the #operaclass Education Kit
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 1
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Education Kit for Carmen ...... 3 Is Opera Relevant? ...... 4 What To Expect From Carmen ...... 5 The Story ...... 6 The Background ...... 8 Who’s Who in Carmen ...... 9 Key Elements of the Story ...... 10 Activity 1 - Carmen ...... 11 Classroom Activity – ‘Love is a rebellious bird’ – Carmen’s Habanera ...... 11 Activity 2 – ‘Sweet memories of home’ ...... 14 Classroom Activity –‘Parle moi de ma mere’ ...... 14 Activity 3 – Crossing Boundaries ...... 16 Follow-up ...... 18 Adaptions ...... 18 Activity 4 – Anatomy of Escamillo ...... 20 Resource 1 – ‘Rebellious Bird’ – Carmen’s Habanera ...... 22 Resource 2 – ‘Sweet Memories of Home’ – Don José and Michaëla’s duet ...... 23 Resource 3 - ‘Crossing Boundaries – Carmen’s Culture’ ...... 25 Extending Your Thinking ...... 26 Discussion Topics For Small Groups ...... 26 Resource 4 - ‘Escamillo – Toreador aria’ ...... 27 About the Composer ...... 28 References ...... 29
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 2
Introduction to the Education Kit for Carmen
This #operaclass Education Kit contains information about the opera Carmen, by Georges Bizet. It provides suggestions for activities that are aimed at Year 9 and 10 students in drama and music and links to the NZ Curriculum. We hope that this kit will assist you in making opera connections in your classroom fun and engaging.
The kit includes four sections and four activities:
THE STORY
THE BACKGROUND
WHO’S WHO IN CARMEN – THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR MUSIC
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
The activities in this guide will focus on several aspects of Carmen:
• The main characters of Carmen, Don José, Escamillio, and Micaëla as portrayed through music, words, and dramatic action • The musical style of Bizet’s work and its relationship to Spanish and “gypsy” culture • The historical and cultural setting and the way it informs contextual understanding of the opera
This kit is intended to activate your student’s interest in Carmen, whether or not they have any prior acquaintance with opera. It encourages them to think about opera - and other performing arts – as a medium of immersive and contextual learning, and a source of creative expression.
Check out our website at http://www.festivalopera.co.nz/ for inside information about our 2017 production of Carmen. Also see the #operaclass website http://primavolta.co.nz/opera-class/ for further education resources. Please encourage your students take advantage of our website. The more your students know about the production, the more they will enjoy it!
See you at the opera!
Researcher & Author: Joanne Jowett Morel
Contributor: Stephen Lange
Cover image Moses Mackay
as Escamillo
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 3
Is Opera Relevant?
How can opera be considered relevant to the students of today?
In the introduction to this kit we stated that opera is essentially about people, it reflects society, echoing who we are, how we think and feel.
‘We don’t present our voices to the audience, we resonate our souls’ – Thomas Hampson
Writers and critics across several hundred years of opera history have revisited the universality of the drama played out on the opera stage. The ability of opera to cross country and culture, to reach audiences whose first language is English when sung in Italian, French or German; even to be sung in the sunny pacific when the setting is the depth of a Russian winter…..
‘It [Carmen] deals with familiar situations and emotions – love, jealousy, attitudes to women and male fantasy’
Opera is as relevant to the young people of today – your students – as the ordinary citizens of the great European cities who packed the stalls and side isles of the great theatres. The characters are colourful and all of human life is arrayed before them: love, sex, death, jealousy, power, humour and grief. Our young people see these dramas played out every day in Summer Bay and on Shortland Street, and hear them in the lyrics of contemporary music. The dramatic intensity of opera, however overblown it may seem, can also be a part of this range of artistic expression which can help them to make sense of the sorrows, great or small, that they encounter in their own lives.
“Opera cuts to the chase—as death does. An art which seeks, more obviously than any other form, to break your heart.” ― Julian Barnes
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 4
What To Expect From Carmen
This season, Festival Opera’s production of Bizet’s opera comes to Napier as part of the Tremains Art Deco Festival, 2017.
Carmen
An opera in four acts, sung in French
Music by Georges Bizet
Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
Based on the novella by Prosper Mérimée
First performed on March 3, 1875 in Paris, France
Act I design for first production in 1875
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 5
The Story
The original source of the dramatic storyline for Carmen is Prosper Merimee’s 1845 novella of the same name. The composer and librettists used one of the story’s four parts as their inspiration, deleting some aspects and adding others. The Spanish setting and the Roma people were retained and remain a distinctive element of both works.
Synopsis
Act I a square in Seville in the 1800s, with a cigarette factory and a guardhouse
Micaëla enters, looking for her fiancé Don José. Sgt Moralès tells her that Don José is part of a different company, but asks her to stay with them instead. Their advances force her to run away. Don José enters with the changing of the guard. Street urchins are imitating the soldiers. Lieutenant Zuniga mentions that he wants to stay and watch the pretty girls at the cigarette factory; José states that he only has eyes for Micaëla. The women of the factory come out, greeted by the waiting men. Among them is Carmen. All the men try to woo her, but it is the disinterested José that catches her eye. She sings the habanera, and throws José a flower. He is momentarily entranced by Carmen, but Micaëla returns and the two of them sing a love duet. There is a scream from the factory; Zuniga sends José to investigate. He brings out Carmen, who has stabbed another woman. Zuniga orders José to tie her up while he prepares to take her to the guardhouse. Carmen tempts José to release her, saying that he is now in love with her. He begins to loosen her bonds, and she escapes. Don José is arrested for releasing her.
Act II Lillas Pastia’s Tavern
In the middle of a party Carmen and her friends, Frasquita and Mercédès, sing about the gypsy life to the delight of Captain Zuniga and his soldiers, who flirt with the girls. Zuniga mentions that José will be released from prison today. The matador Escamillo enters with his friends, who sing of his success both in the bullring, and in love. Escamillo tries to woo Carmen, who spurns him, thinking of José. As the tavern closes, smugglers invite the girls to join them on some misadventure. Carmen declines, saying she is waiting for her lover. José arrives, and declares his love for her. He sings that the faded scent of the flower she threw him was what helped José get through prison. Carmen replies that if he loved her, he would escape into the mountains with her. Zuniga then bursts in, and orders José back to the barracks. José refuses, and they fight. The smugglers re-enter, and Zuniga is disarmed and chased from the tavern. José realizes he must now flee with the smugglers as an outlaw.
