Give a verbal description of the musical image of Carmen. The image of Carmen in world art

Often writers, poets, composers and artists turn to eternal images of literature and art. Each author has the right to introduce other features into an already existing image, and to remove the old ones altogether. But still, the brightest facets of this eternal image remain unchanged. The so-called “wandering” plots and images are interesting in all the diversity of these transformations.

Much is known eternal images: Don Juan, Don Quixote, Sancho Panzo, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello and many, many others. One of the most recognizable, popular and, perhaps, even the most beloved is the image of Carmen.

When you see a dark-haired girl with a scarlet flower in her hair at a carnival, the name Carmen pops up at the level of association, and along with the name, everything else that is associated with this name comes to mind: the girl’s love of freedom, pride, charm, divine beauty, cunning, cunning - all that defeated Jose and defeats other men.

According to the director of the new film adaptation of “Carmen” Vicente Aranda, “Carmen became the first world-famous femme fatale in the history of literature, although there are other popular characters. “The femme fatale” has been popular at all times and comes across us, in one form or another, in every culture. Judith, Pandora, Lilith, Kitsune are examples of women of this type from the legends of different nations."

"It seems that Merimee wrote a story that could well have happened in reality. A short novella, written slightly casually, with the ease inherent in those who know how to write. The main character, Carmen, most likely is not a figment of the author’s imagination. Merimee deliberately limits herself and conveys to us only the facts from which we can guess about the character. Carmen's feelings, her thoughts and motivations are not mentioned even once in the story. And as a result, Carmen takes on exactly the image under which we all know her."

Merimee does not idealize her heroes. In the image of Carmen, he embodies all the “bad passions”: she is insidious and evil, she betrays her husband, the crooked Garcia, she is merciless towards her abandoned lover. Her image echoes the image of a witch in Spanish folklore, with the demonic figures of Lamia and Lilith. They are magically beautiful, but they turn out to be destructive seductresses for men. The demonic nature can cause fear, like the superstitious Jose. But why then does she attract men so much?

Carmen is an integral person with a love of freedom, a protest against all violence and oppression. It was these character traits that impressed the composer Georges Bizet, who continued to develop the image in his opera.

The content of the novella has undergone significant changes in the opera. Experienced writers A. Melyak and L. Halevi masterfully developed the libretto, filling it with drama, deepening emotional contrasts, and creating prominent images characters, in many ways different from their literary prototypes. Jose, portrayed by the writer as a gloomy, proud and stern guy who became a dragoon, is shown as a simple, honest, but hot-tempered and weak-willed person.

The image of the strong-willed, courageous bullfighter Escamillo, barely outlined in the novella, received a bright, juicy characterization in the opera. The image of Micaela, Jose's bride, was also developed in the opera: she is depicted as a very gentle, affectionate girl, whose appearance sets off the image of an ardent gypsy. Of course, one cannot help but notice how the image of the heroine herself has transformed. Bizet ennobled Carmen, eliminated such traits in her character as cunning and thieving efficiency, but emphasized in her the directness of feelings, independence, and love of freedom.

The opera is unique with its colorful folk scenes. The life of a temperamental, motley crowd under burning sun the south, the romantic figures of gypsies and smugglers, the elevated atmosphere of a bullfight with particular poignancy and brightness emphasize in the opera the unique characters of Carmen, Jose, Michaela, Escamillo, as well as the tragedy of their destinies. These scenes gave the tragic plot an optimistic sound.

Immediately after the premiere of the opera, which took place in 1875, many negative reviews followed, but at the same time, great geniuses appreciated Bizet’s opera.

P. I. Tchaikovsky wrote: “Bizet’s opera is a masterpiece, one of those few things that are destined to reflect musical aspirations to the greatest extent an entire era. In ten years, Carmen will be the most popular opera in the world.” These words turned out to be truly prophetic. Nowadays, the opera is included in the repertoire of all opera troupes and is performed in all languages ​​of the world, including even Japanese.

"Carmen" is one of the masterpieces of opera. Bizet masterfully recreated the Spanish flavor, the peculiarities of the gypsy nature, and the drama of conflicts.

If in literature the main means artistic image- word, and artistic techniques associated with words, then in music decisive role play – harmony, sound, melody.

The opera opens with an overture, which juxtaposes images of sunny Spain, a jubilant folk festival and tragic fate Carmen.

The instrumentation of the overture is brilliant – full composition brass, high registers of woodwinds, timpani, cymbals. Its main section, written in three-part form, features the music of a folk festival and bullfighter couplets. The richness and freshness of the harmonic sequences (the change of double dominants, unusual for that time) attracts attention.

This section is opposed by the disturbing sound of the theme of fatal passion (cello, supported by clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, tremolo of strings, pizzicato of double basses).

The purpose of the overture is to dramatically expose the contradictions of life. The beginning of the first act is built on contrasts: sometimes harmony reigns, sometimes it is disrupted by the appearance of a daring gypsy. In the lively crowd are dragoons, street urchins, cigar factory workers with their lovers. But then Carmen appears. Meeting José awakens her passion. Her habanera “Love has wings like a bird” sounds like a challenge to Jose, and the flower thrown at his feet promises love.

But the arrival of his fiancee Michaela makes Jose forget about Carmen. He remembers native village, home, mother, indulges in bright dreams. And again the beautiful gypsy disturbs Jose’s calm with her appearance. The “fatal theme”, using the revolutions of an enlarged scale (“gypsy scale”), permeates the musical fabric of the opera. This theme comes in two forms. In its main form - in a tensely slow movement, with a drawn-out initial sound and a wide chant of an extended second - it “bursts” into important dramatic moments, as if anticipating the tragic outcome of the love of Jose and Carmen.

The “rock theme” takes on a different character in a lively tempo of even durations with an emphasis on the last sound of the tetrachord, which in 6/8 or ¾ time introduces dance features. The song about a formidable husband, the seguidilla and the duet of Carmen and Jose create a multifaceted image of a freedom-loving gypsy. The second act, like all subsequent ones, is preceded by a colorful symphonic intermission. The gypsy dance that opens the act is full of fiery fun. Duet Carmen and Jose - the most important scene an opera that so masterfully shows the clash of two human wills, characters, views on life and love.

