The opera premiered at the Opéra-Comique of Paris on 3 March 1875, but did not become successful. Near the end of its 48-performance first run, the theatre was giving tickets away in order to stimulate attendance. One of the opera's innovations is that the major characters were more realistic than those normally seen at the Opéra-Comique.
During rehearsals, du Locle's (the artistic director of the Opéra-Comique at Pairs) assistant de Leuven voiced his discontent about the opera's plot, and pressured Bizet and the librettists to alter the tragic ending. De Leuven felt that families would be shocked to see such a "debauched" opera on the stage of the Opéra-Comique, which had a reputation as a family-friendly theatre, with many boxes used by parents to interview prospective sons-in-law. The librettists agreed to change the ending, but Bizet refused, which led directly to de Leuven's resignation from the theatre in early 1874.
Bizet died of a heart attack, aged 36, on 3 June 1875, never knowing how popular Carmen would become.
In October 1875 it was produced in Vienna, to critical and popular success, which began its path to worldwide popularity.
The story is set in Seville, Spain, around 1820, and concerns the eponymous Carmen, a beautiful Gypsy with a fiery temper. Free with her love, she woos the corporal Don José, an inexperienced soldier. Their relationship leads to his rejection of his former love, mutiny against his superior, and joining a gang of smugglers. His jealousy when she turns from him to the bullfighter Escamillo leads him to murder Carmen.
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