Act III A mountain pass
The gypsies set up camp. José struggles with his deserter status, while Carmen starts to feel bored with José. Frasquita, Mercédès, and Carmen start to tell fortunes with their cards. Frasquita sees love; Mercédès sees wealth; Carmen sees only death for herself and José. She accepts the prophecy of the cards. They all depart to deal with a nearby customs officer.
Micaëla enters, looking for José, but afraid to meet the woman who had stolen her love. She runs away though when she hears a gunshot. The shot turns out to be from José, who was firing at an intruder. The intruder was actually the approaching Escamillo transporting bulls to Spain. He makes a comment about the soldier Carmen once loved, and José attacks him. The gypsies return and separate them. Escamillo then invites everyone, particularly Carmen, to his next bullfight in Seville. José is furious. Micaëla is discovered, and begs José to return with her to his mother. José at first refuses, but Micaëla reveals that his mother is dying. José warns Carmen they will meet again. As José and Micaëla leave, they can hear Escamillo singing… #operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 6 Act IV Outside a bullring
A crowd has formed to see Escamillo, who enters with Carmen. Frasquita and Mercédès warn her that José has been seen in the crowd, but Carmen is not worried. As everyone else exits into the ring, she waits, and a desperate José enters. He pleads with her to come with him and start a new life. She tells him that it is finished between them, that she now loves the bullfighter. She vows never to be held by any man. When she throws back the ring he gave her, José stabs Carmen at the same time Escamillo wins in the ring. The spectators begin to enter, and José confesses to all, saying, “Ah! Carmen! ma Carmen adorée!”
Poster showing final scene, for first production
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 7
The Background – SPAIN, SEVILLE, GYPSIES AND BULLFIGHTS
The beautiful and strong-willed Carmen, the fiery and desirable gypsy, has held the world’s imagination captive for more than a century and a half. Carmen first came to life in Prosper Mérimée’s 1845 novella and was immortalised through Bizet’s operatic adaptation 30 years later.
Carmen can be seen as a connection between the traditional French style of Opéra Comique and the realistic post-Romantic style so popular in late 19th Century Italy. The Romantic Movement promoted idealism and sentiment; the post-Romantic style ‘delved the passions of human existence through more realistic expression, reflecting life as it is lived, including all its sordidness and violence.’
Carmen is set in 1820-1830 in Seville, Southern Spain. Spain was past its years Opéra-comique, French form of imperial glory; it had been occupied by Napoleon, battered by the Spaniards of opera in which spoken dialogue alternates with self-contained fighting the first guerrilla war and subsequently suffered the terrible musical numbers. The earliest destruction of Wellington’s Peninsular War. After the French retreated in 1814 examples of opéra-comique were satiric comedies that incorporated Spain was left a country deeply impoverished and divided, with a weak songs, but the form later monarchy and a demoralized army (into which Don José was conscripted) developed into serious musical drama distinguished from other The controversy of Bizet’s opera was that instead of a piece of light, moralistic opera only by its spoken dialogue. opera that highlighted the triumph of virtue – the style popular at the time - he Carmen is a late example of opéra- comique, possessing spoken chose to dramatise the underclass who lived on the margins of Spanish society. dialogue but dealing with a tragic theme. In the opera, Bizet clearly defines Carmen as a woman who had deliberately thought through her philosophy of life and refuses to depart from it. For Carmen, to be free and independent is primary. She has rejected all restraints of accepted society. The fact that Carmen is a gypsy reinforces this independent, outside-respected-society image.
Don José has been raised in a small village with a strict, moral upbringing. For him marriage is a commitment by two people to be faithful to one another. The conflict between them arises when Don José is confronted with Carmen’s philosophy, which is in direct opposition to his own.
The introduction of Micaëla and Escamillo sharpen this conflict. Micaëla represents the moral society in which Don José was raised and symbolizes his ideal woman. Don José feels great passion for Carmen but also wants the same relationship with her that he might have had with Micaëla. Carmen does not share his values and therein lies Don José’s downfall.
Escamillo is Carmen’s ideal lover. He is patient and does not require her eternal faithfulness. He adores her but doesn’t need to possess her.
The opera Carmen is more about the downfall or transformation of Don José than about Carmen herself. Even though Carmen is the central focus of the opera, she is the catalyst that undermines Don José’s life.
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 8
Who’s Who in Carmen
CHARACTER PRONUNCATION VOICE TYPE THE LOWDOWN Carmen A beautiful car-MEN Mezzo- Tempestuous and sexually and strong- soprano forthright, Carmen willed “gypsy” disregards the conventional (or Roma) female behaviour of her time. woman
Don José A corporal in DON zho-ZAY Tenor An honest soldier whose the dragoons love for Carmen leads him to betray his sense of honour and to leave behind the traditional life he has known.
Escamillo A famous ess-kah-MEE-yo Baritone Self-confident and masculine, bullfighter he shares Carmen’s approach to passion and love and is as physical and fearless as she is.
Micaëla A girl from mee-kah-EH-la Soprano Sweet and naïve, she is in love Don José’s with Don José. home village Zuniga A captain in the zoo-NEE-gah Bass Don José’s superior officer, dragoons who wants Carmen for himself. A cold man, he loves his power and position.
Moralés A corporal moh-RAH-les Baritone A fellow officer and acquaintance of Don José’s
Frasquita A friend of frah-SKEE-tah Soprano A gypsy girl Carmen’s
Mercédès A friend of mayr-SAY-dess Soprano Another gypsy Carmen’s
Lillas Pastia An innkeeper LEE-yahs PAH-styah spoken Owns a tavern that is a gathering place of the gypsies.
