During the 19th century, Spain awakened a special attraction among foreign artists. Its geographic position, its idiosyncrasy and climate were the stage par excellence of romanticism, and Andalusia, the ideal as the picturesque synthesis of it all. Undoubtedly, Georges Bizet’s Carmen is the clearest expression of this interest and if there is a work universally associated with Spain, its music and its people, it is Carmen. Curiously, neither Georges Bizet nor the libretto writers Meilhac and Halevy ever set foot in Spain. 

Bizet, who took for his opera openly popular themes, composed a work full of connotation, beautiful melody, harmony, rhythm and instrumentation which are equally perfect in beauty and expressive force. The plot of the opera Carmen is based on the eponymous popular short novel by the French writer Prospère Mérimée, inspired by his travels to Spain, and it is Don José’s narration of his love story with Carmen and of how he gradually falls into a state of irreversible ruin that eventually turns him into a murderer. However, Meilhac and Halévy came up with a libretto with many liberties which practically rewrites the plot line.

Carmen, Bizet’s last production, opened in March 1875, three months before his death, at the age of 36.