6 - How Carmen Became a Repertory Opera in Italy and in Italian

Summary

Bizet’s Carmen had a major impact on Italian opera, yet its success was not easy or certain. The opera was significantly modified to suit Italian tastes, stripped of its key generic markers, translated and reinterpreted by Italian singers. These changes are more striking since the first Italian version of Carmen appears to have been made by the French, while the opera’s real popularity in Italy corresponds to the appearance of a second, Italianised version. At the same time, French singers, such as Célestine Galli-Marié, regularly performed the role in Italy, so the Italian version had many points of contact with the French performing tradition. The Italian version of Carmen inspired dialogues about the nature of realism’in the Italian press, and affected the realist composers of the giovane scuola (Puccini, Mascagni et al.). Carmen’s success helped turn its Italian publishers, the Casa Sonzogno, into major power brokers in Italian opera, and the opera became a key part of their corporate brand.