Output details

Edition of vocal score of Bizet's 'Carmen', opéra-comique in four acts

This ‘performance urtext’ of Carmen is based on material performed in the opera’s first run. It presents the sources together: the libretto containing the spoken material performed at the Opéra Comique; the performing orchestral score (of which two copies exist—one only partly surviving in Bizet’s hand, the other by a copyist); and the printed vocal score corrected by Bizet. The score is annotated with staging materials not consulted before. One feature which has been unearthed is the meaning of a Pantomime in Act I. Included in the first run, it parodies an Englishman, building upon the English presence in the Mérimée novella. Contexts have been summarised in the Preface, and in the essay in the Overture Opera Guide included as a portfolio item. For the Peters Edition I secured funding from Gresham College, the Hinrichsen Foundation and the Peter Moores Foundation.

This score incorporates transposition of the wind instruments into original keys, thus enabling performances of the work on historical instruments, namely Minkowski at the Châtelet and Gardiner at the Opéra-Comique (also recorded on DVD). The edition with commentary is aimed at students and amateurs as well as opera-goers.

A plethora of conflicting sources has caused much thought about what to present as a performable and critical score. This edition has already been used by both professionals and amateurs, and is being reduced for smaller forces for performances in the provinces. It has been broadcast on Radio France Musique twice, and recorded on commercial DVD. It has also been performed, complete, by a British College of Music and by other Opera companies worldwide, but especially in Austria and Germany. Peters Edition is endeavouring to secure performances which will be enhanced by the availability of the purchasable score currently submitted.