end.” And in 1880 he stated: “In my opinion, this is in the full sense of the word a masterpiece, that is, one of those few things that are destined to reflect to the greatest extent the musical aspirations of an entire era.” And then he prophetically predicted: “I am convinced that in ten years Carmen will be the most popular opera in the world...”

Bizet's music endowed Carmen with folk character traits. The introduction of folk scenes, which occupy an important place in the opera, gave a different light and a different flavor to Merimee’s novella. The image of the heroine is also permeated with the power of love of life radiated from folk scenes. The glorification of open, simple and strong feelings, a direct, impulsive attitude towards life is the main feature of Bizet’s opera, its high ethical value. “Carmen,” wrote Romain Rolland, “is all outside, all life, all light without shadows, without understatement.”

Bizet's music further emphasized the contrast and dynamics of dramatic development: it is characterized by liveliness, brilliance, and variety of movements. These qualities, typical of the composer, perfectly corresponded to the depiction of the action of the Spanish plot. Only in rare cases, using folk melodies, did Bizet aptly convey the Spanish national flavor. The historical significance of Bizet’s opera lies not only in its enduring artistic value, but also in the fact that for the first time on the stage of the opera stage, the drama of ordinary people was depicted with such skill, affirming the ethical rights and dignity of man, glorifying the people as the source of life, light, joy .

In Paris, the production of Carmen was nevertheless resumed in 1883. Since then, “Carmen” has occupied one of the first places in the repertoire of world musical theater.

1. young green

The remarkable musical talent of Georges Bizet manifested itself so clearly in childhood that he was accepted into the Paris Conservatory at the age of nine. And at the age of nineteen, young Bizet had already completed his studies and became a professional composer.
One unsuccessful composer spoke of Bizet as a precocious talent.
“Whoever blooms early will bloom early,” he said with a grin.
“Apparently, he himself is not going to blossom until he turns seventy,” the young composer laughed when these words were conveyed to him.

2. happy idea

When there were only two weeks left before the premiere of Bizet’s opera “The Pearl Fishers,” widely announced throughout Paris, neither the authors of the libretto nor the composer himself could decide how to end the opera... The situation was unexpectedly saved by the director of the theater, who exclaimed in despair:
- Yes, let it all burn with fire!
This phrase, uttered in irritation by the director, gave the librettists the idea for the finale - fire! Bizet also liked it, and in three days he wrote beautiful music.

3. author intervention

One day Bizet was present at a regular performance of Carmen. In the scene where Jose is supposed to kill the heroine with a stiletto blow, the actor playing Jose suddenly discovered that he did not have the murder weapon with him - he forgot it in the dressing room... There was a long awkward pause, the audience did not understand what Jose was waiting for? Finally, the voice of Bizet was heard from the hall, guessing what was going on:
- Yes, you strangle her to hell, and that’s the end of it!
Jose did just that to thunderous applause and laughter in the audience.

4. Bizet and glory

Bizet did not value his fame too much, understanding its ephemerality.
“Fame comes and goes, but the unknown remains...” he joked.

5. note for memory

Having lived a short but very eventful life in the theater, Bizet saw a lot, and, having suffered from his colleagues, he often said:
- In music, everything is like in life: good musicians do not remember evil. Bad - good.

...I need the theater: without it I am nothing.
J. Bizet

The French composer J. Bizet dedicated his short life to musical theater. The pinnacle of his work - "Carmen" - still remains one of the most beloved operas for many, many people.

Bizet grew up in a cultured, educated family; his father was a singing teacher, his mother played the piano. At the age of 4, Georges began studying music under the guidance of his mother. At the age of 10 he entered the Paris Conservatory. His teachers were the most prominent musicians in France: pianist A. Marmontel, theorist P. Zimmerman, opera composers F. Halévy and C. Gounod. Even then, Bizet’s versatile talent was revealed: he was a brilliant virtuoso pianist (F. Liszt himself admired his playing), repeatedly received prizes in theoretical disciplines, and was fond of playing the organ (later, having already gained fame, he studied with S. Frank).

During the conservatory years (1848-58), works full of youthful freshness and ease appeared, including the Symphony in C major and the comic opera The Doctor's House. Graduation from the conservatory was marked by receiving the Rome Prize for the cantata “Clovis and Clotilde”, which gave the right to a four-year stay in Italy and a state scholarship. At the same time, for a competition announced by J. Offenbach, Bizet wrote the operetta “Doctor Miracle,” which was also awarded a prize.

In Italy, Bizet, enchanted by the fertile southern nature, monuments of architecture and painting, worked a lot and fruitfully (1858-60). He studies art, reads many books, and comprehends beauty in all its manifestations. The ideal for Bizet is the beautiful, harmonious world of Mozart and Raphael. Truly French grace, generous melodic gift, and subtle taste have forever become integral features of the composer's style. Bizet is increasingly attracted to operatic music, which can “merge” with the phenomenon or hero depicted on stage. Instead of the cantata, which the composer was supposed to present in Paris, he writes the comic opera Don Procopio, in the tradition of G. Rossini. An ode-symphony “Vasco da Gama” is also being created.

