Bizet

He died at thirty-six believing Carmen had failed. The premiere was at the Opéra-Comique, a theatre for family audiences, and a heroine who smuggles, flirts and is finally stabbed to death left them at a loss. He had a heart attack three months later and never saw it become one of the most performed operas in the world.

There is almost no actual Spanish folk music in Carmen; the Habanera is lifted from a popular song by Iradier, which Bizet took for a folk tune. His gift for melody obscures how sharp he is as an orchestrator — the short woodwind flecks and the pressure in the bass keep the whole opera restless from the first bar.