Bizet, Georges

French opera composer. Bizet is best known for his opera Carmen.

Georges Bizet's life was short and full of difficulties, a fact that seems at odds with the enduring success of his final work, Carmen. Bizet was born into a musical family, where he received a good early training that led to his entrance into the Paris Conservatory at the age of nine. Bizet did well in his studies, developing his skills as a pianist (he impressed Franz Liszt with his playing) and as a composer. At the age of seventeen he composed his Symphony in C, a meticulous and effervescent work that was never heard until 1935. His studies at the conservatory were capped in 1858 with his receipt of the Prix de Rome, which allowed Bizet three years of financial support to concentrate on composition.

Bizet's years in Rome were not very productive, and resulted in few works -- only four of which survive. One, his opera Don Procopio, was not produced until 1906. Upon his return to Paris he turned down a teaching position at the conservatory, wishing instead to concentrate on his writing. He found moderate success in 1863 with his opera Les pêcheurs de perles, but his next work, La jolie fille de Perth, saw only eighteen performances.

Bizet's final years were marked by more problems: ill health and forced service during the Franco-Prussian war took their toll on the composer. In 1875, he completed a work that should have been his great triumph and the beginning of an illustrious career, his opera Carmen. In this opera, Bizet shows both a sure dramatic hand and mastery of the musical demands of the genre. The story of Carmen, however, proved too much for the Parisian audience (especially in a theater designed to appeal to families). Set in Spain and dealing with the exotic culture of the Gypsies, the story presented Bizet with the opportunity to create a rich musical score full of foreign flavor then in vogue. But the plot's exploration of sexual desire, moral ambiguity and a brutal murder insured a brief and controversial run. Bitterly dejected by this supreme blow, Bizet's health deteriorated quickly, and less than three months later he died of a heart attack. Ironically, only five years later the work returned to the Parisian stage after a series of successes in Vienna, Brussels, London and New York. It has, from that time on, remained one of the best loved of all nineteenth century operas.