"Opera is one of the most spectacular and extravagant entertainment that human intelligence can invent."
—British playwright John Evelyn
Carmen QuadrilleClaudio Abbado; Vienna Philharmonic - New Year's Concert 1991
Opera is an important invention of Baroque music, an art of music, stage movements, poetry, dance, sets and costumes, which originated in Italy in 1600 and spread throughout the country and the world through various grand performances. To this day, it is still an important form of performance in the musical theater.
When it comes to opera, it must be mentioned that "Carmen", "Carmen" is a masterpiece by the French composer Georges Beetzer, comparable to many of Mozart's excellent works. But unlike Mozart, Bizet's talent was not recognized during his lifetime. In June 1875, just three months after the premiere of the world's most attended opera Carmen, Bizet died of depression due to widespread bad reviews, at the age of 37.
Nietzsche once praised Carmen without hesitation:
This opera brought realist elements such as love triangles, games, love killings, and betrayals to the stage, which shocked the Parisian audience at that time and was also an important reason for the controversy in the early days of its birth. Indeed, such a plot, even today, would have been tolerated by die-hard conservatives, let alone then.
According to Bicze biographer Christopher Schwant, on the night of the premiere of Carmen, the first act of the formal tradition received enthusiastic applause. However, when the plot unfolds further, the audience is confused, they cannot understand this new type of character relationship. The male representative of the bourgeoisie, Don Hauser, lost his position as a moral model, and because of his immaturity, he directly led to the tragedy. Carmen's image is detached from traditional morality, and her charm singing of "Habanera" conveys a passionate desire for freedom.
Habanera – Carmen
In fact, moral constraints should not be the limits of creation, but people at that time did not understand this. Although there were also people who praised "Carmen" at the time, Bizet was still knocked down by the overwhelming negative comments, and if he could survive June, he would be able to face the success and accept the admiration of everyone. Because on the night of Bizet's funeral, "Carmen" held a special performance and was a great success. For a time, almost everyone, including the critics who had previously denigrated him, recognized his talent, and people's interest in "Carmen" grew day by day, and in just a few years, it swept all continents, becoming the most performed and attendance-rate opera, and the classic tunes such as "Carmen Overture", "The Matador's Song", and "Habanera" were well known.
On December 31, 1997, the Berliner Philharmoniker held a New Year's concert with the theme of "Tribute to Carmen", conducted by the Berliner Philharmonic Music Director Abbado, and invited the famous superstars of the international music scene to participate in the performance. Three sought-after vocalists, the soprano Van Otta, the baritone Tefel and the tenor Alania, sang the classic repertoire of Carmen, in addition to pianist Pretnev's Rhapsody on the Theme of Pagmanini, and violinist Shahan performed Sara Shatai's Carmen Fantasia, ending with Brahms's Hungarian Dance No. 5, forming a spectacular performance.
As the only annual musical event that can be matched with the Vienna New Year's Concert, the Berliner Philharmonic New Year's Concert has become one of the most popular performances in the history of the Berliner Philharmoniker and is still highly praised today.