The embodiment of the heroes’ life ideals is Jose’s “aria about a flower” (“You see how sacredly I preserve the flower that you gave me”) and Carmen’s song, her hymn to freedom “There, there, to my native mountains.” In general, all musical characteristic During the first two acts, Carmen grows out of the element of song and dance, which especially emphasizes the heroine’s closeness to the people. In the second half of the opera, her part is dramatized, distracted from dance-genre means of expression.

In this regard, the most important turning point is Carmen’s tragic monologue from the third act. This change in the means of characterizing the heroine is due to the development of the relationship between the characters in the drama: in the first half of the opera, Carmen lures Jose - joyful tones predominate here, folk color; in the second half of the opera, she pushes him away, breaks up with him, and Carmen’s fate takes on a tragic imprint.

Unlike Carmen, the romance element dominates Jose’s role. It is most clearly revealed in the so-called “flower aria” from the second act. Sometimes José's affinity for the ingenuous style of French folk songs, as is the case in the duet with Michaela, intensely passionate, melodically chanting phrases arise - they are richly presented in the final tragic explanation with Carmen. The theme of “the joy of love” is also imbued with wide breathing and fullness of feelings.

Both central image characterized in Bizet's music in growth and development. Three extended duets, or, more precisely, dialogic scenes, mark the three stages of the drama. " End-to-end action The relationship between Carmen and Jose is revealed in the dynamics of these meetings.

In the first, Carmen dominates (“seguidilla and duet”). In the second, there is a clash of two views on life and love: the “aria about a flower” (in Des-dur) and the hymn to freedom - two highest points this collision, where the dividing line is pianissimo on the dominant (C –dur).

The last duet is essentially “monologue”: José’s prayer, passion, despair, and anger are swept away by Carmen’s adamant refusal. Intensifying the conflict, the shouts of the crowd cheering the bullfighter intrude four times. These exclamations, increasing in tessitura, and thereby in expression, give a sequence of tones that forms the interval of a major seventh between the extreme episodes (G-A-Es-Fis).

The dramatic basis of the final scene is the contrast between the joyful elation of the sound of folk triumph and the leitmotif of fatal passion: this contrast, exhibited in the overture, receives intense symphonic development here.

The last example shows how masterfully Bizet uses the possibilities of revealing the spiritual world of heroes in their connection with environment. One can also recall the contrast between the laid-back fun of Frasquita and Mercedes and the gloomy determination of Carmen in the terzeta of the third act, or the vivid embodiment of the turning points of the musical stage action through “intrusions” - the fight at the tobacco factory in the first act, the arrival of Zuniga in the second, etc.

The image of the beautiful, unpredictable gypsy Carmen is very mysterious. Many writers and poets tried to understand what exactly was so enchanting about her.

Théophile Gautier defined the secret of the heroine’s irresistible charm, which has not lost its magic even after a century and a half:

There's an evil hidden in her ugliness

A grain of salt from those seas,

Where is defiantly naked

Venus emerged from the swells.

The life of the image of Carmen did not end with the premiere of Bizet’s opera; it was continued in poetry by Alexander Blok, Marina Tsvetaeva, in numerous cinematic and ballet versions, among which the most famous movies were filmed by K. Jacques, K. Saura, P. Brook. And the most famous ballet is “Carmen Suite”, written in 1967 for M. M. Plisetskaya, who danced the part of Carmen.

"Carmen" outside of Bizet, I think, will always carry some disappointment. Our memory is too tightly connected with the musical images of the immortal opera. That’s how the idea of ​​transcription came,” said composer R. Shchedrin. “Having chosen a genre, it was necessary to choose instruments, it was necessary to decide which instruments symphony orchestra will be able to convincingly compensate for the absence of human voices, which of them will most clearly emphasize the obvious choreography of Bizet’s music. In the first case, this problem, in my opinion, could only be solved by string instruments, in the second - by percussion. This is how the composition of the orchestra was formed - strings and drums. The score of "Carmen" is one of the most perfect in the history of music. In addition to the amazing subtlety, taste, mastery of voice production, in addition to the unique musical literature“calculation” and “thrift”, this score first of all amazes with its absolute operatic quality. Here is an example of ideal comprehension of the laws of the genre!”

The composer said that Bizet’s music helps singers, “giving their voices to the listener.” V. Elizare, the author of the libretto for the ballet, while listening to Bizet’s opera, saw his Carmen: “For me, she is not only an extraordinary woman, proud and uncompromising, and not only a symbol of love. She is a hymn of love, pure, honest, burning, demanding love, love of a colossal flight of feelings that none of the men she has met is capable of. Carmen is not a doll, not a beautiful toy, not a street girl with whom many would not mind having fun. For her, love is the essence of life. No one could appreciate or understand her inner world hidden behind dazzling beauty."

Here is a fragment from the memoirs of Plisetskaya, who played Carmen: “Of the three Carmen Suites that took place this season, this was by far the best. Carmen was either naughty, then, sadly clenching her small mouth, she looked at the world with the eyes of a philosopher and sage, it seemed that having experienced and survived everything, she continued to study people with the attention and calmness of a researcher, and love was for her the most reliable weapon of knowledge.

Dressing herself in the faces of either a naughty, playing girl, or a wise and mysterious woman like a sphinx, she forced Jose and Torero to fall in love with her, and without experiencing any feelings, she coldly watched as the souls of these people were revealed. She was looking for passions and was already desperate to find them when Jose flew onto the stage like a red whirlwind and interrupted her duet with Torero. And then for the first time she saw that the strength and passion that she had been looking for for so long and which could stir her cold soul were here nearby, she just had to take a step.

And still not believing and doubting, she takes this step, and already understands that she has found a person who could return the sharpness of her feelings, return her love.”

And this duet of Carmen and Jose is the first love duet in the play, her previous duet with Jose and the duet with Torero were duets of duels, duets of exploration, now Carmen and Jose are dancing love.

