Bizet
During a brilliant student career at the Conservatoire de Paris, Bizet won many prizes, including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1857. He was recognised as an outstanding pianist, though he chose not to capitalise on this skill and rarely performed in public. Returning to Paris after almost three years in Italy, he found that the main Parisian opera theatres preferred the established classical repertoire to the works of newcomers. His keyboard and orchestral compositions were likewise largely ignored; as a result, his career stalled, and he earned his living mainly by arranging and transcribing the music of others. Restless for success, he began many theatrical projects during the 1860s, most of which were abandoned. Neither of his two operas that reached the stage in this time—Les pêcheurs de perles and La jolie fille de Perth—were immediately successful.
After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, during which Bizet served in the National Guard, he had little success with his one-act opera Djamileh, though an orchestral suite derived from his incidental music to Alphonse Daudet's play L'Arlésienne was instantly popular. The production of Bizet's final opera, Carmen, was delayed because of fears that its themes of betrayal and murder would offend audiences. After its premiere on 3 March 1875, Bizet was convinced that the work was a failure; he died of a heart attack three months later, unaware that it would prove a spectacular and enduring success.
Bizet's marriage to Geneviève Halévy was intermittently happy and produced one son. After his death, his work, apart from Carmen, was generally neglected. Manuscripts were given away or lost, and published versions of his works were frequently revised and adapted by other hands. He founded no school and had no obvious disciples or successors. After years of neglect, his works began to be performed more frequently in the 20th century. Later commentators have acclaimed him as a composer of brilliance and originality whose premature death was a significant loss to French musical theatre.
Bizet
During a brilliant student career at the Conservatoire de Paris,...
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4
SAINT-SAËNS Danse Macabre
BIZET Petite Suite
Music by Chopin, Meyerbeer, Mascagni, Schubert & many more
Studio and Live Recordings, 1920 - 1925
Total duration: 2hr 20:22
Alfred Cortot
Jesse Crawford
Giuseppe De Luca
Art Gillham
Mischa Levitzky
Margarete Matzenauer
Landon Ronald
Leopold Stokowski
and many more
BIZET Carmen
Live broadcast performance, 1943
Total duration: 2hr 32:32
Carmen - Lily Djanel
Don José - Raoul Jobin
Micaëla - Licia Albanese
Escamillo - Leonard Warren
Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera
conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham
BIZET The Fair Maid of Perth
(La jolie fille de Perth, sung in English)
Studio broadcast recording, 1956
Total duration: 2hr 14:39
Catherine Glover - Mattiwilda Dobbs
Henry Smith - Alexander Young
Le Duc de Rothsay - Kevin Miller
Ralph - David Ward
Mab - Anna Pollack
Simon Glover - Owen Brannigan
BBC Chorus
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 8
Shorter works by Bizet, Massenet, Rossini, Saint-Saëns, Sibelius
Recorded 1943
Total duration: 74:32
Seattle Symphony
conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham
DEBUSSY Petite Suite
OFFENBACH Tales of Hoffman
STRAVINSKY The Firebird - Suite
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 "Pathétique"
and many more
Studio recordings, 1910-1918
Total duration: 2hr 32:36 (CD) or 2hr 39:21 (download)
Beecham Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham
BACH Prelude and Fugue in E-flat, “St. Anne”
BACH Toccata and Fugue in D minor
BENJAMIN Overture to an Italian Comedy
BRAHMS Piano Quartet No. 1
CHAUSSON Symphony in B-flat
DVOŘÁK Carnival Overture
DVOŘÁK In Nature’s Realm
ELGAR Enigma Variations
GLAZUNOV The Seasons
GLINKA Ruslan and Ludmila - Overture
GOLDMARK Rustic Wedding Symphony
GRIEG Peer Gynt excerpts
MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night’s Dream excerpts
R. STRAUSS Also Sprach Zarathustra
R. STRAUSS Aus Italien - On the Shores of Sorrento
SAINT-SAËNS Danse macabre
SMETANA The Bartered Bride - Overture
STOCK Symphonic Waltz
TCHAIKOVSKY 1812 Overture
TCHAIKOVSKY Marche slave
WAGNER Siegfried - Forest Murmurs
WAGNER Die Meistersinger - Prelude
plus music by: Bizet, Carey, Dohnányi, Enescu, François Schubert, Glière, Handel, Ippolitov-Ivanov, J. Strauss II, Järnefelt, Liadov, MacDowell, Meacham, Mozart, Paganini, Ponchielli, Rezniček, Rimsky-Korsakov, Schubert, Schumann, Sibelius, Simonetti, Suk, Suppé, Thomas, Toch, Volkmann, Walton, Weber and Wolf-Ferrari
Studio recordings, 1930-1941
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Frederick Stock
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