Georges Bizet

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Georges Bizet

Georges Bizet (25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875) was a French

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
and pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an musical ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers....
of the Romantic

Romantic music

In music, romanticism is a term, often considered misleading, and concept derived from literature traditionally defined by attributes including, "interest in nature, medieval chivalry, mysticism, [and] remoteness [ Social alienation and Solitude]"....
era. He is best known for the opera Carmen
Carmen

Carmen is a French op?ra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Hal?vy, based on the Carmen by Prosper M?rim?e, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem "The Gypsies" by Pushkin....
.

Biography
Bizet was born at 28 rue de la Tour d'Auvergne in the 9th arrondissement of Paris in 1838.

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Encyclopedia

Georges Bizet (25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875) was a French

France

Composer

Pianist

Romantic music

Biography

Bizet was born at 28 rue de la Tour d'Auvergne in the 9th arrondissement of Paris in 1838. He was registered with the legal name Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, but he was baptised on 16 March 1840 with the first name Georges, and he was always known thereafter as Georges Bizet. His father Adolphe Armand Bizet (1810-86) was an amateur singer and composer, and his mother, Aimée Léopoldine Joséphine née Delsarte (1814-61), was the sister of the famous singing teacher François Delsarte

François Delsarte

Fran?ois Alexandre Nicolas Ch?ri Delsarte was a French musician, born in Solesmes. He was a pupil of the Conservatoire de Paris, was for a time tenor singer in the Op?ra-Comique, composed a few melodies, and wrote several romances, but is chiefly known as a teacher in singing and declamation....
.

He entered the Paris Conservatory of Music

Conservatoire de Paris

The Conservatoire de Paris is a music college founded in 1795, based in Paris, France. It offers instruction in music and drama of the highest standards, drawing on the traditions of the "French School."...
in 1848, a fortnight

Fortnight

The fortnight is a unit of time equivalent to fourteen days. The word derives from the Old English language feorwertyne niht, meaning "fourteen nights"....
before his tenth birthday. His teachers there were Pierre Zimmerman (fugue and counterpoint; often assisted by Charles Gounod

Charles Gounod

Charles-Fran?ois Gounod was a French composer, best known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Rom?o et Juliette....
, his son-in-law), Antoine François Marmontel

Antoine François Marmontel

Antoine Fran?ois Marmontel was a France pianist, teacher and musicology.Marmontel entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1827. His teachers were Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann in pianoforte, Victor Dourlen in harmony, Fromental Hal?vy in fugue and Jean-Fran?ois Le Sueur in musical composition....
(piano), François Benoist

François Benoist

Fran?ois Benoist, , was a France composer and organist....
(organ) and, on Zimmerman's death, Fromental Halévy

Fromental Halévy

Jacques-Fran?ois-Fromental-?lie Hal?vy was a France composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive....
, whose daughter he himself later married.

His first symphony, the Symphony in C Major
Symphony in C (Bizet)

The Symphony in C is a symphony by the French composer Georges Bizet. According to Grove's Dictionary, "In quality and craftsmanship it has few rivals and perhaps no superior among the work of composers of such tender years"....
, was written in November 1855, when he was just seventeen, evidently as a student assignment. It was unknown to the world until 1933, when it was discovered in the archives of the Paris Conservatory library. Upon its first performance in 1935, it was immediately hailed as a junior masterwork and a welcome addition to the early Romantic period repertoire. The symphony is noteworthy for bearing an amazing stylistic resemblance to the first symphony of Charles Gounod

Charles Gounod

Charles-Fran?ois Gounod was a French composer, best known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Rom?o et Juliette....
first played earlier in the same year, and which Bizet had arranged for two pianos although present-day listeners may discern a similarity to music of Franz Schubert

Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer. He wrote some 600 lieder, nine symphonies , liturgy music, operas, and a large body of chamber music and solo piano music....
, whose work was little known in France at the time the symphony was written.

