What is Carmen's story?

The opera Carmen tells a tragic love story with vivid musical strokes. The bright musical tone is in sharp contrast with the dark narrative content. This wonderful role not only achieved the composer's immortal greatness, but also eclipsed the original work of novelist Merimee in front of the opera Carmen. There are not a few literary masterpieces that are caught in the dilemma of simplification, dilution and even distortion. Only the literary adaptation in opera, Cournot's Faust and Thomas' Hamlet are famous examples of simplification and dilution. Even Verdi's Othello is recognized as being on an equal footing with Shakespeare's original works, at the cost of losing many essence of the original literature. The rarity of the opera Carmen lies in that it not only retains the essence of the original novel, but also fundamentally transforms and promotes the artistic quality of the original novel through the unique power of music. Merimee's Carmen is a "famous" short story at best, while Bizet's Carmen is fully qualified to be regarded as a "great" opera.

Nearly thirty years after the publication of Merimee's novel Carmen, Bizet took the initiative to suggest writing an opera with this theme. Obviously, he realized the profound connotation and musical potential of the story. Although the rehearsal of the play was frustrated by the bold stimulation of the story, Bicai stuck to his guns and pushed his way through the crowd, and finally put the play on the stage of Xi Opera House in Paris. Unfortunately, Bicai died of illness soon and missed the brilliant victory of the opera Carmen on the world stage. Since 1875, Carmen has been popular and has always been one of the favorite operas of the audience. Carmen went to the world through opera and music.

Since the birth of Merimee's Carmen, this name has become a well-known symbol with multi-dimensional symbolic significance in western culture. In the evolutionary history of nearly 160 years, the female character "Carmen" attracted all kinds of heroes and was interpreted by different media such as literature, music, movies and dance, but only in the opera "Carmen" did "she" obtain a complete and sufficient ontological existence. This is a person who must rely on the breath of music to get a lifetime. Her charm, wildness, passion and fortitude, and the sensory magic of her whole body almost "instinctively" call music to join-because music is one of the most effective sensory weapons in all art media. The advantages of shaping Carmen with music are self-evident. Carmen seems to be born for music, and music is expecting Carmen.

Bicai used his vivid music to inject hot southern European tones and rich Spanish flavor into Carmen. Behind the noisy streets and buzzing bullfighting cheers in Seville is an amazing love tragedy. Jose, the dragon knight, was tempted by Carmen and fell at her skirt. However, when they fell out, Jose threatened to die, and Carmen refused to give in, which eventually led to tragedy. A straightforward plot, vivid characters, dazzling music and sonorous dance. German philosopher Nietzsche watched Carmen twenty times in a row. His words still retain the ecstatic tone at that time: "This music is good, but it is not French or German, but African. Fate hangs over it; Its happiness is short-lived, sudden and unforgivable. I envy Bi for having the courage to express this emotion that European elegant music could not express in words before-this more southern, brown and black, burning emotion ... and love, which has moved to nature! As a kind of fate, love is a disaster, ironic, straightforward, cruel and natural! Don Jose's last cry at the end of this work-"I killed her, I ... my dear Carmen! I have never seen such a severe and terrible tragic irony that constitutes the core of love. "

A great thinker proficient in music. Nietzsche, with his typical keen sense, hit the nail on the head and grasped the essence of the opera Carmen. Yes, Carmen is about love. However, Carmen is not just about love. In other words, the love in Carmen is not love in the general sense. Through love, the unpredictability and unpredictability of perceptual life are written, and the surly, blind and heartless fate of life is also written. Carmen, a gypsy woman, is fierce and unruly. She is the prey of all men, the trap of all men. Jose, an ordinary soldier, abides by the rules and does his duty. But he unconsciously entered Carmen's magic circle, and bad luck haunted him from then on until he went to destruction. This is the primitive state of perceptual life-"south, brown and black, burning"; This is the true prototype of love-"ironic, straightforward and cruel".

However, in the opera Carmen, the cruel truth of life and the harsh moral paradox never give people a feeling of depression and heaviness. This must be attributed to Bicai's musical talent and keen judgment. The main motive of Destiny is ominous and gloomy, but it is rarely deliberately rendered in music. It often follows Carmen's figure and turns into a light and agile bird. Carmen's music configuration is always full of the temptation of semitone and the rhythm of dance music. The charming charm of her music denies the possibility of the audience making an orthodox moral judgment on her. Jose sympathized and spurned. Bizet fully expressed his hesitation, helplessness, unbearable pain and ultimate hysteria by using the tone change of music. Even Bicai, a somewhat annoying matador, left a deep impression on the audience through the heroic and unrestrained singing of the matador.

The opera Carmen depicts a hot picture of southern life in a relaxed and lively style through this kind of "light lifting" treatment. As mentioned at the beginning of this paper, this black-and-white contrast, light-dark contrast and positive-negative interlacing are the most prominent artistic features of Carmen. Carmen reveals that the positive value of life (love and freedom) and the negative threat (degeneration and death) are complementary ironies. It shows the dialectical tragedy of human nature in a realistic way, but there are no redundant romantic tears. This is due to the composer's detached and considerate attitude towards every character and situation in his works. To this end, Bizet achieved achievements comparable to Mozart in Carmen. More than eighty years after Mozart's death, Carmen reproduces Mozart's wisdom in different environments and conditions, and indicates the arrival of realism. Talented Mozart and dark brown realism, two seemingly unrelated categories meet in Carmen. This miracle has only appeared once in the whole history of opera.