Pushkin and "Carmen" Author(S): David A

Home , Carmen (1949 ballet), Carmen (ballet), Carmen (novella), The Gypsies (poem)

Pushkin and "Carmen" Author(s): David A. Lowe Source: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Summer, 1996), pp. 72-76 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746668 Accessed: 16/09/2009 22:42

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http://www.jstor.org Pushkin and Carmen

DAVID A. LOWE

Aleksandr Pushkin's narrative poem The Gyp- Merimee here as a given. In his history of Rus- sies ([Tsygany] written 1824-25, published 1827) sian Romanticism, William Edward Brown and Prosper Merimee's novella Carmen (writ- states flatly: "[Merimee's]Carmen owes not a ten 1844, published 1845) exhibit striking simi- little to Pushkin's Gypsies."' A monograph on larities. Both works tell the story of a fugitive Russo-French cultural ties by Elizaveta male aristocrat who enters into a liaison with Mart'ianova informs readers that "the novella an independcent-minded Gypsy woman and ul- Carmen . . . also reflected the influence of timately murders her because of what he per- Pushkin's work The Gypsies."2 The noted So- ceives as her infidelity. Fate plays an important viet Russian scholar Mikhail Alekseev writes: role in both narratives, as does a description of "There exists the opinion . . . recently con- the Gypsy ethos. The parallels between these firmed by Merimee's French biographer [Pierre two classics of their respective national litera- Trahard], that one of Merimee's most popular tures have caused scholars to raise the question novellas, Carmen, was written under the no- of influence, especially in view of Merimee's ticeable influence of Pushkin's narrative poem demonstrated interest in Russian literature and The Gypsies."3 his publication, in 1852, of his own prose translation of Pushkin's poem (Les Bohemiens). Some scholars write of Pushkin's influence on 'William EdwardBrown, A History of Russian Literature of the Romantic Period, vol. III(Ann Arbor, 1986), p. 238. 2ElizavetaMart'ianova, Ob otrazhenii russko-frantsuzskikh kul'turnykh sviazei vo frantsuzskom iazyke i literature XIX veka (Khar'kov,1960), p. 52. Unless otherwise indicated, translations from Russian and French are my own. 19th-Century Music XX/1 (Summer 1996). ? by The Re- 3MikhailAlekseev, "Pushkinna zapade," Vremennikpush- gents of the University California. kinskoikomissii 3 (1937), 142.