The return to Paris was associated with the beginning of serious creative quests and at the same time hard, routine work for the sake of a piece of bread. Bizet has to make transcriptions of other people's opera scores, write entertaining music for cafe concerts and at the same time create new works, working 16 hours a day. “I'm working like a black man, I'm exhausted, I'm literally torn apart... I just finished romances for a new publisher. I'm afraid it turned out mediocre, but I need money. Money, always money - to hell! Following Gounod, Bizet turns to the genre of lyric opera. His “Pearl Seekers” (1863), where the natural expression of feelings is combined with oriental exoticism, evoked the praise of G. Berlioz. “The Beauty of Perth” (1867, based on the story by W. Scott) depicts the life of ordinary people. The success of these operas was not so great as to strengthen the position of the author. Self-criticism and a sober awareness of the shortcomings of “The Beauty of Perth” became the key to Bizet’s future achievements: “This is a spectacular play, but the characters are poorly outlined... The school of hackneyed roulades and lies is dead - dead forever! Let’s bury her without regret, without worry - and move on!” A number of plans of those years remained unfulfilled; The completed but generally unsuccessful opera “Ivan the Terrible” was not staged. In addition to operas, Bizet writes orchestral and chamber music: he completes the Rome Symphony, begun in Italy, writes pieces for piano for 4 hands “Children's Games” (some of them in the orchestral version formed the “Little Suite”), romances.

In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, when France was in a critical situation, Bizet joined the ranks of the National Guard. A few years later, his patriotic feelings found expression in the dramatic overture “Motherland” (1874). 70s - the flourishing of the composer's creativity. In 1872, the premiere of the opera “Djamile” (based on the poem by A. Musset) took place, which subtly transformed; intonations of Arabic folk music. It was a surprise for visitors to the Opera-Comique theater to see a work telling about selfless love, full of pure lyricism. True music connoisseurs and serious critics saw in “Jamila” the beginning of a new stage, the opening of new paths.

In the works of these years, the purity and grace of style (always inherent in Bizet) by no means interfere with the truthful, uncompromising expression of the drama of life, its conflicts and tragic contradictions. Now the composer’s idols are V. Shakespeare, Michelangelo, L. Beethoven. In his article “Conversations on Music,” Bizet welcomes “a passionate, violent, sometimes even unbridled temperament like Verdi, which gives art a living, powerful work, created from gold, dirt, bile and blood. I change my skin both as an artist and as a person,” Bizet says about himself.

One of the peaks of Bizet’s creativity is the music for A. Daudet’s drama “La Arlesienne” (1872). The production of the play was unsuccessful, and the composer compiled an orchestral suite from the best numbers (the second suite after Bizet’s death was compiled by his friend, composer E. Guiraud). As in previous works, Bizet gives the music a special, specific flavor of the scene. Here it is Provence, and the composer uses folk Provençal melodies and imbues the entire work with the spirit of Old French lyricism. The orchestra sounds colorful, light and transparent, Bizet achieves an amazing variety of effects: the ringing of bells, the sparkle of colors in the picture of a folk festival (“Farandola”), the refined chamber sound of a flute and harp (in the minuet from the Second Suite) and the sad “singing” of the saxophone (Bizet was the first to introduce this instrument into the symphony orchestra).

Bizet's last works were the unfinished opera Don Rodrigo (based on Corneille's drama The Cid) and Carmen, which placed its author among the world's greatest artists. The premiere of Carmen (1875) was also Bizet’s biggest failure in life: the opera failed with scandal and caused harsh criticism from the press. Three months later, on June 3, 1875, the composer died in the Paris suburb of Bougival.

Despite the fact that “Carmen” was staged at the Opera Comic Theater, it corresponds to this genre only in some formal characteristics. In essence, this is a musical drama that exposes the real contradictions of life. Bizet used the plot of P. Merimee's short story, but elevated its images to the meaning of poetic symbols. And at the same time, they are all “living” people with bright, unique characters. The composer brings into play folk scenes with their spontaneous manifestation of vitality, overflowing with energy. The gypsy beauty Carmen, the bullfighter Escamillo, and the smugglers are perceived as part of this free element. Creating a “portrait” of the main character, Bizet uses the melodies and rhythms of habanera, seguidilla, polo, etc.; at the same time, he managed to penetrate deeply into the spirit of Spanish music. Jose and his fiancée Micaela belong to a completely different world - cozy, far from the storms. Their duet is designed in pastel colors and soft romantic intonations. But Jose is literally “infected” by Carmen’s passion, her strength and uncompromisingness. An “ordinary” love drama rises to the tragedy of a clash of human characters, the strength of which surpasses the fear of death and defeats it. Bizet sings of beauty, the greatness of love, the intoxicating feeling of freedom; without preconceived moralizing, he truthfully reveals the light, the joy of life and its tragedy. This again reveals a deep spiritual kinship with the author of Don Juan, the great Mozart.

