{"id":30583,"date":"2014-03-03T00:00:25","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=30583"},"modified":"2014-03-01T01:12:27","modified_gmt":"2014-03-01T09:12:27","slug":"day-history-march-3rd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2014\/03\/day-history-march-3rd\/","title":{"rendered":"This Day in History: March 3rd"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today in History: March 3, 1875<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"carmen\"<\/a>The music from Carmen<\/em> is recognizable<\/a> even to people who are more familiar with Alan Jackson or AC\/DC than arias, but when Georges Bizet composed Carmen<\/em>, it was no sure bet it would ever make it to the stage.<\/p>\n

The reason for this rested solely with the opera\u2019s plot, which is based on the novel of the same name by Prosper M\u00e9rim\u00e9e. In a nutshell, engaged army corporal Don Jos\u00e9 is seduced by the sultry Carmen<\/em>, and gets tossed in the pokey for helping her evade arrest, smuggling and desertion. By then Carmen<\/em> is so over Don Jos\u00e9, and takes up with a studly bullfighter named Escamillo. When Don Jos\u00e9 gets out of the slammer and gets wind of this, he freaks out and fatally stabs Carmen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This was enough to have the head of the Op\u00e9ra-Comique, where Carmen<\/em> was set to premiere, reaching for smelling salts. He tried to strong-arm Bizet into making substantial rewrites which Bizet refused to do. Finding a performer willing to take on the role of Carmen<\/em> was also a daunting task; every single person approached said \u201cThanks, but no thanks,\u201d until Galli-Mari\u00e9 became the first mezzo-soprano to play one of opera\u2019s most coveted roles.<\/p>\n

As the nervous theater owner feared, critics and audiences just didn\u2019t get Carmen<\/em>. Along with its salacious theme, Bizet also attempted to accentuate his characters\u2019 lower class roots by incorporating the feel of peasant music throughout the opera, a concept that flew right over the bejeweled heads of the Paris elite. The combination of the two proved to be too much for their delicate sensibilities.<\/p>\n

After its premiere on March 3, 1875, Carmen<\/em> was performed only 35 additional times at the Op\u00e9ra-Comique, often to a half-filled house, despite the fact that tickets were being given away for free. However, Bizet could console himself with the fact that, among his fellow artists, his standing as a truly talented composer was a given.<\/p>\n

On the day Carmen<\/em> debuted, March 3, 1875, he was named a Chevalier de la L\u00e9gion d\u2019Honneur. Tchaikovsky, among the greatest composers of all time, attended one of the first performances of Carmen<\/em> and pronounced that \u201cCarmen<\/em> is a masterpiece.\u201d Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms also joined the Carmen<\/em> fan club that year.<\/p>\n

Like many great artists, Bizet never lived to see the immense popularity his work would go on to achieve, as he died quite suddenly of a heart attack three months after Carmen<\/em> premiered. The opera enjoyed a huge revival in 1883, has grown more popular ever since, and as we move further into the 21st century, Carmen<\/em> is the world\u2019s third most performed opera. It is thought that, in various productions, the character of Carmen has been seducing Don Jos\u00e9 onstage continuously for the past 75 years.<\/p>\n

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