Georges Bizet’s famous opera set in Spain is Carmen. First performed in Paris in 1875, it follows Carmen, a fiercely independent factory worker in Seville, and Don José, the soldier whose obsession with her leads to tragedy.
Bizet based the opera on Prosper Mérimée’s 1845 novella Carmen. The action is set in and around Seville, in Andalusia, and the score draws on musical colors that nineteenth-century French audiences associated with Spain. Its most famous numbers include the “Habanera,” Carmen’s entrance aria, and the “Toreador Song,” performed by Escamillo.
Carmen was initially controversial because its working-class characters, criminal underworld, sexuality, and violent ending challenged the conventions of respectable French opera. It was written as an opéra-comique, a genre that traditionally included spoken dialogue, although later productions often replaced the dialogue with recitatives. Bizet died only a few months after the premiere and did not live to see the opera become one of the world’s most frequently performed masterpieces.