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Georges Bizet's Carmen and its staging of an exoticized Spain was progressively reimagined between its 1875 Paris premiere and 1915. This book explores Carmen's dynamic interaction with Spanishness in this cosmopolitan age of spectacle, across operatic productions, parodies, and theatrical adaptations from Spain to Paris, London, and New York.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Prelude: The Spains of Paris, Mérimée and Bizet's Carmen
- PART 1: CARMEN'S EARLY ESCAPADES (1875-90)
- Chapter 1: Premiere and Revival: Paris, Galli-Marié and Spanish Affairs
- Chapter 2: Impersonating Carmen in Victorian London
- PART 2: SPAIN DISCOVERS CARMEN (1887-91)
- Chapter 3: Duelling Carmens in Madrid
- Chapter 4: Profusion and Parody in Barcelona
- PART 3: AUTHENTICATING CARMEN IN THE AGE OF VERISMO (1889-1908)
- Chapter 5: Gypsy Primitivism and the Rise of Emma Calvé
- Chapter 6: Transatlantic Carmens in Dance and Drama
- Chapter 7: Finding a Spanish Voice for Carmen: Elena Fons and Maria Gay
- PART 4: CARMEN AS POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT (1900-15
- Chapter 8: Carmen's Music Hall Embrace
- Chapter 9: Reproducing Carmen in the USA: Geraldine Farrar, the Met, and Beyond
About the author
Michael Christoforidis lectures in musicology at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne. He has published extensively on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Spanish music and dance, and its impact on Western culture, and is the author of
Manuel de Falla and Visions of Spanish Music (Routledge, 2017).
Elizabeth Kertesz is a research fellow at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne. Having written her PhD on the critical reception of Ethel Smyth's operas, her current research interests include Spanish-themed music and theatrical entertainment, and film music from the Belle Époque into the early twentieth century.
Summary
Carmen and the Staging of Spain explores the Belle Époque fascination with Spanish entertainment that refashioned Bizet's opera and gave rise to an international "Carmen industry." Authors Michael Christoforidis and Elizabeth Kertesz challenge the notion of Carmen as an unchanging exotic construct, tracing the ways in which performers and productions responded to evolving fashions for Spanish style from its 1875 premiere to 1915.
Focusing on selected realizations of the opera in Paris, London and New York, Christoforidis and Kertesz explore the cycles of influence between the opera and its parodies; adaptations in spoken drama, ballet and film; and the panorama of flamenco, Spanish dance, and musical entertainments. Their findings also uncover Carmen's dynamic interaction with issues of Hispanic identity against the backdrop of Spain's changing international fortunes.
The Spanish response to this now most-Spanish of operas is illuminated by its early reception in Madrid and Barcelona, adaptations to local theatrical genres, and impact on Spanish composers of the time. A series of Spanish Carmens, from opera singers Elena Sanz and Maria Gay to the infamous music-hall star La Belle Otero, had a crucial influence on the interpretation of the title role. Their stories provide a fresh context for the book's reappraisal of leading Carmens of the era, including Emma Calvé and Geraldine Farrar.
Additional text
Carmen and the Staging of Spain is the product of exhaustive and careful research. Its documentation is presented in often lengthy footnotes rather than the usual endnotes. ... There are detailed descriptions of performances of the opera and adaptations it inspired and the book is richly illustrated. Carmen and the Staging of Spain is a fascinating read for opera fans and students of cultural history.
