Le destin de Carmen

L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Carmen, Act I, Scene V)

Georges Bizet's most famous opera is staged at the Argentina Theater, in the adaptation of the tenor Roberto Cresca, with the title of Le destin de Carmen. In the new version edited by Cresca, the dichotomy between Eros and Thanatos is taken to the extreme and the whole work is marked by strong passions.

Performed for the first time in Paris in 1875 and composed of four acts with libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, Bizet's Opéra-comique is based on the novel by the writer Prosper Mérimée. Initially it was not very successful and Bizet, who died three months after the first performance, could not see the next fortune.

The plot introduces us to Don Josè, a young sergeant on duty in Seville, engaged to Micaela, his adoptive sister. His peaceful existence is upset by meeting Carmen, a charming gypsy with very free costumes who seduces the sergeant by singing the habanera, one of the most famous opera arias. Carmen would like Don Josè to become a smuggler to live a life without rules: initially the sergeant refuses this lifestyle, but in the end he yelds. But one day Micaela informs Don Josè that his mother is dead and he must therefore follow her and abandon Carmen. At this point a new character enters the scene: the bullfighter Escamillo who falls in love with Carmen and invites her to attend the bullfight in Seville. Outside the building Don Josè, now in ruins because of the gypsy, meets her proposing to start a new life together in another country, but she refuses; mad with jealousy, he then kills her with a stab.

The whole work reaches its climax when, in this final scene full of pathos, the tragic notes alternate with the festive ones of the bullfight that is taking place inside the building.

Photo credits: courtesy of Mythos Opera Festival official site