Carmen Suites (Bizet/Guiraud)
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The Carmen Suites are two suites of orchestral music drawn from the music of Georges Bizet's 1875 opera Carmen and compiled posthumously by his friend Ernest Guiraud. They adhere very closely to Bizet's orchestration. However the order of the musical allusions are in reversed chronological order, and do not adhere to the operatic versions entirely, although the Suite is directly inspired by Bizet's opera.[1]
Guiraud also wrote the recitatives for Carmen, and compiled the second of the two suites from Bizet's L'Arlésienne incidental music.
Each of the Carmen Suites contains six numbers. Both suites have been performed and recorded many times.
- Prélude (A minor) – Act I, prelude (fate motive)
- Aragonaise (D minor) – Interlude (entr'acte) before act 4
- Intermezzo (E-flat major) – Interlude (entr'acte) before act 3
- Séguedille (B minor) – Act 1, Carmen: "Près des remparts de Séville"
- Les Dragons d'Alcala (G minor/G major) – Interlude (entr'acte) before act 2
- Les Toréadors (A major) – Theme from prelude to act 1 and Procession of the Toreadors from act 4: "Les voici! voici la quadrille des Toreros!".
Suite No. 1 was published c. 1885.[2]
The Aragonaise was also used by Pablo de Sarasate in his Carmen Fantasy for violin and orchestra and by Franz Waxman in his own Carmen Fantasie.
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