Carmen is a flop, a disaster! It will never play more than twenty times. Moreover, critics condemned Carmen as “vulgar”, “undramatic” and “contemptible” and, a noted librettist and dramatist of the day, Jean Henri Dupin, wrote: “ I won’t mince words. One critic stated that the audience in Paris was “ shocked by the drastic realism of the action”, while others said that the audience was scandalised by the opera’s “obscenity” and “immorality”. Until this “vulgar” new opera came along and shook the public, the composer, Georges Bizet, had enjoyed moderate success, but nobody was prepared for the opera’s theme of erotic obsession, the sight of women smoking on stage and the parade of “low-life” characters. However, its story of an army officer’s seduction (and betrayal) by a voluptuous and sensuous cigarette factory worker stunned its French audience and the first performance was greeted with astonished silence.
Carmen, now one of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the world, had its premiere on this day, March 3 1875, in Paris.
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