Summary of the "Chamber Fantasy on Bizet's "Carmen" For Solo Piano

     Carmen was the most beloved opera in the general

repertoire.  With music by Georges Bizet, this work

is the tragic love story between the title role, who loves to

seduce by way of dancing and deception of true love, and Don

Jose, who gets jealous at her when she falls in love with

Escamillo. As a result, Don Jose's enviousness towards Carmen

turns to full-scale rage and desperation, leading him to take

away Carmen's life with his dagger at the end of the opera.

Busoni's transcription is what I call a tableau-operatique,

(operatic tableau) because he composed in such a way that it

is like a movie; each of its five parts shows a different

highlight, or picture, of the opera. He borrows six parts

from the opera, in the order which they happen in the fantasy:

1. Chorus, "A deux cuartos"

(Act IV, no. 25, mm. 1-111)

2. Flower Song, "La fleur que tu m'avais jetee"

(Act II, no. 17 (duet), mm. 129-178)

3. Habanera, "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle"

(Act I, no. 5, mm. 1-116)

4. Part I of Overture of Act I--Setting of the Act IV Scene

(Act I, no. 1, mm. 1-120)

5. Duet and final scene, "O vas-tu? Laisse-moi!"

(Act IV, no. 27, mm. 130-145)

6. Part II of Overture of Act I--Carmen's "Fate Motive"

(Act I, no. 1, mm. 130-145)

[The parentheses depict exactly where in the musical score of Carmen where the borrowings occur.]

The parts here, hence, can be summarized as follows:

Part 1 (mm. 1-81)

     This reenacts Act IV, where a boisterous dance

party is taking place just near the bull ring in Seville, where

a corrida featuring Escamillo Le Torero will take place. The

chorus depicted is "A deux cuartos". Busoni starts off the passage in A major, repeats it in Bizet's 

original key for the chorus, D major, and repeats it in F major, ending on the V in D minor.

Part 2 (mm. 82-101)

     Here, the Act II flower song ("La fleur que tu m'avais

jetee") is transcribed, when Don JosŽ says to Carmen that this

symbol represents the desire for love, although Carmen remains

indifferent to his wishes. The contemporary accompaniment seems

to make the aria more of an hallucination then just simply a

straightforward reformulation. A transitional section based on

the famous fate motive (in which the title role's turn of events will lead to her own murder) appears in mm. 

102-109, leading to the V7 of D-flat, which moves on to the next part.

  

Part 3 (mm. 110-186)

     This time, the part brings out the Carmen's Habanera aria

("L'amour est comme un oiseau rebelle") in Act I; she sings that falling in love with a man may bring with it 

danger--that's the Bohemian law of romance. The key center in this part starts in Db major, and then 

switches to the original key, D minor (m. 131ff.), where there is a flourishing figuration of the motive. 

Another transition passage depicts the Act IV quarrel between Don Jose and Carmen ("O vas-tu? Laisse-

moi!") just before Carmen gets killed (mm. 169-186,Tempestuoso ), which leads to the V7 of A by running 

scales.

Part 4 (mm. 187-278)

     Now, Busoni brings out the Act I overture, although a little slower than Bizet's version. He starts with the 

original key of the overture. But the reprise of the overture theme starts to dissipate thematically with 

babbling-brook arpeggios representing Busoni's new material, although it showed fragments of the trumpet 

call from the overture. Then more arpeggios on the chords G major and B augmented mark still another 

transition, which is quasi-Impressionistic.

Part 5 (mm. 257-272)

     Now, in the indication, Andante visionario,  Busoni shows the stabbing of Carmen by Don Jose in Act 

IV, brought in by a more solemn rendition of the fate motive. (The same fate motive also exists in the ending 

of the Act I overture).  Descending sixths in the right hand shows Carmen falling in Don Jose's arms and her 

blood from the slaughter. The fantasy then ends on a A minor chord, were a lone A in the bass is punctuated 

lightly by soft A minor portamento chords, indicating that Carmen had died (mm. 270-272).

 **********

     The overture theme is used by Bizet also in the "Les voici" chorus with an added countermelody (Act IV, 

no. 26, mm. 27-58) but Busoni does not borrow it in this case.