Dancaïre and Gypsy dahn-kah-ERR Tenor and Living and working their trade Remendado smugglers reh-men-DAH-doh Baritone in the mountains.
*Dragoons – Heavily armed soldiers mounted on horses, alternatively known as Cavalry
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 9 Key Elements of the Story Carmen explores themes of Loyalty, love, freedom, betrayal, self-determination, the social politics of status, sexual power, exoticism (admiring something because it is exciting or unusual), the outsider, thwarted love... Which of these themes are still relevant today? How do they continue to influence popular culture?
• A beautiful and fiery protagonist who smokes cigarettes, seduces soldiers, and defies the norms of traditional female behaviour • An honourable and loyal soldier undone by a fatal passion • A dashing and glamorous popular hero • A world of outlaws and outsiders, existing alongside a world of soldiers and martial law PuzzleFast Instant Puzzle Maker 9/02/17 9:43 am • The differing attitudes and social classes of the main characters PuzzleFast Instant Puzzle Maker 9/02/17 9:43 am
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PREPARATION For this activity, students will need a Activity 1 - Carmen copy of Resource 1 – ‘Rebellious Carmen is a powerful and captivating character. She is sensual and Bird’ – Carmen’s Habanera, as well confident, a magnetic combination of personal qualities which make as the audio selections from Carmen her alluring for men and polarising for women. She is no easy target available online. though, she makes it clear that she will fall in love on her own terms, she cannot be controlled or directed, nor can she be compelled to LEARNING OBJECTIVES: give herself to any man – all the power is hers, and hers alone. In this activity students will: In the Habanera Carmen uses the hypnotic rhythm, dance and visual • examine and analyse how metaphors to proclaim her true feelings. the music relates to the text of the libretto
• explore the challenges of Classroom Activity – ‘Love is a rebellious adapting the literary text to bird’ – Carmen’s Habanera a new genre or era Carmen’s famous entrance aria ‘L’amour est un oiseau rebelle’ is commonly referred to as the Habanera – a term that describes a • examine and analyse the form of Cuban music bought to Spain by sailors. The Habanera has a libretto’s relevance to distinctive sound and rhythm. In Bizet’s opera its evocative melody contemporary culture and and rhythm communicate the passion of Carmen’s character. society Similarly, the words clearly illustrate her philosophy of life and love.
• identify expressions of Carmen’s story has been translated and transformed into many similar themes and content different mediums. In this activity students will translate her in popular culture. signature aria into other forms of music and lyrics. They will:
• Read a short informational text about the Habenera form
• listen to Carmen’s Habanera • read the text in English § ‘translate’ the text into another genre such as hip-hop, slam poetry, rap, or adapt it to a cultural style such as Samoan, Tongan or Fijian…
One of the most famous arias in opera the Habanera encompasses all that is Carmen – elusive, exotic and unable to be tied down to any one nation or tradition. She is essentially a gypsy – she lives outside traditional boundaries and declares “Love is a gypsy child, she has never heard of law.” Conventional notions of love and female behaviour do not apply to her; she is sexually emancipated and she refuses to be tied down.
In this activity, students will write and revise their own versions of Carmen’s Habanera, and then discuss how these values and traits Victoria Lambourn can be adapted to other genres of lyric writing while remaining true Carmen to the spirit of Bizet’s original material.
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 11 NZC Achievement Objectives
STEP 1 DRAMA
Distribute the handout Resource 1 – ‘Rebellious Bird’ – Carmen’s • Investigate the characteristics, Habanera. Explain the importance of this information to the in-class purposes, and function of drama in activity to follow. Ask one or several students to read this handout a range of contexts. aloud. MUSIC Ask a student to read aloud the text of the Habanera itself. • Compare and contrast the Guiding Questions: characteristics of music associated • What is the meaning and purpose of this piece of text? with a range of sound • Could this text be the lyrics to a pop-song or work as a stand- environments, in relation to alone poem? historical, social, and cultural • What ideas do you have about the character who is proclaiming contexts. this text? What can you predict about their gender, situation or • Investigate how music serves a attitude? variety of purposes and functions STEP 2 in their lives and in their communities. Listen to Bizet’s Habanera and have students follow along with the English translation in front of them.
Guiding Questions:
• Does listening to the sung text mean they would now ‘read’ it
differently? • Has hearing the music changed their opinion about how the text works? • Does the text convey more meaning when set to music? • Does the music/melody sound like it fits the words? Why/why not? • Do students understand more about the character of Carmen having heard her sing the Habanera, or do they feel the text revealed her character equally when spoken?
Note: Students do not need to engage in musical analysis – encourage them to explain what they hear and to justify their opinions with evidence
Students should now have a basic understanding of the text and music of the Habanera - ask them to consider the following questions:
• How could the message of the Habanera apply to different kinds of people in different times and places? • How do think its meaning might change when set to music from a different era? • Could its text or meaning be adapted to other kinds of literary expression?
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 12 STEP 3 NZC Achievement Objectives
Based on this conversation, ask your students to write their own DRAMA version of Carmen’s Habanera. Developing Ideas Divide your class into small groups. Students can also write their • Select and refine ideas to develop own adaptation individually if this is more suitable for your drama for specific purposes. classroom’s environment. Communicating and Interpreting Each group or individual should create a new ‘Habanera’ text using an alternate lyrical form. Some genres students may choose include • Present and respond to drama and rap, country and western music, folk music, hip-hop, and slam or describe how drama combines freestyle poetry. Consider also cultural styles from the Pacifica or elements, techniques, conventions, Maori cultures. Remind the students to keep in mind the original and technologies to create structure aria’s meaning and what it says about Carmen’s philosophy of life. and meaning in their own and others’ work. STEP 4 MUSIC Have each group perform their work in front of the class. Developing Practical Knowledge FOLLOW-UP: Discuss the process of adaptation as a class. What were the challenges of translating the aria to a new context? What • Apply knowledge of the elements was essential? What could be changed without affecting the of music, structural devices, stylistic integrity of the piece? What do they feel their peers communicated conventions, and technologies successfully? through integrating aural, practical, and theoretical skills. LOOKING BACK: which themes in Carmen’s aria are universal and which themes are specific to the opera’s setting? Explain your Developing Ideas answer and give some evidence to support your explanation. • Use musical elements, instruments, technologies, and conventions to express, develop, and
refine structured compositions and improvisations.