In the fortune-telling scene, Carmen learns that Jose, the man who gave her love, will bring her death, and shrinks into a ball, thinks, looks for a way out and does not find it, and goes towards fate.

And, having forgiven the blow with a knife, he hangs on Jose’s hand in order to straighten up and in last time play a smile, for a moment becoming the old Carmen, the Carmen from the beginning of the performance.

Carmen Plisetskaya seemed to contain all the feelings and contradictions feminine character- reckless passion and cold calculation, carelessness and fear of death, loyalty and deception - all this is Carmen. “She is a performer, she puts on masks so different that they seem mutually exclusive, she is one and the same, and she is always different and new. She has outgrown the image of Carmen from Merimee’s novel and combined the features of many women from Cleopatra to the modern girl.”

The image of Carmen is alive, it can be changed. These changes are the new things he brought to “Carmen” new author, what he saw new in her. It is interesting how the image of the freedom-loving gypsy was transformed under the pen of the symbolist poet A. Blok.

“It was as if he had prophesied this meeting for himself.

The guitar strings are stretched

He’ll sing!”

This was written in December 1913. It remains unclear exactly when he heard the voice that touched his heart. Either this happened back in October, or a little later.

In 1912, a new theater arose in St. Petersburg - Musical Drama. Second production Musical drama was "Carmen". The premiere took place on October 9, 1913. The performance was a success. So Alexander Blok went to the performance for the second time with his wife, and then with his mother. About a year before this premiere, Blok listened to “Carmen” with the famous Mariah Guy in the title role, but did not say a single word about it.

This time it was all about the performer.

He came not expecting any miracles - and suddenly, in a storm of bravura and disturbing music, the real Carmen appeared on the stage, full of fire and passions, everything is a daring, indomitable will, everything is a whirlwind and sparkle. Flying skirts, red braids, shining eyes, teeth, shoulders.

Then he recalled: “From the first minute there was nothing in common with any of my meetings. First - a storm of music and an alluring witch, and - lonely listening to this storm, some kind of slow rejuvenation of the soul.”

How the ocean changes color

When in a heaped cloud

Suddenly a flashing light blazes, -

So the heart is under a singing thunderstorm

Changes the system, afraid to breathe,

And the blood rushes to the cheeks,

And tears of happiness choke my chest

Before the appearance of Carmencita.

This sketch, still in summer, intended to be addressed to another woman, was processed just in October 1913. And in February 1914, Blok writes: “Fortunately, Davydova fell ill, and Andreeva-Delmas sang - my happiness.” She was an opera actress (mezzo-soprano) not yet very well known to the capital's public.

Ukrainian by origin, she graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1905, sang at the Kyiv Opera, at the St. Petersburg People's House, and participated in the Russian Seasons in Monte Carlo.

When Blok saw her, she was thirty-five years old. She was married to the famous bass-baritone of the Mariinsky Opera P. Z. Andreev. Performing the part of Carmen was her first and, in fact, her only real stage success. Everything she sang later (Marina in Boris Godunov, Polina and Countess in The Queen of Spades, Laura in The Stone Guest, Lel and Vesna in The Snow Maiden, The Magic Maiden in Parsifal, Amneris in Aida "), could not be compared with her Carmen.

And Blok treated all her other creations quite indifferently.

Now it is difficult to judge whether she was pretty. In photographs of the actress (not on stage, but in life), where she is already over fifty, it is difficult to discern the same Carmen in whom gypsy passions raged. But there were also “a row of pearly teeth”, and a “singing figure”, and “predatory power” of beautiful hands.

Blok many times, and not only in poetry, speaks of her beauty, but, in any case, it was not pretty, as it is usually understood. Blok had his own idea of feminine attractiveness, infinitely far from the standard of a written beauty. All his women were not beautiful, but beautiful - or rather, that’s how he created them - and made us believe in his creation.

However, here are the impressions of an outside observer (March 1914): “. red-haired, ugly."

But what does all this matter if only the wondrous one lives and will live? female image, created by the poet's imagination!

Blok lost his head. This is how events unfolded. That same evening, when he called her his happiness, he writes her, still anonymous, a letter: “I look at you in Carmen for the third time, and my excitement grows each time. I know very well that I inevitably fall in love with you as soon as you appear on stage. It’s impossible not to fall in love with you, looking at your head, your face, your figure. I think I could get to know you, I think you might know my name. I am not a boy, I know this hellish music of falling in love, from which there is a groan in the whole being and from which there is no outcome. I think that you know this very well, since you know Carmen so much. Well, I buy your cards, which are completely different from you, like a high school student, and nothing more, everything else somehow has been happening for a long time in “other plans”, and you know about this, too, in “other plans”; at least when I look at you, your state of health on stage is somewhat different than when I’m not there. - Of course, all this is nonsense. It seems that your Carmen is very special, very mysterious. It is clear that the mother’s prayer and the bride’s love will not save her from death. But I don’t know how to separate - my damned love, from which my heart aches, interferes, goodbye.”

Of course, Blok’s letter made an impression on the actress. Soon, when Davydova played the role of Carmen, and Andreeva-Delmas was sitting in the audience, Blok sat down next to her.

The silent meeting in the theater stalls had a continuation that was not reflected in the poems. The actress did not recognize her neighbor as Blok, who was in love with her, and who wrote her a letter.

However, immediately after this meeting, he writes her another letter: “When I saw you without makeup and completely different from your Carmen, I lost my head more than when I saw you on stage. »

The poet was in love. During this period, the cycle of poems “Carmen” was created - all ten poems are addressed to L. A. Andreeva-Delmas. It is not difficult to discern in Carmen the motives that connect this cycle with the previous one. love lyrics Blok.

Life is complex, created from contradictions and indivisible, light and darkness are co-present in it, “sadness and joy sound like the same melody,” and “Blok would not have been Blok if he had not introduced a tragic note into his wide, major-sounding symphony” - true noticed Vl. Orlov in the book "Gamayun".