A year after the unsuccessful premiere, Carmen was staged triumphantly on the largest stages in Europe. For the production at the Grand Opera in Paris, E. Guiraud replaced spoken dialogues with recitatives and introduced a number of dances (from other works by Bizet) into the last act. In this edition the opera is known to today's listeners. In 1878, P. Tchaikovsky wrote that “Carmen is in the full sense a masterpiece, that is, one of those few things that are destined to reflect to the greatest extent the musical aspirations of an entire era... I am convinced that years from now ten "Carmen" will be the most popular opera in the world..."

K. Zenkin

The best progressive traditions of French culture found expression in Bizet's work. This is the highest point of realistic aspirations in French music of the 19th century. Bizet’s works vividly captured those features that Romain Rolland defined as typical national characteristics of one of the sides of the French genius: “...heroic efficiency, intoxication with reason, laughter, passion for light.” This, according to the writer, is “the France of Rabelais, Moliere and Diderot, and in music... the France of Berlioz and Bizet.”

Bizet's short life was filled with vigorous, intense creative work. It took him a while to find himself. But extraordinary personality The artist’s spirit was manifested in everything he did, although at first his ideological and artistic quests still lacked purposefulness. Over the years, Bizet's interest in the life of the people became increasingly stronger. A bold appeal to the subjects of everyday life helped him create images that were clearly snatched from the surrounding reality, to enrich contemporary art with new themes and unusually truthful, strong means of depicting healthy, full-blooded feelings in all their diversity

The social upsurge at the turn of the 60s and 70s caused an ideological turning point in Bizet’s work and directed him to the heights of his mastery. “Content, content first!” - he exclaimed in one of his letters during these years. He is attracted to art by the scope of thought, the breadth of concept, and the truthfulness of life. In his only article, published in 1867, Bizet wrote: “I hate pedantry and false erudition... People create tricks instead of creating. There are fewer and fewer composers, but parties and sects are multiplying indefinitely. Art is becoming impoverished to the point of complete poverty, but technology is enriched by verbosity... Let us be spontaneous, truthful: we will not demand from a great artist those feelings that he lacks, and we will use those that he possesses. When a passionate, violent, even rude temperament, like Verdi, gives art a living and strong work, molded from gold, dirt, bile and blood, we do not think of telling him coldly: “But, sir, this is not elegant.” - Exquisite?.. What about Michelangelo, Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Rabelais exquisite?..».

This breadth of views, but at the same time integrity, allowed Bizet to love and respect a lot in the art of music. Along with Verdi, among the composers Bizet valued, Mozart, Rossini, and Schumann should be named. He didn’t know everything from Wagner’s operas (works from the post-Lohengrin period were not yet known in France), but he admired his genius. “The charm of his music is incredible, incomprehensible. This is voluptuousness, pleasure, tenderness, love!.. This is not the music of the future, for such words mean nothing, but this is... the music of all times, since it is beautiful” (from a letter of 1871). Bizet treated Berlioz with a feeling of deep respect, but he loved Gounod more and spoke with cordial goodwill about the successes of his contemporaries - Saint-Saens, Massenet and others.

But above all he placed Beethoven, whom he idolized, calling him Titan, Prometheus; “...in his music,” he said, “the will is always strong.” It was the will to life, to action that Bizet praised in his works, demanding that feelings be expressed by “strong means.” An enemy of vagueness and pretentiousness in art, he wrote: “beauty is the unity of content and form.” “Without form there is no style,” said Bizet. He demanded from his students that everything be “done firmly.” “Try to make your style more melodic, the modulations more defined and distinct.” “Be musical,” he added, “write, first of all, beautiful music.” Such beauty and clarity, impulse, energy, strength and clarity of expression are inherent in the works of Bizet.

His main creative achievements are associated with the theater, for which he wrote five works (in addition, a number of works were not completed or, for one reason or another, were not staged). The attraction to theatrical and stage expressiveness, generally characteristic of French music, is very characteristic of Bizet. He once told Saint-Saëns: “I was not born for the symphony, I need the theater: without it I am nothing.” Bizet was right: it was not his instrumental works that brought him world fame, although their artistic merits are undoubted, but his latest works were the music for the drama “La Arlesienne” and the opera “Carmen”. In these works, Bizet's genius was fully revealed, his wise, clear and truthful skill in showing the great drama of people from the people, colorful pictures of life, its light and shadow sides. But the main thing is that with his music he perpetuated the unyielding will to happiness and an effective attitude towards life.