• Represent compositions and improvisation frameworks, using
appropriate conventions.
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 13 Activity 2 – ‘Sweet memories of Preparation home’ For this activity, students will need a copy of Resource 2 – ‘Sweet memories of home’ – Don José and Michaëla’s DON JOSÉ duet, as well as the audio selections from Carmen available online. Don José is loyal and honourable, at times romantic and passionate but also a little naïve. A conscripted soldier, he is LEARNING OBJECTIVES: nostalgic for his home village and memories of his childhood. In this activity students will: Don Jose is torn between his love for Michaela – it is anticipated that they will marry – and his consuming passion for the wild • examine and analyse how the and daring Carmen. music relates to the text of the libretto MICHAËLA
Michaëla is a shy and innocent village girl. Her faithful and • explore the challenges of dutiful nature is revealed when she delivers a note to Jose from adapting the literary text to a his mother – she also delivers a kiss with the note and this new genre or era causes her much embarrassment. She has feelings for Don Jose • examine and analyse the but the only way she can express them is by respectfully libretto’s relevance to delivering his mother’s message. contemporary culture and society
Classroom Activity –‘Parle moi de ma • identify expressions of similar themes and content in popular mere’ culture. Distribute the handout with the text of Don José and Michaëla’s duet [Resource 2].
STEP 1
Ask two students to read aloud the text of the duet itself. Anna Leese Guiding Questions: Michaëla • What ideas do you have about the characters who are proclaiming this text? What can you predict about their gender, situation or attitude? • What does this text reveal about the two characters? • What remains unsaid in the text – what is not stated or revealed?
STEP 2
Listen to the duet and have students follow along with the English translation in front of them.
Guiding Questions:
• Does listening to the sung duet change or enhance Matthew Reardon what they previously thought about what the text revealed about the characters? Don José • Does the text convey more meaning when set to music?
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 14 • Do students understand more about each character having NZC Achievement Objectives heard them sing or do they think the message is the same? DRAMA Note: Students do not need to engage in musical analysis – encourage them to explain what they hear and to justify their Developing Ideas opinions with evidence • Select and refine ideas to develop Students should now have a basic understanding of the text and drama for specific purposes. music of the duet - ask them to consider the following questions: Communicating and Interpreting
• How could the message in the duet apply to two young people • Present and respond to drama and in a similar situation today? describe how drama combines • Could its text or meaning be adapted to other kinds of literary elements, techniques, conventions, expression? and technologies to create structure and meaning in their own and STEP 3 others’ work.
Based on this conversation, ask your students to re-work the MUSIC text from the duet. Developing Practical Knowledge
Divide your class into small groups. Students can also write their • Apply knowledge of the elements own adaptation individually if this is more suitable for your of music, structural devices, stylistic classroom’s environment. conventions, and technologies through integrating aural, practical, Each group or individual should create a new dramatic ‘duet’ and theoretical skills. text using an alternate lyrical or literary form. Some genres Developing Ideas students may choose include rap, country and western music, blues, hip-hop, and slam or freestyle poetry. They could consider • Use musical elements, putting the characters into a different situation or circumstance instruments, technologies, and or change the delivery method to social media. conventions to express, develop, and Students could also consider reworking the text to reveal the refine structured compositions and ‘unspoken’ aspects of the text, the subtext of innocent love and improvisations. loyalty. • Represent compositions and
improvisation frameworks, using STEP 4 appropriate conventions.
Have each group perform their work in front of the class.
FOLLOW-UP: Discuss the process of adaptation as a class. What were the challenges of translating the duet to a new context? What was essential? What could be changed without affecting the integrity of the piece? What do they feel their peers communicated successfully?
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 15
Preparation For this activity, students will need a Activity 3 – Crossing Boundaries copy of Resource 3 – ‘Crossing Boundaries – Carmen’s Culture’ Bizet created an extraordinary character in Carmen. Her story has a timeless appeal and also contains the classic love triangle—one of LEARNING OBJECTIVES: the key plot points in many literary and dramatic works, including In this activity students will popular contemporary examples such as the Twilight and Hunger Games movies. • Examine the historical and Ask your students to think about the basic character and plot cultural setting of Carmen elements of Carmen and compare them to other stories that they’re
familiar with and which feature similar elements or a similar • analyse how the story could message. be transferred to another
historical and cultural setting Who is the villain in this opera? Is there one? Why, or why not? Do
• consider what other outsider you think this is fair? groups could be described The story of Carmen could take place in any time period and amidst similarly to the portrayal of any culture or ethnic group, and its characters—a beautiful, strong- Roma culture willed woman, a handsome, love-struck soldier, and a charismatic,
popular hero—would be believable in almost any setting. These elements have mass appeal and can be reinterpreted to fit other cultures and times of history that your students have been studying.
In this task your students will select one time period, society, or culture and create an outline for a new opera of their own.
