Carmen Opera

            The opera Carmen, composed by Georges Bizet, took place in Seville, Spain around the 1820’s.  Carmen is a story of a young woman who seduces a solider, Don Jose, who was not interested in her the way other men usually are. Carmen is arrested after her and her ladies cause a fight in the square.  However, Don Jose sets Carmen free and is soon arrested for doing so. After being released from jail, Don Jose realizes he is in love with Carmen and goes to her only to find that she has fallen in love with a bullfighter, Escamillo. After Carmen tells Don Jose that she does not want to go with him, he feels so betrayed that he stabs Carmen and regrets it right after he kills her.

            The opera show Carmen has been critical to the chronology of opera. The opera was considered to be a “realism opera” using realism methods, unlike most operas before this time that were mainly fairytale-like stories. This brought viewers excitement because they had never seen a realistic opera show before. This realistic story of Carmen becoming an opera shower led the way to the realistic type of opera, known as “verismo opera”.  Without the creation and showing of Carmen, it would be possible that we would have not been able to experience realistic stories within opera and only experience fairytale-like stories that we are not capable of relating to.   

            The stage setting of Carmen was a basic set design consisting of a black background with a castle-like building in front of it, accompanied by large stone pillars.  In front of the stone pillars were large square rocks.  Throughout the opera, the placement of the square rocks was different in each setting. When the scene was set in the square, the large rocks were placed on top of each other creating a wall with a couple of rocks laying on the floor. In act II, the setting took place in a tavern, where the rocks were placed on the floor as tables and chairs. However, throughout the entire opera, the castle and pillars in the background were stationary and did not change.  In my opinion, at first it was challenging to determine which setting the scene took place in.  On the other hand, after beginning to understand the settings, it has come to my attention that a complex set design is not needed in order to perform a phenomenal opera show.

            The properties within the show, besides the set design, such as the swords, guns, cups, rose, and ring play a large role in the making of the show.  In act I, when Carmen was attempting to seduce Don Jose, she was holding a red rose.  After realizing he was not interested in her, she threw the rose at his feet, signifying that she was angry he would not pay attention to her and love her.  The rose came back into the show in act III, when Don Jose comes to find Carmen after being released from prison.  He let the red rose pedals fall from his hand onto the ground showing her that he had kept it with him the whole time.  The fallen rose pedals always signify Don Jose’s broken heart when he recognizes that he is no longer Carmen’s lover. After demanding that Carmen come with him, Carmen says no and throws the ring Don Jose once gave her on the ground in front of him. I believe this conveys that she is no longer interested in him and is in love with Escamillo. In my opinion, the guns represent the gypsy smugglers, who are informal, and the swords represent the soldiers, who are far more formal.  For example, when Don Jose is fighting he uses as sword, whereas when the smugglers or Escamillo fights they are holding guns. This shows that the soldiers are more respected but the smugglers are considered to be more powerful during that time.  I believe the cups helped to better understand which setting the scene took place in.  If the cups were not in the setting, that means the scene took place in the square, whereas when the cups were in the scene, the scene took place in the tavern.

Besides discovering the idea that a minimal set design can be most ideal for an opera show, I also discovered that opera shows can be very interesting. Although these shows are difficult to follow due to being in other languages, they are capable of being understood through the emotion in the singers’ voices, as well as the music and lighting used to set the mood and scenes.  The music and lighting are considered to be the technology that is used throughout the full opera show.  The lighting was used to show emotions through the various colors and values or shades of light.  For instance, when Carmen was attempting to seduce men or a character was singing about their love, the lighting was red with very little shadows casting upon the stage and set design.  However, when it was night time, a character was angry, or there was a fight, the lighting changed to a dark shade of gray, casting shadows all along the set design.  At the end of the show, the lighting is dark gray and as soon as Don Jose stabs and kills Carmen, the lighting changes to a very deep, dark red, signifying the death of Carmen.

I believe that when people were originally showed this opera they loved the music, as well as the fact that it was a realism piece.  Just as I was, I am sure that those who originally saw the show were shocked that Carmen, the main character, was stabbed to death by the man who swears he loves her.  However, I felt as though Carmen’s role started off seductive and delicate, but ended with her being a very brutal, hostile woman, which I am sure is what people originally thought after seeing this opera.

Overall, I was very pleased with the opera show Carmen and although the story was sad and disturbing, I enjoyed the music and singing.  I believe Georges Bizet created a very successful opera show that I would suggest those who have yet to see opera see Carmen as their first show.

Work Cited

“Georges Bizet – Carmen HQ.” Youtube, Youtube, 11 Nov. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H9NDlZjKS0.