Carmen October 18, 2012

Many French composers have been inspired to write music about Spain - Ravel's 'Bolero' and Chabrier's 'Espana' are two of the most popular, and on the opera stage Bizet's 'Carmen' (first heard in 1875) is surely the most famous. Every moment of the score conjures up the images of Seville - especially with music like the 'Seguidilla', the 'Habanera' and the famous 'Toreador's Song'. The opera even inspired a 1943 musical by Oscar Hammerstein, later made into a film by Otto Preminger with Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte - with the voice of Marilyn Horne (later a famous Carmen herself) on the soundtrack!