In 1857, a setting of the one-act operetta Le docteur Miracle won him a share in a prize offered by Jacques Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach

File:Offencolor.jpgJacques Offenbach was a Germany-born France composer and cello of the Romantic music era and one of the originators of the operetta form....
. He also won the music composition scholarship of the Prix de Rome

Prix de Rome

The Prix de Rome was a scholarship for arts students. It was created in 1663 in France under the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual burse for promising artists who proved their talents by completing a very difficult elimination contest....
, the conditions of which required him to study in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
for three years. There, his talent developed as he wrote such works as the opera

Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
buffa Don Procopio
Don Procopio

Don Procopio is a two-act opera buffa by Georges Bizet with an Italian libretto completed in 1859, and first performed in 1906....
(1858-59). There he also composed his only major sacred work, Te Deum (1858), which he submitted to the Prix Rodrigues competition, a contest for Prix de Rome winners only. Bizet failed to win the Prix Rodrigues, and the Te Deum score remained unpublished until 1971. He made two attempts to write another symphony in 1859, but destroyed the manuscripts in December of that year. Apart from this period in Rome, Bizet lived in the Paris

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
area all his life.

His mother died shortly after his return to Paris, in September 1861. Around that time, the family maid, Mary Reiter, gave birth to a son. The boy was brought up to believe that his father was Adolphe Bizet, and that he was Georges's half-brother, but his mother later revealed that his true father was in fact Georges Bizet. His former teacher Halévy died in 1862, leaving his last opera Noé
Noé (opera)

No? was the last opera of the composer Fromental Hal?vy.The opera's libretto is by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, who had written the book for the composer's first opera to reach performance, L'artisan, ....
unfinished. Bizet completed it, but it was not performed until 1885, ten years after Bizet's own death.

He composed the opera Les pêcheurs de perles
Les pêcheurs de perles

Les p?cheurs de perles is an opera in three acts by Georges Bizet, to a libretto by Eug?ne Cormon and Michel Carr?. It was first performed on 30 September 1863 at the Th??tre Lyrique in Paris....
(The Pearl Fishers) for the Théâtre Lyrique

Théâtre Lyrique

Th??tre Lyrique was the name of one of three most famous, but separate, 19th century opera houses in Paris .Originally located among other theatres at Boulevard du Temple , in 1862 it was moved to the Place du Ch?telet on the bank of Seine and renamed as Th??tre-Lyrique Imp?rial....
in 1863, which was initially a failure. In 1866 he was contracted to arrange two of Ambroise Thomas

Ambroise Thomas

Ambroise Thomas was a France opera composer, best-known for his operas Mignon and Hamlet and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871-1896....
's operas for both solo and duo piano. Then came La jolie fille de Perth
La jolie fille de Perth

'La jolie fille de Perth' is an opera in four acts by Georges Bizet , from a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jules Adenis, after the The Fair Maid of Perth by Sir Walter Scott....
(premiered also in the Théâtre Lyrique, in 1867), and a symphony titled Roma (1868).

On 3 June 1869 he married Geneviève, the daughter of his late teacher Fromental Halévy. At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

Le Vésinet

Le V?sinet is a Communes of France in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 16.4 km from the Kilometre Zero.Le V?sinet is one of the wealthiest suburbs of Paris, known for its wooded avenues, mansions and lakes....
near Paris, to escape the violence.

Bizet wrote Jeux d'enfants
Jeux d'enfants (Bizet)

Jeux d'enfants Op. 22, is a set of twelve miniatures composed by Georges Bizet for piano duet in 1871. They are comprised of the following:# L'escarpolette ...
(Children's games) for piano duet in 1871. The following year (22 May 1872) saw the production of the one-act opéra comique Djamileh
Djamileh

Djamileh is an op?ra comique in one act by Georges Bizet to a libretto by Louis Gallet, based on an oriental tale, Namouna, by Alfred de Musset....
, which is often seen as a precursor to Carmen. The popular L'Arlésienne was originally produced as incidental music

Incidental music

Incidental music is music in a Play , television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack."...
for a play by Alphonse Daudet

Alphonse Daudet

Alphonse Daudet was a France novelist. He was the father of L?on Daudet and Lucien Daudet....
, first performed on 1 October 1872. Bizet himself derived a suite from the music (first performed 10 November 1872), and Ernest Guiraud

Ernest Guiraud

Ernest Guiraud was a France composer and music teacher born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known for writing the traditional orchestral recitatives used for Georges Bizet opera Carmen and for Jacques Offenbach opera Les contes d'Hoffmann ....
later arranged a second suite; both these suites contain considerable rewriting of the original score. Most performances or broadcasts of the second suite omit any mention of Guiraud's contribution. His overture Patrie was written in 1873 (it had no connection with Victorien Sardou

Victorien Sardou

File:Victorien SardouVF.jpgFile:Sardou Grave.JPGVictorien Sardou was a French dramatist. He is perhaps best remembered today for the play La Tosca on which Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca is based....
's play Patrie!).

