Georges Bizet spent almost his entire life in Paris, his hometown. He never visited Spain. And yet his Carmen is considered by many the epitome of Spanish opera. Bizet did not live to see Carmen’s enormous worldwide success. He died at the age of thirty-six, just three months after his masterpiece took the stage for the first time. Today his other remarkable works have been entirely eclipsed by Carmen, masking the trajectory that led to the creation of one of the world’s most beloved operas. In almost all available English-language biographies, serious errors abound, often informed by romantic misconceptions surrounding the life of this remarkable musician. First published in 1991, Christoph Schwandt’s Georges Bizet: A Biography is now widely recognized as the definitive work on this misunderstood composer’s life. Drawing on significant recent research gathered for the revised and augmented 2011 German edition—now translated into English by Cynthia Klohr—Schwandt rewrites and restores the historical record concerning Bizet’s achievements and contributions to the world of music. This work is ideal for students and scholars of opera history and aficionados of what many consider one of the world’s greatest operas ever written.
