Carmen is an opera by the French composer Georges Bizet, first staged in Paris in 1875. It is set in Spain, and it is full of tunes that people know without knowing where they come from. The music suits any age. The story is for older children, since it ends with a death.
Quick facts
- Composer: Georges Bizet, who lived from 1838 to 1875
- First staged: Paris, March 1875
- Sung in: French
- Set in: Seville, in the south of Spain
- Length: a full evening on stage, with a break
- For concerts: two orchestra suites gather the famous tunes, with no singers
A note for parents
Carmen is a story about jealousy, and it ends in tragedy. For children under ten or so, play the music and tell the story in a few lines. The tunes stand well on their own. The orchestra suites are a good place to start.
Who is who
- Carmen: a bold, free-spirited woman who works in a factory in Seville
- Don José: a soldier
- Escamillo: a famous bullfighter
- Micaëla: a kind young woman from Don José’s village
The story in short
Act 1: the square. Soldiers stand guard outside a factory. Children march past, copying the soldiers. The factory women come out for a break. Carmen sings that love is a wild bird that no one can tame, and she tosses a flower to Don José. Later she is arrested after a fight, and José lets her slip away. He is sent to jail for it.
Act 2: the inn. Carmen and her friends dance. The bullfighter Escamillo arrives with a crowd of fans and sings of the bullring. José comes out of jail and finds Carmen. He gives up the army to follow her and her friends, who are smugglers.
Act 3: the mountains. Life with the smugglers is hard, and Carmen has tired of José. Escamillo comes looking for her. Micaëla comes to tell José that his mother is ill, and he leaves with her.
Act 4: the bullring. Crowds cheer as the bullfighters parade in. Carmen arrives on Escamillo’s arm. José begs her to come back to him. She refuses and says she was born free. José, wild with jealousy, kills her as the crowd inside cheers for Escamillo.
Five tunes to hear first
The Prelude. A blazing march for the bullfight parade, with cymbals. In the middle comes the bullfighter’s swaggering tune. It ends with a dark, twisting phrase that warns of trouble.
The children’s march, from Act 1. Street boys march beside the soldiers and sing in high voices, copying the bugles.
The Habanera, from Act 1. Carmen’s song about love. The cellos play a swaying rhythm over and over while her tune slides down, step by step.
The Toreador Song, from Act 2. Escamillo’s song about the bullring. The crowd joins in on the famous tune.
The dance at the inn, from Act 2. It starts slow and soft and gets faster and faster until it whirls.
About the music
- Bizet never went to Spain. He built the Spanish sound from dance rhythms and songs he knew in Paris.
- The Habanera is a Cuban dance rhythm. Bizet took the tune from a song he believed was a folk song. It was by a Spanish composer named Sebastián Iradier.
- The opera once had spoken lines between the songs. A later version turned the speech into singing.
Read dances in classical music and opera words for kids.
What happened to Bizet
The first audiences were startled by the story, and the reviews were mixed. Bizet died three months after opening night, at 36. He never knew that Carmen would become one of the most performed operas in the world.
Read Bizet for kids.
Things to do together
March with the children. Play the children’s march. March in a line with high knees.
Sway to the Habanera. Tap the swaying rhythm on your knees: long, short, long, long.
Faster and faster. Play the dance from the inn. Clap along, and try to stay with the music as it speeds up.
Be the bullfighter. Play the Toreador Song. Stride around the room with a towel for a cape.
Name the tune. Play the Prelude. Raise a hand when the Toreador tune appears.
Major and minor. The Prelude is bright, and its last phrase is dark. Ask your child to point up for bright and down for dark.
Questions to ask
- Which tune had you heard before?
- How does the music tell you the story is set in Spain?
- What does the dark tune at the end of the Prelude warn us about?
- Which character would you like to play?
Words to know
- Habanera: a slow dance rhythm from Cuba
- Toreador: a bullfighter
- Prelude: the music before the curtain rises
- Suite: a set of pieces taken from a longer work
Print and play
Use a listening journal page for each tune. For first operas with happier endings, read The Magic Flute for kids and Hansel and Gretel for kids. A comedy set in the same city is The Barber of Seville. For what to expect at the theater, read opera for kids.
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Use it with your kids
Print a listening page, a practice chart, or a composer fact sheet. Or try a tool, such as the composer timeline or the piece picker.