In creating their version of Carmen, they should consider:
• the role of an outsider culture within a society
• conventional norms of behaviour and the ways in which an outsider culture defies those norms
• the relationship between a historical time period and the people who lived in it
Step 1
Review the basic plot and setting of Bizet’s Carmen with your The first Carmen students using the synopsis included in this guide. Briefly review the key elements of the story. Celeste Galli-Marieé
Some suggestions for alternative contexts / settings:
• An East End garment factory, a local bobby, a top footballer, a group of car thieves • A local fish processing factory, a top provincial rugby player, a fisheries officer, a group of paua smugglers • A cut flower factory, a Rio Madrid football player, a local guarda, black market gangs • A garment factory in the Mumbai slums, a T20 cricketer, a local policeman, beggars and slum inhabitants
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 16 NZC Achievement Objectives
Step 2 DRAMA
Distribute the handout entitled Resource 3-Crossing Boundaries – Developing Ideas Carmen’s Culture • Select and refine ideas to develop Ask students to read the paragraph at the top aloud. You may also drama for specific purposes. choose to explore a wider range of information about the Roma Communicating and Interpreting peoples online. • Present and respond to drama and Ask your students to break into pairs or small groups and quickly name describe how drama combines some other cultures and peoples might be viewed in the way the Roma elements, techniques, conventions, were viewed in 19th-century Spain. and technologies to create structure Some similar groups might include immigrants, native or aboriginal and meaning in their own and cultures, or any minority whose culture and language are different from others’ work. the majority in a given country. . Step 3
Depending on your class size, divide students into three or four groups. Explain that each group will work together for 20 minutes to create a new Carmen, transferring the main elements of the opera to another culture, country, or era that they have read about or studied. NOTE:
Feel free to develop your own Instruct the students that they will create their opera outline by questions tailored to your current filling in the activity sheet and answering each question. The curriculum. The essential point to questions on the sheet include: have your students examine is the outsider status of Carmen and to get • What era, civilization, or society would be the basis for your them to think critically about a opera and why? socially or politically analogous setting for the action of their • Briefly describe the characters of Carmen, Don José, Micaëla, adaptation. and Escamillo in your opera. What is their place in the setting you’ve chosen? Students considering a New Zealand context might consider: • What are their similarities to the original characters? What are the differences? Maori tribes of early 18th and 19th Centuries, immigrants and workers • Describe the plot of your opera as it unfolds in the period and of the 19th and 20th Century – in New setting you’ve chosen. It can be as similar or as different from Zealand this includes Chinese gold Bizet’s opera as you like. miners, families and children fleeing • How does the idea of the outsider relate to your story? the persecution of WW1 and WW2, Polynesian families in the 1970’s, Step 4 and Indian and Asian peoples of the Ask each group to prepare a short oral presentation using their 1990’s. ideas from their activity sheet. Have each group briefly discuss the choices they made, why they made them, and how they addressed the issue of the outsider in their opera.
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 17 Follow-up Have your students pick an important section from their new adaptation of Carmen and flesh it out into a fully written scene. Students can then perform their work in front of the class.
Alternatively, open up a discussion about the universal experiences of people in the alternate settings. Your students might have a very personal connection to this material—might they have experience living as an “outsider?”
Can they think of people in our modern society who might be considered living outside of mainstream society?
What does Carmen have to say about the way that past and contemporary societies have treated outsiders? Adaptions Carmen is not just any opera; it is a story of love, fate and morality with a deep, impactful connection to society and culture. As such, there have been many creative and innovative interpretations over the years- over 30 silent films, non-lyric adaptations, as well as plays, movies, and other lyric and dramatic works.
The following three examples are adaptations of the opera or its source novella (Carmen); pick one, watch the clip, and compare it to the corresponding clip of the traditional operatic version.
How is it similar? How is it different?
Think about music, theme, design and characterizations. Is this adaptation trying to be like the original opera, or is it trying to do something completely new? How successful do you think it is?
Which do you prefer, and why?
Carmen Jones: Stan' Up An' Fight! (Votre toast, je peux vousle rendre) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPQ3BD6MeTQ
This excerpt is from Carmen Jones, a Broadway musical from 1943 based on Bizet’s Carmen, with more updated, “modern” lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. This musical is normally played by an all-black cast in a World War II, African American setting. Later, the musical was adapted into film in 1954, starring Dorothy Dandridge in the title role. This particular piece is adapted from the famous Toreador song “Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre” by the bullfighter Escamillo.
Traditional Operatic Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nzsh60MQto
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Carmen on Ice: Seguidilla (Près des remparts de Séville) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3CkejdkSOs
Some people find Bizet`s compositions so charming, even without the lyrics, that they use them in other non-lyric ways, such as the upcoming production of Alberta Ballet`s own Carmen, or, in this case, Carmen on Ice! This dance film from 1990 features Katarina Witt, a very talented figure skater who`d only two years previously won her second Olympic Gold Medal at the Winter Games in Calgary, by free skating to music from Carmen. The skater depicting Do n José, Brian Boitano, won his first medal that same year. Carmen on Ice won an Emmy for Outstanding Performance in a Classical Music or Dance Program in 1990, and is a fresh take on the classic opera.
Traditional Operatic Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3RaYSzOQv0
U-Carmen eKhayelitsha: Habanera (L’amour est un oiseau rebelle)
https://youtu.be/M7KVnHDRAko?t=45s
Perhaps the freshest and most innovative example, U-Carmen is an exciting take on the opera Carmen. Not only does the story of U-Carmen take place in Khayelitsha, South Africa, but the original text of Carmen was translated completely into the South African dialect of Xhosa. Not only are all characters African, but Carmen herself defies the typical image of a slender, skin-baring European woman, showcasing a different cultural take on attraction and seduction. All musical numbers in this film were recorded live without any dubbing, another credit to the artistic value of this fascinating adaptation.
Traditional Operatic Version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y5YRDUxGC8
Bonus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXKUb5A1auM
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Preparation For this activity, students will need a Activity 4 – Anatomy of Escamillo copy of Resource 4 – ‘Escamillo – Toreador aria’ Carmen features some of the best known and most recognised music in opera. Bizet’s score also employs carefully crafted musical themes LEARNING OBJECTIVES: and styles to illuminate the personalities of each character.
In this activity students will Escamillo is the handsome and charming bullfighter who lures
Carmen away from Don José. • examine and analyse how the music relates to the text The following musical activity is designed to help students analyse of the libretto various elements of Escamillo’s character through one of the most familiar musical refrains from Carmen – the Toreador Song: “Votre • explore the challenges of toast... je peux vous le rendre” (“Your toast... I can return”) adapting the literary text to a new genre or era The famous toreador (bull fighter) Escamillo has just entered the tavern, surrounded by an entourage of admirers. He leads the crowd • examine and analyse the in a lively song depicting the life of a toreador. The Toreador Song libretto’s relevance to alternates between two contrasting styles; the verses are sung in a contemporary culture and minor key, which give Escamillo’s words a heightened sense of society drama and suspense as he sings about the heroic activities of the
toreador during a bull fight. The refrain (line or lines of music that • identify expressions of similar themes and content are repeated in a song), however, is in a major key. This change of in popular culture. key complements the Toreador’s words: he switches from singing about bull fights to dreaming of potential love. Still very dramatic, the music sets a more joyful mood, and as the chorus joins Escamillo later in the refrain, the excitement of the crowd becomes increasingly apparent.