72 This article's goals are to show that such guage.5 Other scholars point to the likelihood DAVID A. LOWE categorical assertions rest in fact on extremely that Turgenev and Sobolevskii would have told Puskin inconclusive data and sometimes on careless Merimee quite a bit about the Russian poet.6 In and Carmen scholarship and that, rather, Georges Bizet's any case, a letter from Merimee to Sobolevskii collaborators Henri Meilhac and Ludovic written in 1835 testifies that by then the French Halevy must have drawn not just on Merim6e's writer at least knew the Russian poet's name novella but also on his translation of Pushkin's and was aware that he had translated several of narrative poem in their adaptation of the no- the ballads from La Guzla (1827), one of vella Carmen for the lyric stage. In short, the Merimee's two (in)famous hoaxes.7 Not sus- case for Pushkin's Gypsies having a direct rela- pecting a mystification, Pushkin had included tionship to the libretto for Bizet's opera, spe- a number of Merimee's fakes in his collection cifically thanks to Merimee's translation, far Songs of the Western Slavs (1833-35); in the outweighs the case for Pushkin's narrativepoem 1835 letter, Merimee asked Sobolevskii to con- having had any impact on Merimee's novella. vey his apologies to his friend the poet for hav- With regard to Pushkin's alleged influence ing caused Pushkin embarrassment. Pushkin on Merimee's Carmen, the primary question quoted the letter in a preface to a later edition boils down to when and how the French author of his collection, and in a note to the 1840 could have become acquainted with The Gyp- edition of La Guzla Merimee mentions Pushkin sies. Here only one thing is absolutely certain: as one of two poets taken in by his fabrication.8 since Merimee began his study of the Russian Anatolii Vinogradov notes that Sobolevskii language no earlier than 1847 and published was the first publisher of The Gypsies and his translation of The Gypsies in 1852, his ac- owned a copy of the poem with an autographed quaintance with Pushkin's poem in the origi- inscription by Pushkin.9 It is thus tempting to nal Russian must postdate Carmen, which he speculate that Sobolevskii may have shown the wrote in 1844.4All that the available documen- copy of The Gypsies to Merimee and described tation allows us to establish further is that, by the contents of the work. Alternatively, the time Merimee penned his tale of Gypsy Merimee could have learned of The Gypsies life, he knew of the existence of a Russian poet from another of his Russian acquaintances, named Pushkin, took a certain interest in him, Barbede Lagrene(nee VarvaraDubenskaya), on had access to information about the poem The a trip to Athens in 1841, or from his distant Gypsies, and could have read the work in French cousin, Henri Merimee, who traveled to Russia translation. in 1839-40.10 Moreover, Merimee could have Merimee began associating with Russians in learned something about The Gypsies from ar- Paris in the late 1820s, and by the early 1830s ticles in the French press. JacquesTolstoi pub- he was quite friendly with two significant men lished a relevant piece in the Revue encyclo- of letters, Aleksandr Ivanovich Turgenev and pedique in 1825, and J.-M. Chopin published Sergei Aleksandrovich Sobolevskii, the latter two articles containing references to The Gyp- an intimate of Pushkin and one of his publish- ers. Mongault conjectures that Sobolevskii urged the French writer to learn Russian and him a few words of the lan- 5Mongault,"Merim6e et la litterature russe," p. x. probably taught 6See,for instance, Alekseev, "Pushkinna zapade,"pp. 141- 42; Pierre Trahard,Merimee de 1834 a 1853 (Paris, 1928), pp. 301ff. 7Inhis first essay in mystification, Merimee presented his 4MauriceParturier ("Notice," in ProsperMerim6e, Romans collection of plays, Le Theatre de Clara Gazul (1825), as et nouvelles, intro., chronology,bibliog., and notes Maurice translations from Spanish. His second hoax was La Guzla Parturier[Paris, 1967], p. 341) states flatly that the French (1827), a collection of ballads allegedly translated