[Please note that this entry focuses on Bizet and his most famous work,
Carmen. Ed.]
George Bizet (1838-1875), the French composer, was born and lived in Paris, and in his short life mainly wrote operas. His early works are Les Pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers, 1863), composed to a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré, and set in ancient Ceylon – though it was originally meant to be pre-Columbian Mexico – and La Jolie Fille de Perth (The Fair Maid of Perth 1867), based on Sir Walter Scott's novel. Djamileh (1873), a one-act opera set in Cairo, with an Arabian Nights theme, followed, along with other attempts at opera (including a draft act for Clarissa). Before Carmen Bizet also wrote incidental music for Daudet's L'Arlésienne. An earlier work on a Turkish theme, La
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Citation: Tambling, Jeremy. "Georges Bizet". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5129, accessed 22 November 2024.]