The motive for changing the “persistent face” has haunted Blok since the distant times of worship of the Beautiful Lady: “But I’m scared, you’ll change your appearance. "

And, of course, it is no coincidence that the epithet “terrible” bursts so persistently into “Carmen”, in the rapid flow of excited lyrical speech: “Oh, a terrible hour when, reading Zuniga’s hand, she glanced into Jose’s eyes. ", "Roses - the color of these roses scares me. ", "Here is a terrible seal of female rejection. ", "Here is my delight, my fear. »

Great passion is beautiful and liberating, but it also contains a formidable danger - it can demand in payment the only thing that a person owns completely and completely - his life.

And my heart began to bleed,

You will pay me for my love!

Blok does not have random, neutral, meaningless images.

And in “Carmen” such details as, for example, a cursory mention of a snake (“You sleep with a whimsical snake coiled around you.”) are not accidental.

The “snake” motif in “Faina” comes to light, also talking about the threat of “change in appearance” (“You will lie with the rustle of a snake.”, “snake infidelity”).

In the final poem of the cycle, Blok himself named what he considers “important.” In it, the earthly, gypsy is switched to the cosmic plane. “The poet elevates his Carmen to the rank of a lawless comet, introduces her to the secrets of the “universal soul,” writes Vl. Orlov.

You are a law unto yourself - you are flying, you are flying past,

To other constellations, not knowing the orbits.

Sending these poems to L.A. Delma, Blok spoke about her involvement in secret forces: “No one told you this about you, and you won’t know or understand this about yourself, or about me, it’s true, but it’s so, I swear to you this too.”

But all this in “Carmen” is not the main thing, not decisive. The main thing is the simplicity and integrity of feeling, the thirst to live and love without falling into astrality. At first, Blok saw in Carmen only a spontaneously free gypsy. And then - “ancient femininity”, “depth of fidelity”.

When writing the cycle, Blok did not abandon the previous tradition, as evidenced by the mention in the text of Merimee’s short story, the names of the main characters, and individual scenes from the opera. An interesting feature of the cycle related to this is the text typed in italics. This first poem is an introduction to the cycle, it contains the most important information- This is emphasized by highlighting the entire text in italics.

The lyrical hero is in a state of excitement, trepidation, momentary happiness even before the appearance of Carmencita. Just as a thunderstorm occurs more than once in nature, and man knows the signs of its approach, so too lyrical hero has a premonition in many ways further development events based on previous experience.

In this poem, Blok shows two worlds, there is a stratification of artistic time and space into the world of art with a pre-known plot, already embodied in the work of Merimee and Bizet, and into another world - the author's.

In the following, only quotations from the libretto and the last word cycle - Carmen. Blok borrows iconic quotes from the opera that speak for themselves, without reference to the source text. In the fourth poem:

You won't pay for love!

In the sixth:

And there: Let's leave, let's leave life,

Let's get away from this sad life!

A dead man screams.

Both quotes indicate a possible outcome, and a tragic one at that. Putting them in italics and using direct speech once again emphasizes that quotes are a sign of someone else’s text, which sounds in the background, predicting the ending of an action that has not yet begun.

The third quote from the ninth poem:

Oh yes, love is free like a bird

Yes, it doesn’t matter - I’m yours! - reveals the cause of a possible tragedy.

The freedom of one person turns into captivity for another; there can be only one way out of such a situation - the death of both (the plot of Merimee and Bizet).

In addition to quotes from the libretto, the cycle contains characters from the novel and the opera: Jose is Carmen’s lover, Escamillo is a bullfighter, Lillas-Pastya is the owner of the tavern.

Blok mentions some scenes from the opera: fortune telling by the hand of Zuniga (the sergeant who was supposed to take Carmen to prison); dancing in a tavern with tambourines and castanets, as well as a night spent there with Jose.

Thus, Blok does not completely reproduce the epic plot; its presence is made up of hints - references to the novel and opera. With the help of quotes, proper names, and individual scenes, the author creates the illusion of an epic plot, which now does not need to be fully introduced into the text.

Blok did not have such a goal - this is impossible within the framework of the lyrical cycle. He arranges the quotes not in the order in which they appear in the opera, but according to the movement of his own lyrical experience. The illusion of the presence of the plot of a novella and an opera is necessary for the author to reveal their internal conflict and create a background for the development of other events.

After description internal state The hero in the first poem in the next four texts concretizes time and space.

Blok reminds us that the action takes place not in sunny Andalusia, but in snow-covered St. Petersburg (“Snowy Spring is Raging”). There are no events in these poems; they are purely informative, creating the direction for the development of Blok’s plot.

Only in the sixth poem does a meeting with the lyrical heroine take place in the theater:

The angry gaze of colorless eyes.

Their proud defiance, their contempt.

All lines are melting and singing.

That's how I met you for the first time.

The space is divided into stalls and stage. The block shows two plots that develop simultaneously: one is theatrical production, and the other - life. Only the performance on stage has already been played several acts ahead - shown final scene before the murder of Carmen, and the personal drama is just beginning.

At this point, the cycle comes to its culmination: in the seventh poem, the lyrical hero receives a sign from his Carmen - a bouquet, which, in terms of its function, is equivalent to the acacia thrown by the gypsy:

Is this the red night of your braids?

Is this the music of secret betrayals?

Is this the heart captured by Carmen?

Three questions in this stanza are resolved further. After this poem, there are three more texts in the cycle, they are answers to the questions posed: poems 8, 9, 10.

Roses - the color of these roses scares me,

And you go through thoughts and dreams,

Is this the red night of your braids?

Like the queen of blissful times,

With my head buried in roses,

Immersed in a fabulous dream. (154)

Is this the music of secret betrayals?

Yes, in the predatory power of beautiful hands,

In the eyes where the sadness of betrayal is,

All the nonsense of my passions is in vain,

My nights, Carmen!

Is this the heart captured by Carmen?

But I love you: I am like that myself, Carmen.

In the last poems there is no sequence of events; in their content they are ecstatic hymns, glorifications of the beloved, her name is repeated in them every time.