In this activity students will view a clip of David Bizic singing the aria in a 2011 production of Carmen. They will use the Handout Resource 4 - Anatomy of a Character to Note: articulate their interpretation of Escamillo. They will then think carefully about the character of Escamillo and The story of Carmen could take place him in a different time period, society, or culture and adapt the English lyrics to reflect the new place in any time period and setting.. amidst any culture or ethnic group, and its characters—a beautiful, The possibilities for Escamillo are as wide and varied as your student’s strong-willed woman, a handsome, imagination. Here are some suggestions to get you started: love-struck soldier, and a charismatic, popular hero—would • a top footballer be believable in almost any setting. • a top rugby player These elements have mass appeal • a T20 cricketer and can be reinterpreted to fit • a Formula One driver other cultures and times of history that your students have been studying.
Moses Mackay
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 20 Escamillo NZC Achievement Objectives
STEP 1 - Ask a student to read aloud the text of the aria itself. DRAMA
Guiding Questions: Developing Ideas
• What ideas do you have about the character who is proclaiming • Select and refine ideas to develop this text? What can you predict about their gender, situation or drama for specific purposes. attitude? • What does this text reveal about the character? Communicating and Interpreting STEP 2 - Listen to the aria and have students follow along with the • Present and respond to drama and English translation in front of them. describe how drama combines elements, techniques, conventions, Guiding Questions: and technologies to create structure • Does listening to the sung aria change or enhance what they and meaning in their own and previously thought about what the text revealed about the others’ work. character? MUSIC • Does the text convey more meaning when set to music? • Do students understand more about the character having heard Developing Practical Knowledge them sing or do they think the message is the same? • Apply knowledge of the elements Note: Students do not need to engage in musical analysis – encourage of music, structural devices, stylistic them to explain what they hear and to justify their opinions with conventions, and technologies evidence through integrating aural, practical, and theoretical skills. Students should now have a basic understanding of the text and music of the aria - ask them to consider the following questions: Developing Ideas
• How could the message in the aria apply to a young person today? • Use musical elements, • Could its text or meaning be adapted to other kinds of literary instruments, technologies, and expression? conventions to express, develop, and refine structured compositions and STEP 3 improvisations. Based on this conversation, ask your students to re-work the text from • Represent compositions and the aria. improvisation frameworks, using
appropriate conventions. Divide your class into small groups. Students can also write their own adaptation individually if this is more suitable for your classroom’s environment.
Each group or individual should create a new dramatic ‘aria’ text using an alternate lyrical or literary form. Some genres students may choose include rap, country and western music, blues, hip-hop, and slam or freestyle poetry. They could consider putting the character into a different situation or circumstance or change the delivery method to social media.
STEP 4 Have each group perform their work in front of the class.
FOLLOW-UP: Discuss the process of adaptation as a class. What were the challenges of translating the aria to a new context? What was essential? What could be changed without affecting the integrity of the piece? What do they feel their peers communicated successfully?
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 21 Resource 1 – ‘Rebellious Bird’ – Carmen’s Habanera
The term “habanera” refers to the Cuban contradanza, a genre of dance music popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The name, derived from the city of Havana, Cuba, was coined when European sailors introduced the dance to their home countries, where it became popular with composers, particularly in France and Spain. The Habanera is characterized by a dotted rhythm and is often performed as a song with lyrics. Bizet immortalized the form in Carmen—the title heroine’s Act I Habanera is among the most famous arias in all of opera. The composer adapted its melody from a popular Habanera of the era, entitled “El Arreglito.” When he discovered that it was not in fact a folk song but a relatively recent work by a Basque composer named Sebastián Yradier, he added a note to the vocal score of Carmen, citing the source.
Rien n’y fait, menace ou prière. Nothing helps, neither threat nor prayer. L’un parle bien, l’autre se tait. One man talks well, the other’s mum; Et c’est l’autre que je préfère. it’s the other one that I prefer. Il n’a rien dit mais il me plaît. He’s silent but I like his looks.
L’amour! L’amour! L’amour! L’amour! Love! Love! Love! Love!
L’amour est enfant de bohème, Love is a gypsy’s child, Il n’a jamais, jamais connu de loi. it has never, ever, known a law; Si tu ne m’aimes pas, je t’aime. love me not, then I love you; Si je t’aime, prends garde à toi! if I love you, you’d best beware!
Si tu ne m’aimes pas, sit u ne m’aimes pas, je Love me not, then I love you; t’aime, if I love you, you’d best beware! Mais si je t’aime, si je t’aime, prends garde à toi!
L’oiseau que tu croyais surprendre The bird you thought you had caught Battit de l’aile et s’envola beat its wings and flew away. L’amour est loin, tu peux l’attendre. Love stays away, you wait and wait; Tu ne l’attends pas, il est là. when least expected, there it is!
Tout autour de toi, vite, vite, All around you, swift, so swift, Il vient, s’en va, puis il revient. it comes, it goes, and then returns. Tu crois le tenir, il t’evite. You think you hold it fast, it flees. Tu crois l’eviter, il te tient. You think you’re free, it holds you fast.
L’amour! L’amour! L’amour! L’amour! Love! Love! Love! Love!
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Resource 2 – ‘Sweet Memories of Home’ – Don José and Michaëla’s duet
José: Parle-moi de ma mère! Tell me about my mother! Parle-moi de ma mère! Tell me about my mother!
Micaëla: J’apporte de sa part, fidèle messagère, She asked me to be her messenger cette lettre. And to bring you this letter.
José: Une lettre! A letter!