from the writer did not yet know Russian when he was working on Illyrian. Carmen.Henri Mongault ("Merimeeet la litteraturerusse, " 8See Mongault, "Merimee et la litterature russe," pp. xvii- in Merimee,"Etudes de litteraturerusse," CEuvres completes, xviii. ed. PierreTrahard and EdouardChampion, vol. I [Paris,1927- gAnatoliiVinogradov, Merime v pis'makh k Sobolevskomu 33], p. xxiii) argues on the basis of Merimee's correspon- (Moscow, 1928), p. 175. dence that Merimee could not have begun serious study of 'ISee, for instance, Auguste Dupouy, Carmen de Merimee Russian before 1847 and that he probablybegan it in 1848. (Paris,1930), p. 88; Alekseev, "Pushkin na zapade,"p. 142.

73 19TH sies in 1828 and 1843.1 Auguste Dupouy pro- Pushkin's Gypsies, as even Bizet's operatic ver- CENUTsIRYvides a false lead here, writing that George sion clearly shows."16 Borrow's Zincali (1841), the recognized source In treating Merimee's Carmen and the opera of most of Merimee's information about the as the same work, Brown makes a logical error, Gypsies, contains a note about Pushkin's but even so he stumbles onto something im- poem.'2 Although Borrow does devote a few portant. It is evident that Bizet's libretto in- pages to Russian Gypsies, he in fact says noth- deed owes not a little to Pushkin's narrative ing about Pushkin.13Finally, at least two French poem, but that fact does not in the least depend translations of The Gypsies had appeared by on Merimee's having drawn on Pushkin for his the mid-1840s, the first in the St. Petersburg novella. Rather, it depends on Bizet's librettists French-languagenewspaper Le Nord in 1829,14 having consulted Merimee's translation of The the second in the Paris newspaper Le Temps for Gypsies even as they based their adaptation, of 10 March 1833.15 It is not known, however, course, on the French author's novella. whether Merimee actually read any of the ar- Vladimir Nabokov seems to have been first ticles or translations mentioned above. to remark Pushkin's presence in Meilhac and In the final analysis, it is impossible to prove Halevy's libretto for Carmen. Pushkin's hero- that, before writing Carmen, Merimee knew ine, Zemfira, sings the following words: much about Pushkin other than that the Rus- sian poet had been a victim of one of Merimee's Staryi muzh, groznyi muzh, own literary hoaxes. All claims for Pushkin's Rezh' menia, zhgi menia: influence on Merimee's Carmenultimately rest Ia tverda;ne boius' Ni ni on highly circumstantial evidence: broad simi- nozha, ognia.'7 larities in plot, Merimee's early acquaintance (Oldhusband, menacing husband, with knowledgeable Russian men of letters, Cut me, burnme: and the fact that the French writer had avail- I'mfirm, I'm not afraid able several sources of information about Of eitherthe knifeor the fire.) Pushkin's poem. The most accurate statement here belongs to Parturier, who cautiously as- In Merimee's translation, the second line reads: serts: "Pushkin's The Gypsies . . . may have "Coupe-moi, brule-moi."'8 Nabokov asserts: had a certain influence on the composition of "From there the line is transferredto Meilhac Carmen." Mart'ianova and Alekseev appeal to and Halevy's libretto, where Carmen sings it authorities that on closer inspection turn out derisively in I, ix."19Nabokov's use of the pas- to be misquoted. The former cites Vinogradov sive voice begs the question of the agency by in support of Pushkin's direct influence; which Pushkin's turned up in the libretto. Since Vinogradov in fact makes no such claims. The Gypsies is hardly Nabokov's primary in- Alekseev cites Pierre Trahard as confirming terest in his commentary to Eugene Onegin, he the case for influence; Trahard qualifies his does not address this question; nor does he cite remarkswith the all-importantword "perhaps." a number of other textual correspondences that Brown's statement completely lacks support- lack any parallelin Merimee's novella and there- ing documentation; it depends entirely on an fore suggest that Bizet's librettists were con- appeal to Bizet: "Carmen owes not a little to sciously borrowing from Pushkin.