It turns out that Blok’s lyrical plot ended at the very beginning. But the poet did not need to reproduce it completely using the already created background. You can easily restore missed events based on the plot of the novel and opera.

Blok focuses on those points that are most important to him. The last question focused on highest voltage cycle, and it is resolved by the last line of the tenth poem. This is where the break from the previous tradition lies. The endings of Bizet and Merimee do not coincide with the ending of Blok; his cycle lacks a tragic ending. The poet created his own Carmen, he transferred her image to Russia and changed the previous tradition.

The cycle began with the name main character and ends with it, in both cases the names are in italics, defining the boundaries within which the general polyphony of tradition and innovation sounds.

Whatever genre the image of Carmen is embodied in, be it prose or poetry, ballet or opera, it will not leave anyone indifferent, it is bright and memorable.

The actresses who played Carmen went through considerable difficulties in embodying the image in cinema, ballet or opera, but this role always brought them great success.

Such a success of “Carmen” in Moscow opened the doors to the world opera stage for Irina Arkhipova and brought the singer worldwide fame.

Thanks to the television and radio broadcast of this performance throughout Europe, she received numerous invitations from abroad. During a tour in Budapest, she performed Carmen in Italian for the first time. Her partner, in the role of Jose, was talented singer and actor Jozsef Szymandy.

And then I had to sing with Mario del Monaco in Italy! In December 1960, "Carmen" was shown in Naples, and in January 1961 - in Rome. Here she was accompanied not just by success - by triumph! It became evidence that Irina Arkhipova’s talent was recognized in her homeland as the best in the world vocal school, and del Monaco recognized Irina Arkhipova as the best of the modern Carmen.

You are my delight, my torment,

You illuminated my life with happiness.

My Carmen.

This is how Jose, who is in love, addresses Carmen in his famous aria from the second act, or, as it is also called, “aria with a flower.”

“I, too, can rightfully repeat these words of recognition to my heroine,” says the actress. According to her, working on the role was not easy, because she had to look for her Carmen. However, long work was crowned with success: “Carmen really illuminated my life, because I have a lot of connections with her. vivid impressions from my first years of work in the theater. This party opened the way for me to the big world: thanks to it, I received my first real recognition both in my homeland and in other countries,” said the actress.

The image of Carmen has been known for a very long time and interest in this character still does not go away. First appearing in Spanish folklore, it formed the basis of the novella of the same name by Prosper Merimee, the opera by Georges Bizet, as well as the cycles of A. Blok, M. Tsvetaeva and Garcia Lorca. A. Blok’s cycle occupies a special position among these works, since it is in it that the epic plot, which has a deep previous tradition, is mentioned for the last time; the poems of M. Tsvetaeva and G. Lorca are imbued only with a number of associations that the name Carmen carries with it. Now Carmen is not just a beautiful, but an insidious gypsy. It intertwines cunning and beauty, which Merimee brought to her image, and love of freedom from Bizet, and sublimity from Blok, and much more that was added by other authors.

The name Carmen is associated with beauty, deceit, love of freedom, rose, habanera, Spain, love - that is why there are so many interpretations in different fields of art. It seems that many more works based on Merimee’s short story, Blok’s poems, Bizet’s opera, and Shchedrin’s ballet will be created, and new features will be introduced into this living, dynamic, developing image.

And yet, for many, Carmen is a symbol of love of freedom and the trampling of all violence. “A fly’s mouth is tightly closed.” Merimee cites this meaningful proverb at the end of the story. Don't hit closed doors. Such a freedom-loving and indomitable person as Carmen will never open her heart to Jose and to everyone else.

"Carmen will always be free. Calli was born free and Calli will die."

The image is young spanish gypsy Carmen was originally described in the novel of the same name by P. Merimee in 1845. The big picture The character of the fatal beauty is formed from men's book narratives.

The narrator meets a gypsy woman on the embankment. The Frenchman has mixed feelings when looking at the maid dark forces. He looks at her with interest, which turns into fear and alienation. The gloomy light, the background of a dark night river, add tragedy and a gloomy atmosphere that will haunt the heroes throughout the entire story.

Georges Bizet, the creation of an opera

Bizet began work on the opera in 1874. The stage "Carmen" subsequently underwent major changes. The libretto was rich in drama and deep emotional contrasts; the characters became more vibrant. A colorful folk gypsy theme was added to the opera. The premiere of the story of the life and love of a Spanish woman took place in 1875, but was absolutely unsuccessful, since the concepts of morality of that time differed from those embodied in the opera.

The first person to appreciate the girl’s image was Tchaikovsky. According to him, this masterpiece of Bidet reflects everything musical goals era. 10 years later, the film “Carmen” is becoming increasingly popular and winning the hearts of viewers.

Bizet's opera brought the gypsy to life folk features character. To do this, the composer moved the scene of events to the square and to the unimaginably beautiful mountainous expanses. The wild gorges and gloomy city slums have been replaced by the sunny streets of Seville. Bizet created a Spain full of joyful life.

He placed in all places a mass of people who are in constant motion, depicting a happy life. An important aspect of the opera was the inclusion folk episodes. The gloomy features of the drama took on the appearance of an optimistic tragedy of what was happening.

Bizet put into the idea of ​​the opera the importance of asserting the rights of people to express freedom of feelings. The opera was a clash of two points of view psychological development humanity. If Jose defends only the patriarchal view, then the gypsy tries to prove that life in freedom, which is not constrained by the norms and dogmas of accepted morality in society, is much better and more beautiful.

Gypsy image of Carmen in the opera "Carmen"

The Gypsy is one of the brightest heroines of opera life. Passionate temperament, feminine irresistibility and independence - all this literally screams in the image of Carmen. She has virtually nothing to do with her literary heroine in description. All this was done intentionally in order to reveal more passion in the heroine and remove the cunning and thieving habits of the book character. Moreover, Bizet gave her the opportunity to seek the right to gain her freedom with a tragic condition - the loss of her own life.

