Composer's BIZET
1838 – 1875
Georges Bizet was born October 25, 1838 in Paris , France to parents that were both musicians. His mother was a pianist and his father was a composer and singing teacher who gave George his first music lessons at age four. By age four, Bizet could read both words and music. Known as a child prodigy, Georges’ parents would hide books so that he would concentrate on his musical talents.
At age nine, Georges Bizet entered the prestigious Paris Conservatory of Music. He was considered a master of the piano by age fourteen when he had won first prize for piano and was encouraged to write compositions for piano. He wrote Jeux d'enfants, a suite for piano four hands. (two people playing the same piano at the same time.) This was later orchestrated into a suite for orchestra called the Petite Suite. In 1857 (19 years old) he won the Prix de Rome which give him financial support to concentrate on composition for three years. With this assistance he went to study in Rome, Italy for three years.
Upon his return to Paris he turned down a teaching position at the conservatory, wishing instead to concentrate on his writing. He had some success with his opera Les pêcheurs de perles, (The Pearl Fishers), but his La jolie fille de Perth, (The Fair Maid of 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. The story of Carmen, however, proved too much for the audience (especially in a theater designed to appeal to families). 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 opera Carmen returned to the 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.
Important works include:
• Orchestral music, including incidental music of L'arlésienne
(The Woman of Arles, 1872) and the Symphony in C (1855)
• Operas, including Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers,
1863), La jolie de Perth (The Fair Maid of Perth, 1867), Djamileh (1872)
and Carmen (1875)
• Piano music; vocal music
Listen to some famous pieces by Bizet
Carillion
Habanera from Carmen
Toreador's March from Carmen
Sequidilla from Carmen