<<  -- 4 --  Robert Hugill    GOSSIP AND REBELLION

Despite the misgivings of the librettists, the failure of nerve of du Locle who had commissioned the work, the publicly stated loathing of the director of the Comédie-Francaise, the première happened on 3 March 1875.

The first Act was well received, especially the Habanera and the duet for Micaela and Don José. At the intermission, the response was warm and the second act started well. But as Bizet departed further from traditional forms, the audience cooled, and the absence of a ballet cannot have helped. During the second interval, the temperature was noticeably less warm and few people went backstage. Comparisons were made, to Carmen's detriment, with Offenbach's Les Brigands, which shared a similar setting to Act 3. By the last interval things were worse and the reception of Act 4 was glacial.

Bizet was noticeably depressed by this reaction and had difficulty in hiding his reaction from his close friends and well-wishers. But after a few days he recovered enough to try and improve the musical performance. Galli-Marié was brilliant and Bouhy, as Escamillo, was more than adequate. But the rest had been rather mediocre. It is perhaps unfortunate that Lhérie, having supported Bizet when it came to changes to the opera, should have proved such a poor Don José.

At subsequent performances the audience came to appreciate the opera and it could possibly have been a decent success. Word of mouth might have helped the opera develop a favourable reaction, but unfortunately the press reviews were violently against the opera. Such a strong reaction could have been controlled and altered if du Locle had been a better supporter of the opera. Many contemporary critics were quite venal and it was part of the theatre director's job to manage the audience and the critics. That du Locle did not do so was a strong contributory factor in the opera's failure.

During the first six months it was played 48 times, but never to a full auditorium. Bizet died in 1875. By 1878, Carmen was a success in the Western world, apart from Paris. Galli-Marié last sang in Paris in 1890 for a gala performance of Carmen to raise money for a Bizet monument.