The Opera Overture is the initial description musical image Carmen. A fatal passion plays out between a gypsy woman and a Spaniard, Jose. The music is reminiscent of a leitmotif from a bullfighter festival, it is sharp and hot-tempered. Subsequently, this motif returns in dramatic scenes.

Portrait of a Spanish woman

The full image of Carmen is revealed through the famous spanish dance habanera, which is the ancestor of tango. Bizet created a whole range of languid, sensual, passionate movements to the true melody of Cuban freedom. This is not just a portrait of a hot gypsy, but also a story in movements about her desire to be free in her love - this is her position in life.

The girl's characterization continues in the dance variation until the third act. This is a series of song and dance scenes. Spanish rhythms. Gypsy folklore completes the picture when the interrogation sequence comes. In it, Carmen performs a playful gypsy song, she mocks and defies, singing one verse after another.

Spanish-gypsy character

A more significant description of the image of Carmen appears in Spanish folk dance Seguidilla. Under the virtuoso playing, the gypsy shows her unique Spanish character, and the composer compares the minor and major scales.

The cymbals, tambourine and triangle in the next action return the gypsy appearance to the image of Carmen. The increasing dynamics of the tempo gives the girl a perky, energetic and temperamental look.

Image of Carmen in a duet

The military guy Jose, in love with the gypsy, watches with joy in his eyes her songs and dances using a castanet. The melody is simple enough that Carmen sings it without using words. Jose admires the girl, but remembers his military duty, as soon as he hears the call for collection.

However, freedom-loving Carmen does not understand this affection; even after Jose declares her love, she does not stop reproaching the guy. Afterwards the duet turns into a solo gypsy woman who wants to lure the young military man into her life of freedom. Here you can see a very simple and frivolous image of a passionate gypsy.

Big solo outing

Her solo performance takes great place at the opera. It is built on the themes of saying goodbye to one’s debt and escaping to one’s native land. The second theme is accompanied by a tarantella dance, and the first by song motifs. As a result, all this turns into a kind of hymn to freedom.

However, the conflict worsens, and the more the girl’s experience grows, the deeper and more dramatic the image of Carmen becomes. Crucial moment occurs only during the aria in the fortune telling scene. Carmen finally realizes that having exclusively selfish intentions to select those around her to her will, she is losing her own “I”. For the first time, the gypsy thinks about how she is wasting her life.

The end of the opera

In the fortune telling scene, the characterization of Carmen's image takes three forms. The first and last are funny songs with girlfriends, the second is a separate aria of a gypsy. The expressiveness of the performance of the aria is distinctive feature the image of Carmen in this phase of the opera. The song was originally intended to be performed in a minor key, without dance accompaniment. The low tones of the orchestra part, the gloomy coloring of which is achieved thanks to the sound of the trombones, bring an atmosphere of mourning. The wave principle of vocals is adjacent to the rhythmic pattern of musical accompaniment.

The gypsy performs the last act in duets with Escamillo, who brings a touch of love to the image of Carmen. The second duet is embodied with Jose, it resembles a tragic duel, full of sorrow - it is the culmination of the entire opera "Carmen". The image of Carmen is adamant in the face of José's pleas and threats. She responds dryly and laconically to the melodic songs of the military man. The theme of passion appears again in the orchestra.

The development of events takes place along a dramatic line with the invasion of screams from outsiders. The opera's finale ends with Carmen's death while Escamillo is being celebrated as the winner. Born in freedom, the gypsy decides to commit suicide and prove that she is also free in this choice. The festive sound of the bullfighter march theme is juxtaposed with a fatal motif.

ACT ONE

In the city square in Seville, near a cigar factory, a guard post was located. Soldiers, street urchins, and cigar factory workers with their lovers flash through the lively crowd. Carmen appears. Temperamental and courageous, she is used to ruling over everyone. A meeting with the dragoon Jose awakens passion in her. Her habanera - a song of free love - sounds like a challenge to Jose, and the flower thrown at his feet promises love. The arrival of Jose's fiancee, Micaela, makes him forget about the daring gypsy for a while. He remembers his native village, home, mother, and indulges in bright dreams. And again Carmen breaks the peace. This time she is the culprit of a quarrel at the factory, and Jose must take her to prison. But the gypsy's charms are omnipotent. Conquered by them, Jose breaks the order and helps Carmen escape.

ACT TWO

Fun is in full swing at the Lilas Pastya tavern. This is a secret meeting place for smugglers, whom Carmen helps. She and her friends Frasquita and Mercedes are having fun here. The tavern's welcome guest is the bullfighter Escamillo. He is always cheerful, confident and brave. His life is full of worries, the fight in the arena is dangerous, but the hero’s reward is sweet - glory and the love of beauties. It's getting dark. Customers leave the tavern. Under the cover of darkness, smugglers gather for a risky trade. This time Carmen refuses to go with them. She is waiting for Jose. The sergeant arrives, but the joy of their meeting is short-lived. The war bugle calls the dragoon to the barracks. In his soul, passion fights with duty. A quarrel breaks out between lovers. Suddenly, Zuniga, Jose’s boss, appears. He hopes for Carmen's favor. In a fit of jealousy, Jose draws his saber. The military oath has been violated, the path to returning to the barracks is cut off. Jose stays with Carmen.

ACT THREE

In the dead of night, in the mountains, the smugglers made a stop. With them are Carmen and Jose. But the quarrel in the tavern is not forgotten. The difference between lovers is too great. Dreaming of a quiet life, the peasant Jose suffers from betrayal of duty and longing for his home. Only passionate love Carmen holds him in a smugglers' camp. But Carmen no longer loves him, the gap between them cannot be avoided. What will the cards tell her? She predicted happiness for her friends, but fate does not promise joy for Carmen herself: she read her death sentence in the cards. With deep sorrow she reflects on the future. Suddenly Escamillo arrives - he is in a hurry to go on a date with Carmen. Jose blocks his way. Jealousy and indignation flare up in his soul. Carmen stops the rivals' fight. At this moment, Jose notices Micaela, who, overcoming her fear, came to the smugglers’ camp to take Jose away. But he does not heed her words. Only the news of his mother’s fatal illness forces Jose to leave Carmen. But their meeting lies ahead...

