Carmen and the Staging of Spain: Recasting Bizet's Opera in the Belle Epoque
Michael Christoforidis and Elizabeth Kertesz
Abstract
Carmen and the Staging of Spain explores the Belle Époque fascination with Spanish entertainment that refashioned Bizet’s opera and gave rise to an international “Carmen industry.” Authors Michael Christoforidis and Elizabeth Kertesz challenge the notion of Carmen as an unchanging exotic construct, tracing the ways in which performers and productions responded to evolving fashions for Spanish style from its 1875 premiere to 1915.
Focusing on selected realizations of the opera in Paris, London, and New York, Christoforidis and Kertesz explore the cycles of influence between the opera and its pa ... More
Carmen and the Staging of Spain explores the Belle Époque fascination with Spanish entertainment that refashioned Bizet’s opera and gave rise to an international “Carmen industry.” Authors Michael Christoforidis and Elizabeth Kertesz challenge the notion of Carmen as an unchanging exotic construct, tracing the ways in which performers and productions responded to evolving fashions for Spanish style from its 1875 premiere to 1915.
Focusing on selected realizations of the opera in Paris, London, and New York, Christoforidis and Kertesz explore the cycles of influence between the opera and its parodies; adaptations in spoken drama, ballet and film; and the panorama of flamenco, Spanish dance, and musical entertainments. Their findings also uncover Carmen's dynamic interaction with issues of Hispanic identity against the backdrop of Spain's changing international fortunes.
The Spanish response to this now most-Spanish of operas is illuminated by its early reception in Madrid and Barcelona, adaptations to local theatrical genres, and impact on Spanish composers of the time. A series of Spanish Carmens, from opera singers Elena Sanz and Maria Gay to the infamous music-hall star La Belle Otero, had a crucial influence on the interpretation of the title role. Their stories provide a fresh context for the book's reappraisal of leading Carmens of the era, including Emma Calvé and Geraldine Farrar.
Keywords:
Carmen,
Georges Bizet,
Spanish music,
musical exoticism,
Spanish dance,
operatic parody,
Victorian entertainment,
Emma Calvé,
Geraldine Farrar
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2018 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780195384567 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2018 |
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780195384567.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Michael Christoforidis, author
Lecturer in Music, University of Melbourne
Elizabeth Kertesz, author
Research Fellow at the Melbourne Conservatorium, University of Melbourne
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