Bizet’s Carmen has always held a special place in my heart. As a young flutist in the orchestra, I was enchanted by its endless flute solos — each line carrying those unforgettable melodies. Among them, the “Intermezzo II” from the suite remains one of the most charming pieces I’ve ever played:

And when our orchestra performed Fantaisie Brillante sur Carmen, I watched from the second flute chair as the principal soared through the piece. To me, it felt like the ultimate dream — dazzling, playful, and endlessly expressive:

Carmen herself has fascinated me just as much as the music. She’s bold, rebellious, unapologetically free — a “burning rose” who loves fiercely and leaves without regret. For an opera written in 1875, this character was shockingly modern, unbound by convention, and that’s what makes her timeless.

Bizet paid a price for this daring vision. The premiere of Carmen at the Opéra Comique was a failure; critics balked at its “low-life” characters and Carmen’s unrepentant freedom. Bizet died three months later, never knowing his work would become one of the most beloved operas in history.

Georges Bizet’s iconic opera Carmen premiered at the Opéra Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875.

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When he completed the orchestration in the summer of 1874, Bizet was in no doubt of the quality of what he had written, saying: “They make out that I am obscure, complicated, tedious, more fettered by technical skill than lit by inspiration. Well, this time I have written a work that is full of clarity and vivacity, full of colour and melody.”… He re-wrote the famous ‘Habanera’ no fewer than 14 times to accommodate the original Carmen, Célestine Galli-Marié.

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There is surely only one reaction worse than having your opera booed and jeered at: complete silence.

The audience was so scandalised by the opera’s ‘obscenity’ and ‘immorality’ that the opening-night audience fell silent. The next day, the reviews ranged from disappointed to horrified:

“The role of Carmen is not a success for Mme Galli-Marié. She is trivial and brutal; she turns this feline girl into a cynical harlot.” – Paul de Saint-Victor, in Le moniteur

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After the less-than-successful premiere, performances of Carmen continued – but as word spread that the opera was damned by critics, the opera house’s management had to start giving away free tickets to fill the theatre.

During the first run in Paris, the morning after the 32nd performance, word broke that Bizet had died of a sudden heart attack. He was just 36.

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But critics still recognised Bizet’s talent: even Tchaikovsky went to see it, and declared it to be “a masterpiece in every sense of the word”.

Classical FM Did you know that Carmen had a completely DISASTROUS premiere?

Today, the Habanera, the Toreador Song, and the overture are etched into collective memory — melodies that ignite, seduce, and endure.