 |
| (via Wikipedia) |
Some people adore this. Me, I never much liked this piece. It was too obvious. Yeah, I get it - now move it along, please. The entire opera Carmen was annoying for exactly this reason. Yeah I get it now move it along.
You'll love this or you'll hate this. It's the forbidden, train wreck of a relationship, and your approbation will hinge on the beauty of the music or will crash on the rocks of propriety and sanity.
The story is well known - Carmen is from the lower classes, but full of what used to be called "womanly wiles". She sinks her hooks into a rather pathetic character (Don José) who she saw as her meal ticket. She warned him - in this song - that if he fell in love with her, she'd never love him back. Her love is a bohemian child that never knew the law.
L'amour, l'amour, l'amour, l'amourToday we'd describe Don José as a beta, cast aside when Carmen meets a Real Man (the Toreador, as in the Toreador song). Don José flies into a jealous rage and kills him; nothing good happens after that. It's Redneck Opera, if you think about it. Of course, if you really think about it most opera is redneck.
L'amour est enfant de bohème
Il n'a jamais jamais connu de lois
Si tu ne m'aimes pas, je t'aime,
Et si je t'aime, prends garde à toi
Si tu ne m'aimes pas,
Si tu ne m'aimes pas, je t'aime
Mais si je t'aime, si je t'aime
Prends garde à toi !
Love, love, love, love
Love is a bohemian's child
It never knew laws
If you don't love me I love you
If I love you watch out
If you don't love me
If you don't love me I love you
But if I love you, if I love you
Watch out!
Bizet's opera opened on this day in 1875. The reaction in Paris was decidedly cool, and the Opera had to go on the road to build a following. Ultimately it was successful, and this is what people think of when they think Bizet.
7 comments:
Well, you stay at home, I'll gladly see Carmen, though opera is above my pay grade mostly. I still have a hard time understanding the words but with them printed out, I can get it then. ( I even knew the Eye-talian word for it!) Yeah, that's what they are singing.
Great music in that one, and what a lovely voice.
Redneck opera, yeah, I like that description -- perfect!
Well done today sir!
One of my favorites! Saw it first back in the late 50's or early 60's. Just in awe of the old Met. Thanks so much for posting!
Phyllis (N/W Jersey)
Mixed feelings. I understand little to no French and could live without the Springeresque plot, but the music makes it worth the effort.
Good music and yeah, rednecks... :-)
Love this one.
Of course, my kids like this rendition:
http://youtu.be/jXKUb5A1auM
Daddy Bear, LOL. I always loved Beaker.
Also to be filed under "love or hate" -- Filippa Giordano's take on the Habanera.
Post a Comment