'6Ibid.,pp. 341, 52, 142, 218, 238. '7AleksandrPushkin, Tsygany, in Zolotoi tom: sobranie sochinenii (Moscow, 1993), p. 92. Furtherquotations from "See Mongault, "Merimeeet la litteraturerusse," p. xxxiv. this source will be indicated by page numbers within text. 12Dupouy,Carmen de Merimee, p. 88. '1Aleksandr Pushkin, Les Bohgmiens, trans. Prosper 13GeorgeBorrow, The Zincali (London,1841). Merimee, in Merimee, CEuvrescompletes, VII, 89. All fur- '4Cited in Mongault, "Merimee et la litterature russe," p. ther quotations from this source will be indicated by page xxxiv. numbers within the text. '5Citedin Parturier,"Notice," p. 341. I have examined the '9AleksandrPushkin, Eugene Onegin, trans. with comm. issue of Le Temps in question: the prose translation there VladimirNabokov, vol. III(rev. edn. Princeton, N.J., 1975), is anonymous. p. 156.

74 In reaction to Zemfira's song, Aleko, her l'amour?" (Isn't youth freer than a bird? What DAVID A. LOWE lover, says: "Molchi. Mne pen'e nadoelo / Ia power can restrain love?) (p. 92). The overlap- Puskin dikikh pesen ne liubliu" (Shut up. I'm fed up ping imagery is highly suggestive, despite the and Carmen with your singing, / I don't like wild songs) (p. difference in wording. 92). To which Zemfira replies: "Ne liubish'? The final examples of borrowings from mne kakoe delo! / Ia pesniu dlia sebia poiu" Pushkin occur in the opera's last scene. There (You don't like them? What do I care? / I'm Carmen tells Jose: "L'on m'avait meme dit de singing my song for myself) (p. 92). In Merimee's craindre pour ma vie, mais je suis brave et n'ai translation, Zemfira says: "Cela ne te plait mas? pas voulu fuir" (I was even told to fear for my que m'importe! je chante la chanson pour moi" life, but I am brave and refused to run away) (You don't like that? What do I care! I'm sing- (no. 25). In her final confrontation, Merimee's ing the song for myself) (p. 90); and Aleko threat- heroine says nothing of the sort. In The Gyp- ens: "Tais-toi, Zemfira!" (Shut up, Zemfira!) (p. sies, however, Zemfira reacts to Aleko's mur- 90). In the Seguidilla and duet from act I of dering her lover by exclaiming: "Net, polno, ne Carmen, Jose reminds Carmen that he has told boius' tebia!- / Tvoi ugrozy preziraiu" (No, her not to sing: "Tais-toi! Je t'avais dit de ne enough, I'm not afraid of you!-I despise your pas parler!" (Shut up! I told you not to speak!)20 threats) (p. 93). Merimee renders Zemfira's Carmen responds, repeating Zemfira-in words as "Eh bien, je ne te crains pas! Je meprise Merimee's translation-nearly word for word: tes menaces" (Well then, I'm not afraid of you! "Je ne te parle pas, / je chante pour moi-meme" I despise your threats) (p. 96). (I'm not speaking to you, / I'm singing for my- In Merimee's novella, just before Jose mur- self). This exchange, so reminiscent of the one ders Carmen, she expresses a sort of world- between Aleko and Zemfira, has no parallel in weariness, telling him that although she used Merimee's novella. to love Lucas the bullfighter, just as she used to In the same first act Carmen sings her fa- love Jose himself, she now loves nothing.21 In mous "Habanera," the opening lines of which the opera, Carmen expresses quite different sen- read: timents. Pressed by Jose, she flaunts her love for Escamillo: "Je l'aime, et devant la mort L'amourest un oiseau rebelle meme, je repeterais que je l'aime" (I love him, que nul ne peut apprivoiser, and even in the face of death, I would repeat et c'est bien en vain qu'on l'appelle, that I love him) (no. 25). Here Carmen's senti- s'il lui convient de refuser. (no. 4) ments echo Zemfira's, whose last words are (Love is a rebellious bird "Umru liubia" (I'll die loving) (p. 94), which That no one can tame, Merimee translates as "Je meurs en l'aimant" And it's quite in vain to call it, (I die loving him) (p. 96).22 If it suits it to refuse.) The existence of numerous passages from Pushkin's Gypsies that find a clear parallel in In Merimee's novella none of the characters the libretto to Carmen but have no basis in says anything even remotely similar, but in Merimee's novella argues that Bizet's librettists The Gypsies the Old Man counsels Aleko: drew on both the novella and Pushkin's poem. "Vol'nee ptitsy mladost'; / Kto v silakh In looking for confirmation of this double source uderzhat' liubov'?" (Youth is freer than a bird; / for the libretto, one naturally turns to documents Who can restrain love?) (p. 94). In Merimee's related to the composition of Bizet's opera. translation: "La jeunesse n'est-elle pas plus Unfortunately, however, one runs immediately volontaire que l'oiseau? Quelle force arretait

21Merimee,Carmen, CEuvrescompletes, II, 84. 20Carmen:Opera in Four Acts, music by Georges Bizet, 22Mongault("Merimee et la litterature russe," p. xxxv) wordsby HenriMeilhac and LudovicHalevy (New York, points out that Merimee never quite mastered Russian 1959),no. 9. Furtherreferences to the librettoare from verbs, which probablyaccounts here for the present tense this source. in place of the future in the original Russian.

75 19TH into a blank wall, as Susan McClary explains: Merimee's novella. But in the case of Pushkin CENTURY MUSIC and Merimee there is absolutely no textual evi- Unfortunately,we find it necessaryto assume or dence to suggest influence; while with Pushkin a bit the of guess quite concerning genesis Carmen, and Meilhac-Halevy the sheer number of tex- for few documentsfrom the collaborationsurvive. tual and the of their closeness This is truefor two reasons. the artistswere in parallels degree First, in li- close and seem to have trans- argue strongly that, their work on the daily contact, they bretto for Meilhac and in one acted few of their deliberationsin writing ... Sec- Bizet, Halevy ond, the letters and diariesof Bizet and his family way or another stumbled onto the existence of (includingthose of LudovicHalevy, a cousinof Bizet's an additional work in Merimee's ceuvre on a wife) for preciselythis periodwere systematically Gypsy theme, and that they decided to season censored after Bizet's death: that is, accounts of their adaptation with passages from his trans- events were eitherblacked over or excisedfrom the lation of the Russian poem. That the works pages.23 share such profound similarities in overall plot and in the character of the heroine could as with the of whether Merimee only Thus, question support such a decision. It turns out, then, that drew on The Gypsies for Carmen, one is ulti- Aleksandr Pushkin's influence on his- in the realm of in maintain- operatic mately conjecture tory is even greater than we had known. Of ing that Meilhac and Halevy borrowed from course the Russian school of is unthink- Pushkin's for their of opera poem adaptation able without Pushkin, but it looks very much as though even Bizet's Carmen sings several lines whose ultimate source is 23Susan McClary, Georges Bizet: Carmen (Cambridge, A 1992), p. 19. Pushkin too. J'A'