Carmen
Carmen

Carmen is a French op?ra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Hal?vy, based on the Carmen by Prosper M?rim?e, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem "The Gypsies" by Pushkin....
(1875) is Bizet's best-known work and is based on a novella of the same title written in 1846 by Prosper Mérimée

Prosper Mérimée

Prosper M?rim?e was a France dramatist, history, Archaeology, and short story writer. He is perhaps best known for his novella Carmen , which became the basis of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen....
. Bizet composed the title role for a mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano

A mezzo-soprano is a type of European classical music female voice type whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above ....
. It was substantially composed during the summer of 1873, but not finished until the end of 1874, during which time his marriage came under severe strain and he separated from his wife for two months. Carmen premiered on 3 March 1875, and was not initially well-received, although it ran for 48 performances; it was Bizet's greatest success so far. Praise for it eventually came from well-known contemporaries including Debussy

Claude Debussy

Achille-Claude Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he is considered one of the most prominent figures working within the field of Impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions....
, Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns

Charles-Camille Saint-Sa?ns was a French composer, organist, Conductor , and pianist, known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse Macabre , Samson and Delilah , Havanaise , Introduction and Rondo capriccioso , and his Symphony No....
and Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – ) was a Russian composer of the Romantic music era. He wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the current classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake and Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his Piano Concerto No....
. Brahms

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms , composer and pianist, was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic music. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene....
attended over twenty performances of it, and considered it the greatest opera produced in Europe since the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between Second French Empire and Kingdom of Prussia, while Prussia was backed by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Grand Duchy of Baden, History of W?rttemberg#The Kingdom...
. The views of these composers proved to be prophetic, as Carmen has since become one of the most popular works in the entire operatic repertoire. Bizet's most famous songs are the "Habanera" and "The Toreador's Song", both from Carmen.

However, Bizet did not live to see Carmens success. He died from a heart attack at the age of 36 in Bougival
Bougival

Bougival is a commune in France in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located . from the Kilometre Zero. The Machine de Marly was located in Bougival....
(Yvelines
Yvelines

The Yvelines are a France departments of France in the regions of France of ?le-de-France ....
), about 10 miles west of Paris. His death occurred on his sixth wedding anniversary, exactly three months after Carmen's first performance. He was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery

P?re Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France at , though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.P?re Lachaise is one of the List of cemeteries in the world....
in Paris.

His widow Geneviève later had an alliance with Élie-Miriam Delaborde, generally believed to have been the illegitimate son of Charles-Valentin Alkan
Charles-Valentin Alkan

Charles-Valentin Alkan was a France composer and one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of his day. His attachment to his Jewish origins is displayed both in his life and his work....
. However, she married Émile Straus, a banker with Rothschild family connections, and became a noted society hostess. Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust

Valentin Louis Georges Eug?ne Marcel Proust was a France novelist, essayist and critic, best known as the author of In Search of Lost Time , a monumental work of twentieth-century fiction published in seven parts from 1913 to 1927....
used her as a model for the Duchesse de Guermantes in his roman fleuve À la recherche du temps perdu

In Search of Lost Time

In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past is a semi-autobiographical novel in heptalogy by Marcel Proust. His most prominent work, it is popularly known for its extended length and the notion of involuntary memory, the most famous example being the "episode of the Madeleine "....
. The Bizets' son Jacques (1872-1922), a writer, had been a school-friend of Proust.

Bizet's music has been used in the twentieth century as the basis for several important ballets. The Soviet-era Carmen Suite (1967), set to music drawn from Carmen
Carmen

Carmen is a French op?ra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Hal?vy, based on the Carmen by Prosper M?rim?e, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem "The Gypsies" by Pushkin....
arranged by Rodion Shchedrin
Rodion Shchedrin

Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin is a Russian composer. He was one ?f the leading Soviet composers, and was the chairman of the Union of Russian Composers from 1973 until 1990....
, gave the Bolshoi
Bolshoi Theatre

The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by the architect Joseph Bov?, which holds performances of ballet and opera....
ballerina Maya Plisetskaya one of her signature roles; it was choreographed by Alberto Alonso
Ballet Nacional de Cuba

