Carmen premiere

My article about the alarums and excursions in the run up to the premiere of Bizet's Carmen is here on Music and Vision.

Incidentally, if you want to hear the closest we'll ever get to the definitive score of Carmen then try the Chandos Opera in English recording. This uses a new edition by Richard Langham-Smith which is based on the vocal score which he had published after the world premiere. This is the only published score which Bizet himself edited and it was produced under his impetus rather than in association with the Opera Comique, so there is not reason to believe it does not represent the score as he intended.