Les Dragons DAlcala (Carmen, based on a short story by Mérimé, was first performed at The Paris Opéra-Comique and, though it was not initially well-received, received for 37 performances in the next three months. Bizet had great hopes for the work and was severely embittered by its lack of imitial success. However, it did not take long before became one of the most popular operas, praised by such contemporaries as Debussy, Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky and Brahms. Bizet died shortly after the first perfoemance and so did not live to see its enormous success. This interlude precedes Act 2 its march-like character reflecting the presence of the army garrison. Performance notes: The acco,paniment should be always light and crisply played. The melody lines should also be characterised by a rhythmic clip. Make a difference between the short notes and the slurred pairs in the second section. )
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