National Ballet of Cuba , is managed by Cuban prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso and is one of the top ballet companies in the world. The artistic standards and technical severity of the dancers and the wide diversity in the aesthetic conception of the choreographers in combining joyful Cuban sensuality with superb classical Russian,...
. In the West the L'Arlesienne of Roland Petit
Roland Petit

File:RolandPetit09.jpgRoland Petit is a France choreographer and dancer born in Villemomble near Paris, France. He trained at the Paris Op?ra ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets, which include:...
is well-regarded, and the Symphony in C

Symphony in C (ballet)

Symphony in C, originally titled Le Palais de Cristal, is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine to Georges Bizet's Symphony in C , which he wrote at the age of 17 while studying with Charles Gounod at the Paris Conservatory....
by George Balanchine
George Balanchine

George Balanchine , born Giorgi Melitonis dze Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to Georgians parents, was one of the 20th century's foremost choreographers, a pioneer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet: his work created modern ballet, based on his deep knowledge of classical for...
is considered to be one of the great ballets of the twentieth century. It was first presented as Le Palais de Crystal by the Paris Opera Ballet in 1947, and has been in the repertory there ever since. The ballet has no story; it simply fits the music: each movement of the symphony has its own ballerina, cavalier, and corps de ballet, all of whom dance together in the finale.

Bizet's work as a composer has overshadowed how fine a pianist he was. He could easily have had a career as a concert pianist had he so wished. On 26 May 1861, at a dinner party at the Halévys at which Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt was a Kingdom of Hungary composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher.Liszt became renowned throughout Europe for his great skill as a performer during the 19th century....
was present, Bizet gave a faultless performance of an elaborate work of Liszt's, reading at sight from the unpublished manuscript. Liszt proclaimed that Bizet was one of the three finest pianists in Europe. Bizet's pianistic skill was also praised by Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz

Louis Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic music composer and guitarist, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Requiem . Berlioz made great contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation and by utilizing huge orchestral forces for his works; as a conductor, he performed several c...
, his teacher Marmontel, and many others.

List of works

Dramatic works

La maison du docteur
La maison du docteur

La maison du docteur is an opera comique in one act by Georges Bizet with a French libretto by Henry Boitteaux. Some music scholars assert that the opera was composed in 1852 while others believe that is was written in 1855....
, opéra comique, 1 act, (H. Boisseaux; composed eitner in 1852 or 1855; unperformed)
Le docteur Miracle
Le docteur Miracle

Le docteur Miracle is an operetta in one act by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto, by L?on Battu and Ludovic Hal?vy, is based on Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play Saint Patrick's Day....
, opérette, 1 act, (L. Battu & L. Halévy
Ludovic Halévy

Ludovic Hal?vy was a France author and playwright. He was of Jewish ancestry, however his father had converted to Christianity prior to his birth....
, after R.B. Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Richard Brinsley Sheridan was an Irish playwright and British Whig Party statesman....
; composed 1856; f.p. Paris, Bouffes-Parisiens, 9 April 1857)
Don Procopio, opéra bouffe, 2 acts, (C. Cambiaggio, after L. Prividali; composed 1858-59; f.p. Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo is one of Monaco's various administrative areas, sometimes erroneously believed to be a town or the country's capital. The official capital is Monaco-Ville and covers all quarters of the territory....
, 10 March 1906)
La prêtresse, opérette, 1 act, (P. Gille; composed ca. 1861; unperformed)
La guzla de l'émir, opéra comique, (J. Barbier
Jules Barbier

Paul Jules Barbier was a France poet, writer and opera librettist who often wrote in collaboration with Michel Carr?. He was a noted Parisian bon vivant and man of letters ....
& M. Carré
Michel Carré

Michel Carr? was a prolific France librettist.He went to Paris in 1840 intending to become a painter but took up writing instead. He wrote verse and plays before turning to writing libretti....
; composed ca. 1862; unperformed)
Ivan IV
Ivan IV (opera)

Ivan IV is an 1865 opera in five acts by Georges Bizet, with a libretto by Francois-Hippolyte Leroy and Henri Trianon....
, opéra, 5 acts, (F.-H. Leroy & H. Trianon; composed ca. 1862-65; f.p. Württemberg
Württemberg

W?rttemberg [], formerly known as Wirtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, Mühringen Castle, 1946)
Les pêcheurs de perles
Les pêcheurs de perles