ACT FOUR

Bright sunny day. The square in Seville is full of people. The crowd eagerly awaits the start of the bullfight. Noisily and joyfully they greet the procession of bullfighting heroes, led by everyone's favorite Escamillo. Carmen also greets him. She is attracted to the cheerful, courageous Escamillo. Frasquita and Mercedes warn Carmen about the impending danger: Jose is constantly watching her. But Carmen does not listen to them, she rushes to the bullfight. Jose stops her. He addresses his beloved tenderly and lovingly. But Carmen is inexorable: everything is over between them. “I was born free, and I will die free,” she proudly throws in Jose’s face. In a fit of anger, he stabs Carmen to death. By death she asserts her freedom.

Good afternoon to everyone who stopped by!

It is with this review-article that I begin a series of analysis-analysis foreign works second half of the 19th century.

Today we will have an analysis "Carmen" by P. Merimee

• Stages of creativity of P. Merimee
• The structure of an ellipsis novella
• Composition of the novella
• Plot Features
• Image of Don Jose
• Image of Carmen

​Stages of P. Merimee’s creativity

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Traditionally, literary criticism distinguishes 3 stages in the work of P. Merimee:

1. 1822-1833 (P. Merimee leaves the channel of romanticism, but at the same time this direction does not comprehend ironically. Starts to choose genre forms. Actively writes short stories as a single cycle, is interested in the history of France)
2. 1833-1846 (at this stage the genre of the short story-ellipsis appears)
3. 1846-1870 (actively translates foreign literature, including Russian)

The structure of an ellipsis novella

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According to Wikipedia

Ellipsis(from ancient Greek ἔλλειψις - lack) in linguistics - intentional omission of words that are not essential to the meaning of the expression

The same principle applies in a work of art. Only instead of words, entire events are skipped.

Novella-ellipsis -

This is a work of art in which all content is organized around two centers, equal in rights and interacting with each other. In terms of plot, only the center serves as the basis of the short story, while the others form the outline. A dynamic plot that emphasizes the storytelling situation.

If translated from Russian into Russian, then:

• Two equal centers are Carmen and Jose
• They interact closely with each other
• The plot develops dynamically: Don Jose tells his story to the narrator, which is the basis of the novella
• The short story tells only the most important things to reveal the characters' images
• Jose's story is the center, and parts 1 and 4 of the novella are the essay

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Composition of the novella

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My favorite type of composition! Of course, in the middle of the 19th century it was no longer new.

This story within a story

If you imagine the composition schematically, you will get a square within a square or a circle within a circle

External frame short stories are the speech of a narrator-traveler-archaeologist (which is also very important). The hero-narrator conveys Jose's story to the reader.

Interior short stories - the story of Jose's life and his love for Carmen.

It is very important to pay attention to points of view here. Jose sees Carmen very differently from the narrator

This is how our hero-archaeologist saw her:

suddenly some woman, having climbed the stairs from the river, sat down next to me. She had it in her hair large bouquet jasmine, whose petals emit an intoxicating scent in the evening. She was dressed simply, perhaps even poorly, in all black, like most grisettes in the evenings. Society women wear black only in the morning; in the evening they dress a la Francesa. Approaching me, my bather dropped the mantilla that covered her head onto her shoulders, “and in the gloomy light streaming from the stars,” I saw that she was short, young, well-built, and that she had huge eyes.

And this is how Carmencita appeared before Jose:

She was wearing a very short red skirt, which allowed her to see white silk stockings, rather holey, and pretty red morocco shoes, tied with fiery-colored ribbons. She pulled back her mantilla to reveal her shoulders and a large bouquet of acacia tucked into the neckline of her shirt. She also had an acacia flower in her teeth, and she walked, moving her hips, like a young Cordovan stud mare.

The same woman is seen completely differently by two heroes. It is called points of view. For an archaeologist, only the external part is important: eyes, height, physique, hair. Jose notes something completely different: what Carmen did and how

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Plot Features

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At first glance, the plot may seem very simple: a certain criminal, before his death, decides to tell the story of his life to a casual acquaintance, the acquaintance remembers this story, and then publishes it.

In fact, everything is not so simple (that’s why I love literature)

• The plot develops in exotic setting

For Don José Lizarrabengoa, the place where events unfold is not his homeland; he is Basque by nationality, and, having found himself in a foreign environment, he contrasts sharply with it.

Carmen is a gypsy, and gypsies are nomadic people. In addition, Andalusia is also not a native place for her - she was born in Etxalar and grew up in Seville:

“I’m from Elizondo,” I answered her in Basque, excited that she spoke my language.

“And I’m from Etxalar,” she said. (This is four hours away from us.) - The gypsies took me to Seville. I worked in a factory to save up enough to return to Navarre to my poor mother, who has no other support than me and a small barratcea with two dozen cider apple trees.

• pinnacle plot

The apex of the plot refers to the ellipse.

In literary criticism, pinnacle is understood as a reflection of only the main events that are turning points for the hero’s fate. If we were to imagine a coordinate axis, then the dots on it would indicate decisive events, after which the line would move down, indicating a decrease in tension. Ultimately, the drawing is mountains. That is why we call this phenomenon in texts apexism.

In "Carmen" The main events This:

Meeting of Carmen and Jose ➜ Jose in prison ➜ murder of the hussar ➜ murder of Carmen's husband ➜ murder of Carmen

• Fragmentation plot

By fragmentation, literary scholars understand the reflection of only a series of the most important key events, omissions of details that are not related to each other and do not entail consequences for each other

In "Carmen" one can observe transitions in time, all murder events seem to be of the same order. And Jose tells the narrator-traveler only the most important things from his life. That's why it's a short story and not a novel.

Image of Jose

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Jose is a Basque, a purebred Christian, the type of hero is a careerist. This of course relates to the idea of ​​Napoleonism at the time:

Soon I became a corporal, and they promised to promote me to sergeant

When I joined the army, I imagined that I would at least become an officer. Long, Mina, my compatriots, Chapalangarra, “black”, like Mina, and who, like him, found refuge in your country, rose to the rank of captain general; Chapalangarra was a colonel, and how many times I played ball with his brother, a poor man like me.