Micaëla: Et puis un peu d’argent, And a little money pour ajouter à votre traitement. to add to your pay. Et puis… and then…
José: Et puis? And then?
Micaëla: Et puis... vraiment je n’ose... And then… how can I… Et puis... encore une autre chose and then… she sent something else qui vaut mieux que l’argent! et qui, pour un bon fils more valuable, if I dare to deliver it, aura sans doute plus de prix. worth more than money to any loving son.
José: Cette autre chose, quelle est-elle? Parle donc. What is it? Tell me.
Micaëla: Oui, je parlerai. Yes, I’ll tell you. Ce que l’on m’a donné, je vous le donnerai. I promised to give you what she gave to me. Votre mère avec moi sortait de la chapelle, As your mother and I were leaving church, et c’est alors qu’en m’embrassant: she embraced me. Tu vas, m’a-t-elle dit, t’en aller à la ville; “Go to the city,” she told me; la route n’est pas longue; une fois à Séville, it’s not very far. Once you’re in Seville, tu chercheras mon fils, mon José, mon enfant! find my dear son José. Et tu lui diras que sa mere And tell him that his mother songe nuit et jour à l’absent, thinks of him day and night. qu’elle regrette et qu’elle espère, That she misses him qu’elle pardonne et qu’elle attend. and is waiting for his return. Tout cela, n’est-ce pas, mignonne, That’s not all, dearest, de ma part tu le lui diras; tell him that et ce baiser que je te donne, and give him de ma part tu le lui rendras. a kiss from his mother.
José: Un baiser de ma mère! A kiss from my mother! Micaëla: Un baiser pour son fils! A kiss for her son!
#operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 23 José: Un baiser de ma mère! A kiss from my mother! Micaëla: Un baiser pour son fils! José, je vous le rends comme je l’ai promis! A kiss for her son! José, I’ll keep my promise to her now.
José: Ma mère, je la vois!.. oui, je revois mon village! I can see my mother’s face, and my own village! O souvenirs d’autrefois! doux souvenirs du pays! Oh, what memories! Sweet memories of home. Doux souvenirs du pays! O souvenirs chéris! Oh memories, sweet memories, O souvenirs! O souvenirs chéris, you make my heart strong and brave! vous remplissez mon cœur de force et de courage! I can see my mother, I can see my village!
Micaëla: Sa mère, il la revoit! Il revoit son village! He sees his mother again! He sees his village! O souvenirs d’autrefois! Souvenirs du pays! Oh, what memories, sweet memories of home! Vous remplissez son cœur de force et de courage! you make my heart strong and brave! Etc.
José: Qui sait de quel démon j’allais être la proie! Who knows what demon might have trapped me. Même de loin, ma mère me défend, From afar, my mother protected me et ce baiser qu’elle m’envoie, and this kiss which she sent écarte le péril et sauve son enfant! Saved me from peril!
Micaëla: Quel démon? quel péril? What demon? What danger? je ne comprends pas bien... Que veut dire cela? I don’t understand. What does that mean?
José: Rien! rien! Nothing, nothing! Parlons de toi, la messagère; Tell me, sweet messenger, Tu vas retourner au pays? are you going back to our village?
Micaëla: Oui, ce soir même... demain je verrai votre Yes, this evening. Tomorrow I’ll see your mother. mère.
José: Tu la verras! Eh bien! tu lui diras: You’ll see her! Good, you can tell her que son fils l’aime et la vénère that I love her et qu’il se repent aujourd’hui. and that I’m sorry for any wrong I’ve done. Il veut que là-bas sa mère I only want her soit contente de lui! to be proud of me. Tout cela, n’est-ce pas, mignonne, Tell her all of this, de ma part, tu le lui diras! my dear, tell her! Et ce baiser que je te donne, And give her this kiss, de ma part, tu le lui rendras! that I give to you.
Micaëla: Oui, je vous le promets... de la part de son Yes, I promise… I’ll give her your message. fils, José, je le rendrai, comme je l’ai promis. José: Ma mère, je la vois!.. [repeats as above] I can see my mother’s face, and my own village! Etc. Micaëla: Sa mère, il la revoit! [repeats as above] He sees his mother again! He sees his village! Etc.
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Resource 3 - ‘Crossing Boundaries – Carmen’s Culture’
The World of the Roma The “gypsies,” or Roma, are believed to have originally migrated from India, reaching the European continent in the 16th century. The English word “gypsy” shares its origins with various terms for the Roma in other European languages, including gitan (French), gitano (Spanish), and gyftos (Greek). All of these are outsiders’ terms for the Roma and have traditionally had negative connotations. Since the Roma’s way of life did not seem to conform to Christian morality, they were viewed by Europeans as being ruled by their basest instincts, with no regard for honour or sexual control. In strict 19th-century society, any kind of behaviour that did not follow its austere codes of conduct was seen as morally corrupt. Roma women in particular were seen as sexually promiscuous, immodest, and outside of “decent” society. In much of the art, music, and literature of the 19th century, they were stereotyped as free-spirited, strong, deviant, demanding, sexually alluring, and dismissive. This romantic view was in direct opposition to the female ideal of the 19th-century: a woman who was controlled, chaste, and submissive.
1. What era, civilization, or society would be the basis for your opera and why?
2. Briefly describe the characters of Carmen, Don José, Micaëla, and Escamillo in your opera. What is their place in the setting you’ve chosen?
3. What are their similarities to the original characters? What are the differences?
4. Describe the plot of your opera as it unfolds in the period and setting you’ve chosen. It can be as similar or as different from Bizet’s opera as you like.
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5. How is the idea of the outsider important to your story?
Extending Your Thinking
Exoticism, meaning the artistic use of foreign cultures based on both a love of fantasy and unfamiliarity, is a major theme used in Carmen and its exploration of gypsy and Spanish culture. What are some examples of exoticism in Carmen?
Discussion Topics For Small Groups 1. Based on what you learned about Carmen in the ‘Habanera’ what is her philosophy of how she will lead her life? 2. How does Carmen’s philosophy compare with that of Don José?