Les p?cheurs de perles is an opera in three acts by Georges Bizet, to a libretto by Eug?ne Cormon and Michel Carr?. It was first performed on 30 September 1863 at the Th??tre Lyrique in Paris....
, opéra, 3 acts, (E. Cormon & M. Carré; composed 1863; f.p. Paris, Théâtre Lyrique, 30 September 1863)
La jolie fille de Perth
La jolie fille de Perth

'La jolie fille de Perth' is an opera in four acts by Georges Bizet , from a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jules Adenis, after the The Fair Maid of Perth by Sir Walter Scott....
, opéra, 4 acts, (J.-H. Vernoy de Saint-Georges & J. Adenis, after W. Scott
Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, was a prolific Scotland historical novelist and poet popular throughout Europe during his time.In some ways Scott was the first English-language author to have a truly international career in his lifetime, with many contemporary readers all over Europe, Australia, and North America....
); composed 1866; f.p. Paris, Théâtre Lyrique, 26 December 1867)
Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, opérette, 4 acts, (P. Siraudin & W. Busnach; composed 1867, Act I only, lost; f.p. Paris, Théâtre Athénée, 13 December 1867; the title was taken from the popular song "Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre
Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre

Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre is one of the most popular folk songs in the French Language. This burlesque lament on the death of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough was written on a false rumour of that event after the Battle of Malplaquet in 1709....
")
La coupe du roi de Thulé, opéra, 3 acts, (L. Gallet & E. Blau; composed 1868-69, after his death the autograph full score was mutilated by various hands and only fragments remain; f.p. (excerpts) BBC Radio
BBC Radio

BBC Radio is a service of the BBC which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company, Ltd....
, 12 July 1955)
Clarisse Harlowe, opéra comique, 3 acts, (Gille & A. Jaime, after S. Richardson; composed 1870-71, incomplete; unperformed)
Grisélidis, opéra comique, 1 act, (V. Sardou
Victorien Sardou

File:Victorien SardouVF.jpgFile:Sardou Grave.JPGVictorien Sardou was a French dramatist. He is perhaps best remembered today for the play La Tosca on which Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca is based....
; composed 1870-71, incomplete; unperformed)
Djamileh
Djamileh

Djamileh is an op?ra comique in one act by Georges Bizet to a libretto by Louis Gallet, based on an oriental tale, Namouna, by Alfred de Musset....
, opéra comique, 1 act, (Gallet, after A. de Musset
Alfred de Musset

Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a France dramatist, poet, and novelist.Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du si?cle from 1836....
; composed 1871; f.p. Paris, Opéra-Comique (Favart), 22 May 1872)
L'Arlésienne, incidental music, 3 acts (A. Daudet
Alphonse Daudet

Alphonse Daudet was a France novelist. He was the father of L?on Daudet and Lucien Daudet....
; composed 1872; f.p. Paris, Théâtre Vaudeville, 1 October 1872)
Don Rodrigue, opéra, 5 acts, (Gallet & Blau, after G. de Castro y Bellvis; composed 1872, incomplete draft; unperformed)
Carmen
Carmen

Carmen is a French op?ra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Hal?vy, based on the Carmen by Prosper M?rim?e, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem "The Gypsies" by Pushkin....
, opéra, 4 acts, (H. Meilhac & L. Halévy, after P. Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée

Prosper M?rim?e was a France dramatist, history, Archaeology, and short story writer. He is perhaps best known for his novella Carmen , which became the basis of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen....
; composed 1873-74; f.p. Paris, Opéra-Comique (Favart), 3 March 1875)

Songs
(words by / year composed)
L’âme triste est pareille au doux ciel (Lamartine)
Petite Marguerite (Rolland, 1854)
La Rose et l’abeille (Rolland, 1854)
La Foi, l’Esperance et la Charité (de Lagrave, 1854))
Vieille chanson (Millevoye, 1865)
Adieux de l'hôtesse arabe (Hugo, 1866)
Apres l’Hiver (Hugo, 1866)
Douce mer (Lamartine, 1866)
Chanson d'avril (Bouilhet, 1866)
Feuilles d'album (1866): À une fleur (de Musset
Alfred de Musset

Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a France dramatist, poet, and novelist.Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du si?cle from 1836....
), Adieux à Suzon (de Musset), Sonnet (Ronsard), Guitare (Hugo), Rose d'amour (Millevoye), Le grillon (Lamartine)
Pastorale (Regnard, 1868)
Rêve de la bien-aimée (de Courmont, 1868)
Ma vie a son secret (Arvers, 1868)
Berceuse (Desbordes-Valmore, 1868)
La chanson du fou (Hugo, 1868)
La coccinelle (Hugo, 1868)
La sirène (Mendès
Catulle Mendès