In the image of Jose, it is very important to pay attention to alienation motive:

• Fight (an event due to which the hero was forced to leave his homeland

Once, when I won, an Alawian youth started a quarrel with me; we took up maquilas, and I defeated him again; but because of this I had to leave.

• Releases the criminal, commits a crime (an event after which the hero joins the circle of smugglers)

Suddenly Carmen turns around and punches me in the chest. I fell backwards on purpose. In one leap she jumps over me and starts running, showing us a pair of legs!..

It seemed rather unnatural, to tell the truth, that a fragile girl could knock down a young man like me with one blow of her fist. All this seemed suspicious, or rather, too clear. When the changing of the guard came, I was demoted and sent to prison for a month. This was my first reprimand. Farewell, sergeant's braid, which I already considered mine!

On the eve of his death, José tells the story of his life - this biography-confession

Image of Carmen

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Carmen starts a series femme fatales in literature; she has masculine traits (independent, free, “at home” among criminals, smokes a cigar)

• She can't help but stand out from the crowd, she's always the center of attention, but at the same time she doesn't let herself be offended.
• Acts as a tempter (serpent) - biblical implications:

It was on Snake Street that José lets Carmen go; on the same street she later bought a dozen oranges.

For Jose, Carmen is a tempting serpent who offers to go to the robbers.

Jose expected that Carmen would submit to him, but this freedom-loving woman could not do this, she is a gypsy, this is not in her national character.

This is what I wrote Yu. B. Vipper about the character of Carmen:

The ability of Carmen and Don Jose to surrender to all-consuming passion is the source that amazes the reader with the integrity of their natures and the charm of their images. Carmen absorbed a lot of bad things from the criminal environment in which she grew up. She cannot help but lie and deceive; she is ready to take part in any thieving adventure. But Carmen’s contradictory inner appearance also conceals such wonderful spiritual qualities that pampered or hardened representatives of the master’s society lack. This is sincerity and honesty in the most intimate feeling for her - love. This is a proud, unyielding love of freedom, a willingness to sacrifice everything, including life, for the sake of preserving internal independence.

Carmen - this is the embodiment of the entire Gypsy people. She absorbed all the most bright features of this people. It is through her image that the life and customs of the gypsies are shown.

Lukov:

“Framing” was created by Merimee not at all for stylistic reasons (to contrast the “scientific” narrative with the description of the passions of Carmen and Jose), it is an important part ideological plan. The author is primarily interested not in Carmen, but in the gypsy people. Carmen is called upon to emphasize his main features, “physiognomy”, to solve his riddle. The tragic collision between Carmen and Jose is not at all a consequence of the individual properties of their characters: two nationalities and, accordingly, two views of the world collided.

That's how many secrets are hidden in P. Merimee's short story "Carmen". Of course, I have not revealed all the secrets of this novel, but I think this is enough to interest you in the work of P. Merimee

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The main characters of P. Merimee's novel "Carmen":

Carmen- fatal beauty, gypsy and fortune teller;
Jose Navarro-robber, Basque, nobleman by origin (Lizarrabengoa);
Lucas- matador, handsome young man and heartthrob;
Curious scientist-in search of ancient Munda, narrator of the story.

Opera by Georges Bizet "Carmen"

Main characters:
Carmen-gypsy, beauty, factory worker;
Don Jose- guard sergeant;
Escamillo-bullfighter;
Michaela-Jose's fiancee;
Dancairo and Remendado- smugglers.

Summary:

The action takes place in Seville, where the dragoon squadron stopped for a while. Captain Zuniga admires the beauty of the girls who work at the local factory, but Sergeant Jose does not share the boss’s opinion; he has a fiancée, the beautiful Michaela. He has just confessed his feelings to his beloved. A working break at the factory, the girls go out into the fresh air, a quarrel occurs and one of the girls is wounded with a knife. The soldiers who were watching the girls arrest the culprit - this is Carmen, a fatal beauty and conqueror of men's hearts. Jose is assigned to guard the prisoner, but the gypsy manages to seduce the sergeant and he helps her escape from custody. Carmen is hiding with smugglers who operate near the city.
Two months later, Jose is released from arrest, he was demoted to the army. Carmen and her friends are entertaining tavern visitors with dances when they tell her the news about Jose. The young bullfighter Escamillo does not take his eyes off the beautiful Carmen, but she has no time for glances, she is in love with Jose and hurries to meet him, refusing Dancairo and Remendado the next raid. The smugglers offer Carmen to lure Jose into their gang. Jose hesitates for a long time, but the order of Captain Zuniga decides Jose’s fate; he joins the gang.
The smugglers' next foray into the mountains, having hidden the loot, they return to the city. Carmen's feelings have cooled, she has lost interest in Jose, she no longer needs him. Escamillo comes to the mountains, he is looking for Carmen, knowing about the affairs of the gang. Chance brings Jose together with a bullfighter, they they want to find out who Carmen belongs to by staging a duel with daggers, but they are disturbed by Dancairo and Remendado, who have returned for the loot. The bride Micaela finds Jose's refuge in the mountains, her mother dies and asks Jose to come for farewell. Jose hurries to Micaela's mother, but promises to return to sort things out with Carmen, and the bullfighter invites everyone to a bullfight, which he will dedicate to Carmen.
Seville, the central square, the roar of the crowd, in the arena the crowd's favorite Escamillo. Jose is closely watching Carmen, he is constantly next to her. Her friends warn Carmen about the danger, but she neglects the advice, relying on the power of her charms. Finally, they meet, Jose calls to Carmen’s feelings, but they are no longer there, all her thoughts are about Escamillo. Mocking Jose’s feelings, Carmen makes a fatal mistake, a stab with a knife ends the beauty’s life. “Don’t let anyone get you!” - the words of the grief-stricken Jose, who is arrested for Carmen’s murder .