3. Why do you think Micaëla introduced into the story? What does she represent?
4. Compare the characters of Micaëla and Carmen.
5. Compare and contrast the characters Don José and Escamillo.
6. Who is the story about – Carmen or Don José?
7. Which character changes or transforms as a result of the plot? How?
8. Would you describe Carmen as a catalyst? Why?
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Resource 4 - ‘Escamillo – Toreador aria’
Escamillo: Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre, I salute you as well, my friends, señors, señors, car avec les soldats soldiers as well as toreros oui, les toreros peuvent s’entendre; both know the joy pour plaisirs, pour plaisirs, ils ont les combats! found in battle. Le cirque est plein, c’est jour de fête! The arena is full, it’s a holiday! Le cirque est plein du haut en bas; The arena is full; the fans are going wild; les spectateurs perdant la tête, they’re losing their heads, les spectateurs s’interpellent à grands fracas! shouting, stamping, Apostrophes, cris et tapage clapping furiously! poussés jusques à la fureur! It’s a celebration of courage Car c’est la fête du courage! for valiant hearts! C’est la fête des gens de cœur! Let’s go, en garde! Let’s go, let’s go! Allons! en garde! allons! allons! ah!
Toréador, en garde! Toreador, en garde! Toréador! Toréador! Toreador! Toreador! Et songe bien, oui, songe en combatant As you fight, dream of qu’un œil noir te regarde the dark eyes watching you et que l’amour t’attend, and of the love that’s waiting for you, Toréador, l’amour, l’amour t’attend! Toreador, the love, the love that waits!
Tout d’un coup, on fait silence, Suddenly there’s deadly silence, on fait silence... ah! que se passe-t-il? ah, what will happen? Plus de cris, c’est l’instant! The moment has come, Plus de cris, c’est l’instant! the moment has come! Le taureau s’élance en bondissant hors du toril! The bull leaps into the ring! Il s’élance! Il entre, il frappe!... un cheval roule, He charges, he strikes… a horse falls, entraînant un picador. dragging down a Picador. “Ah! Bravo! Toro!” hurle la foule, “Hurrah for the bull!” cries the crowd. le taureau va... il vient... il vient et frappe encor! The bull backs up, charges again, and strikes! En secouant ses banderilles, Banderillas pierce his back. plein de fureur, il court!..le cirque est plein de sang! He’s mad with pain; the ring is bloody! On se sauve... on franchit les grilles!.. Everyone runs behind the barriers! C’est ton tour maintenant! It’s your turn again! Let’s go, en garde! Let’s go, let’s Allons! en garde! allons! allons! ah! go!
Toréador, en garde! Toréador! Toréador! Toreador, en garde! Et songe bien, oui, songe en combatant Toreador! Toreador! qu’un œil noir te regarde As you fight, dream of the dark eyes watching you et que l’amour t’attend, and of the love that’s waiting for you, Toréador, l’amour, l’amour t’attend! Toreador, the love that waits! #operaclass Education Kit: Carmen 27 Toreador! Toreador! Love waits for you!
About the Composer
Biography :
Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875)
Born: October 25, 1838, Paris Died: June 3, 1875, Paris
Nationality: French
Genre: Romantic
Pianist Georges Bizet was born in Paris into a musical family: his father was an amateur singer and his mother was sister to François Delsarte, a renowned vocal teacher. His parents fostered his interest in music, and when he had absorbed everything they could teach him, they enrolled him at the Paris Conservatory. Bizet was barely ten years old, the minimum age required for entry into the conservatory. There he studied composition with Fromental Halévy, whose daughter Geneviève he later married.
He also developed into a virtuoso pianist, noted for his technical proficiency and full-score reading (playing the piano from an orchestral score). In 1857 Bizet won the Prix de Rome scholarship for study in Italy; his first opera dates from the same year, the one-act Le Docteur Miracle. Besides composing, he often worked as a rehearsal pianist and orchestrator, which gave him an uncommon familiarity with the works of the Parisian theater.
Today Bizet is remembered primarily as an opera composer, although he did not win fame as such during his short lifetime. In his thirty-seven years he wrote six operas that survive in a performable format, as well as nearly thirty unpublished or incomplete works.
Carmen was drawn from a popular short novel of the same title by Prosper Mérimée (1845), inspired in turn by the writing of George Henry Borrow, an Englishman who had lived among the Spanish Gypsies. Bizet's libretto, conventionalized for the conservative, bourgeois audience of the Opéra Comique, was the work of Ludovic Halévy (a cousin of his wife's) and Henri Meilhac. Since the opéra-comique genre called for spoken dialogue, sung recitatives had to be added if the work was ever to be performed at a grand-opera theater. This was done after Bizet's death by his friend Ernest Guiraoud.
The work was initially poorly received, this was attributed to the novelty and daring of presenting "low life" in this genre and allowing the heroine to die instead of contriving the customary happy ending. Gypsies smoking cigarettes onstage was another risqué element, as was the "immoral" character of the heroine. Carmen survived to become one of the most frequently performed operas everywhere in the world. Several of its melodies are familiar to thousands who have never seen or heard an opera. Georges Bizet
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References
Bourne, J. (2008). Opera The Great Composers and their masterworks. London: Octopus Publishing Group.
Carmen . (2014). New York: Metropolitan Opera.
Carmen Educator Guide. (2015, April 20). Retrieved from http://www.metopera.org/: http://www.metopera.org/metoperafiles/education/Educator%20Guides/Ed%20Guide%20pdfs/Car men.14-15.guide.pdf
Carmen Study Guide. (2016, April 20). Retrieved from Carmen - Minitoba Opera: http://www.manitobaopera.mb.ca/documents/CarmenStudyGuideMarch4.pdf
Carmen Study Guide. (2016, April 20). Retrieved from Calgary Opera: http://www.calgaryopera.com/content/file/Carmen_Study_Guide_.pdf
Carmen Study Guide. (2016, April 20). Retrieved from Pacific Opera Victoria: http://www.pov.bc.ca/pdfs/carmen_study_guide.pdf
Raeburn, M. (2007). The Chronicle of Opera (Revised Edition). London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
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