i can't find an opus number for almost anything bizet wrote: apparently all of his stuff was catalogued by a guy named winton dean, an english musicologist born 1916. so all his stuff mostly just has WD numbers, and this is WD31, composed in 1873-4 on commission by the opera-comique in paris. the first run didn't go so well, and it wouldn't begin gaining real popularity, starting in vienna, until just a few months after his death in 1875. it took almost 8 years for it to come back to paris.
this whole opera is full of memorable tunes, a lot of which make an appearance in the prelude. in fact there isn't really any "form" to this overture except the prominence of said tunes. the overture's theme, is a jolly, festive, whirling dance in two, notable for its vibrant percussion and excitement-building trills. it's interspersed with a f-sharp major section that has a softer, lilting melody (which doesn't last long - too much celebration going on).
next is everyone's favorite melody of course - the toreador's song, sung by escamillo later on. the theme returns and brings that to an affirmative close.
this is as far as the recording above goes, which is really a good one - kind of dry acoustics but i like how the direction builds through all the repeated sixteenths and the clarity of the whole instrumentation, which sometimes gets to be a problem (i won't post levine's version here because i think it's really over-muscled. his orchestra is gigantic btw, for some reason this didn't seem to be as much of a problem in the mozart in the previous entry, but i really think they are being overzealous in the carmen recording).
here's mehta doing all of what is technically in the prelude. there's a sultry theme that enters, heralding a darker undertone. lots of harmonic minor and dramatic bass-instrument thumps. and then the prelude ends on a huge diminished 7th chord, and... the opera begins!
see you tomorrow.
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