The Arlésienne Suite No. 1 is made up of parts from the incidental music, which Bizet wrote for the Provençal drama of Alphonse Daudet, The Woman of Arles (L’Arlésienne). The play, with Bizet’s music consisting of twenty-seven pieces, was given at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris in 1872. Out of this score the composer selected four excerpts and assembled them into an orchestral suite, which has become his most celebrated instrumental composition, and his first success as a composer. A knowledge of the plot and characters of the Daudet play is by no means essential to a full appreciation of Bizet’s tuneful suite.
The first movement, “Prelude,” begins with a march melody based on an old French Christmas song. This is subjected to a series of variations. After the march tune has been repeated vigorously by the full orchestra there appears a pastoral interlude, scored originally for saxophones, but now usually heard in clarinets. This, in turn, is succeeded by a passionate song for strings, with brass and woodwind accompaniment. The second movement is a “Minuet,” whose principal theme is a brisk and strongly accented subject. In the trio section, the clarinet appears with a flowing lyrical episode. As the violins take this material over they become rapturous; the harp and woodwind provide intriguing accompanying figures. A brief “Adagietto” comes as the third movement. This is a sensitive romance for muted strings. In the finale, “Carillon,” we get a picture of a peasant celebration of the Feast of St. Eloi. The horns simulate a three-note chime of bells which accompanies a lively dance tune, first in strings, then in other sections of the orchestra. A soft interlude is interposed by the woodwind. Then the lively dance reappears, once again to be accompanied by vigorous tolling bells simulated by the horns.
There exists a second suite made up of four more numbers from the incidental music to L’Arlésienne. This was prepared after Bizet’s death by his friend, Ernest Guiraud. This second suite is rarely played, but its second movement, “Intermezzo,” is celebrated in its liturgical version as “Agnus Dei” (which see [above]). The other movements are Pastorale, Minuet and Farandole.
If the name of Bizet has survived in musical history and will continue to do so for a long time to come, it is surely because of a single masterwork—his opera Carmen. This stirring music drama—based on the famous novel of Prosper Mérimée, adapted for Bizet by Meilhac and Halévy—never fails in its emotional and dramatic impact. Carmen is the seductive gypsy girl who enmeshes two lovers: the bull fighter Escamillo, and the sergeant, Don José. Both she and Don José meet a tragic end on the day of Escamillo’s triumph in the bull ring. The background to this fatal story of love and death is provided by the Spanish city of Seville—its streets, bull ring, taverns, and nearby mountain retreat of smugglers.
Carmen was introduced at the Opéra-Comique on March 3, 1875. Legend would have us believe it was a fiasco, and further that heartbreak over this failure brought about Bizet’s premature death two months after the opera was first heard. As a matter of historic truth, while there were some critics at that first performance who considered the text too stark and realistic for their tastes, Carmen did very well, indeed. By June 18th it enjoyed thirty-seven performances. At the start of the new season of the Opéra-Comique it returned to the repertory to receive its fiftieth presentation by February 15, 1876. It was hailed in Vienna in 1875, Brussels in 1876, and London and New York in 1878. Many critics everywhere were as enthusiastic as the general public, and with good reason. For all the vivid color of Spanish life and backgrounds, and all the flaming passions aroused by the sensual Carmen, were caught in Bizet’s luminous, dramatic score.
The Prelude to Carmen represents a kind of resumé of what takes place in the opera, and with some of its musical material. It opens with lively music for full orchestra describing the festive preparations in Seville just before a bull fight. After a sudden change of key, and several chords, the popular second-act song of Escamillo, the bullfighter, is first given quietly in strings, then repeated more loudly. Then there is heard an ominous passage against quivering strings which, in the opera, suggests the fatal fascination exerted by Carmen on men. This is repeated in a higher register and somewhat amplified until a dramatic chord for full orchestra brings this episode, and the overture itself, to a conclusion.
The Prelude to Act II is constructed from a motive of an off-stage unaccompanied little song by Don José in the same act praising the dragoons of Alcala. The Prelude to Act III is actually an entr’acte, a gentle little intermezzo which Bizet originally wrote for L’Arlésienne. The Prelude to Act IV is also an entr’acte, this time of dramatic personality. The brilliant and forceful music is based upon an actual Andalusian folk song and dance; it sets the mood for the gay festivities in a public square on the day of a gala bull-fight with which the fourth act opens.
It is sometimes a practice at concerts of semi-classical or pop music to present not merely one of the four orchestral Preludes but also at other times salient musical episodes from the opera, arranged and assembled into fantasias or suites. These potpourris or suites are generally made up of varied combinations of the following excerpts. From Act I: the “Changing of the Guard”; Carmen’s seductive and extremely popular aria, the Habanera (“L’amour est un oiseau rebelle”), which was not by Bizet but borrowed by him from a song by Sebastian Yradier (see [Yradier]); the duet of Micaëla and Don José, “Qui sait de quel démon”; and Carmen’s Séguidille, “Près des ramparts de Séville.” From Act II: “The March of the Smugglers,”; Carmen’s “Chanson bohème”; the rousing Toreador Song of Escamillo; and Don José’s poignant “Flower Song” to Carmen, “La fleur que tu m’avais jetée.” From Act III: Carmen’s Card Song, “En vain pour éviter”; and Micaëla’s celebrated Air, “Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante”. From Act IV: the Chorus, March, and Finale.
Utilizing many of these selections, Ferruccio Busoni and Vladimir Horowitz each prepared striking concert fantasias for solo piano; Pablo de Sarasate, for violin and piano; and Franz Waxman for violin and orchestra for the motion picture, Humoresque, starring John Garfield.
Children’s Games (Jeux d’enfants) is a delightful suite of twelve pieces for piano (four hands) for and about children. Bizet wrote it in 1871, but shortly afterwards orchestrated five of these numbers and assembled them into a suite, op. 22. The first movement is a march entitled “Trumpeter and Drummer” (“Trompette et tambour”) music punctuated by trumpet calls and drum rolls, accompanying a troop of soldiers as it approaches and then disappears into the distance. This is followed by a tender berceuse for muted strings, “The Doll” (“La Poupée”). The third movement is “The Top” (“La Toupie”), an impromptu in which the violins simulate the whirr of a spinning top while the woodwinds introduce a jolly dance tune. The fourth movement, “Little Husband, Little Wife” (“Petit mari, petite femme”) is a quiet little dialogue between husband and wife, the former represented by first violins, and the latter by the cellos. The suite ends with “The Ball” (“Le Bal”), a galop for full orchestra.