Catulle Mend?s was a France poet and man of letters.Of Portuguese Jewish extraction, he was born in Bordeaux. He early established himself in Paris, attaining speedy notoriety by the publication in the Revue fantaisiste of his Roman d'une nuit, for which he was condemned to a month's imprisonment and a fine of 500 francs....
, 1868)
Le Doute (Ferrier, 1868)
L’Esprit Saint
Absence (Gautier
Théophile Gautier

Pierre Jules Th?ophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and literary critic.While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and remains a point of reference for many subsequent literary traditions such as Parnassian poets, Symbolism, decadent movement and Modernism....
)
Chant d’amour (Lamartine)
Tarentelle (Pailleron)
Vous ne priez pas (Delevigne)
Le Colibri (Flan, 1868)
Sérénade ‘Oh, quand je dors’ (Hugo)
Vœu (Hugo, 1868)

Voyage, Aubade, La Nuit, Conte, Aimons, rêvons!, La chanson de la rose, Le Gascon, N’oublions pas!, Si vous aimez!, Pastel, l'abandonnée (these songs are from unidentified unfinished dramatic works)

Works for solo piano

Nocturne in F major
Variation chromatiques de concert (orchestrated by Felix Weingartner
Felix Weingartner

Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von M?nzberg was an Austrian Conducting, composer and pianist....
in 1933)
Caprice in C# minor
Caprice in C major
Chasse Fantastique
Romance sans paroles in C major
Thème brilliant in C
Valse in C major
Trois Esquisses Musicales
Grande Valse de Concert in E flat
Marine
Nocturne in D major
Chants du Rhin
Four Préludes
Jeux d'enfants
Jeux d'enfants (Bizet)

Jeux d'enfants Op. 22, is a set of twelve miniatures composed by Georges Bizet for piano duet in 1871. They are comprised of the following:# L'escarpolette ...
(Children's Games) 12 pieces for piano duet.
L'escarpolette (Rêverie), La Toupie (Impromptu), La Poupée (Berceuse), Les Chevaux de bois (Scherzo), Le volant (Fantaisie), Trompette et tambour (Marche), Les Bulles de Savon (Rondino), Les quatre coins (Esquisse), Colin-maillard (Nocturne), Saute-mouton (Caprice), Petit mari, petite femme (Duo), Le Bal (Galop)

Other works

Overture in A
Symphony in C major
Symphony in C (Bizet)

The Symphony in C is a symphony by the French composer Georges Bizet. According to Grove's Dictionary, "In quality and craftsmanship it has few rivals and perhaps no superior among the work of composers of such tender years"....
, 1855
Symphony in C major ("Roma")

Petite Suite (five movements orchestrated from Jeux d'Enfants)
Overture Patrie
Ode Symphony Vasco de Gama
Te Deum
He compiled an orchestral suite using some pieces from his incidental music
Incidental music

Incidental music is music in a Play , television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack."...
for L'Arlesienne. After his death, Ernest Guiraud
Ernest Guiraud

Ernest Guiraud was a France composer and music teacher born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known for writing the traditional orchestral recitatives used for Georges Bizet opera Carmen and for Jacques Offenbach opera Les contes d'Hoffmann ....
put together a second such suite.

Completions of others' works

Fromental Halévy
Fromental Halévy

Jacques-Fran?ois-Fromental-?lie Hal?vy was a France composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive....
- Noé
Noé (opera)

No? was the last opera of the composer Fromental Hal?vy.The opera's libretto is by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, who had written the book for the composer's first opera to reach performance, L'artisan, ....
, opéra, 3 acts (Saint-Georges; composed 1858-62 and left unfinished at Halévy's death; completed by Bizet; first performance Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe is a city in the south west of Germany, in the States of Germany Baden-W?rttemberg, located near the France-German border.Founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, the surrounding town became the seat of two of the highest courts in Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany whose decisions have the force of a law, and the...
, 5 April 1885)

Media

See also

Category:Compositions by Georges Bizet

External links

Texts of the Melodies of Bizet with translations in various languages.

(research materials used by one of Bizet's biographers) in the of .

Free sheet music

(From the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection)
(From the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection)
(From the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection)