Composer Bizet, Georges: biography and interesting facts

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

What was the name of the composer Bizet? Many scholars will immediately answer: Georges. This is true, and not really. The great musician received the name Georges at baptism, but in fact his name was Alexander Cesar Leopold.

Childhood and early years

The future composer Bizet was born on October 25, 1838 in Paris, France. His father, Adolphe Bizet, made a living as a hairdresser and directly as a wig maker. A little later, Adolf began to give music lessons, although he did not have any initial education in the field of art. Georges's mother, Aime, worked as a pianist, and her brother François Delsarte became famous as a talented singer and vocal teacher who performed at the courts of Louis Philippe and Napoleon III. Georges was the only child in the family. From an early age, he learned to play the piano from his mother, demonstrating amazing abilities, and already on October 9, 1848, two weeks before his tenth birthday, he entered the Paris Conservatory of Music. It was in this educational institution that the talented young man composed his first famous compositions.

Music career

In November 1855year, at the age of seventeen, the young composer Bizet wrote the first symphony as homework. Until 1933, it remained unknown and was subsequently discovered quite by accident in the archives of the library of the Paris Conservatory. This symphony was first played in 1935 and instantly received universal recognition as a masterpiece written by a young but capable and spiritual musician.

In subsequent years, the young composer participated in various creative competitions, striving to win cash prizes and prestigious prizes, and eventually won the competition for the authors of the opera, arranged by Offenbach. Georges shared first place and a prize of 1200 francs with Charles Lecoq. In several other competitions, the already well-known composer Bizet won an impressive grant, on which he lived comfortably for the next five years. Of these, he spent the first two years in Rome, a year in Germany, and the last two years in Paris.

In his prime

In July 1860, after leaving Rome and still touring Italy, Georges came up with the idea of writing a four-movement symphony in which each piece would be a musical representation of an Italian city - respectively, Rome, Venice, Florence and Naples. However, in the same year, the composer Bizet learned that his mother was seriously ill and was forced to end his Italian travels. In September 1860 he returned to Paris; a year later, the musician's mother died. It was not until 1866 that he finally wrotethe first version of the completed symphony. Until 1871, he corrected his musical composition in every possible way - and suddenly died himself, without having had time to bring the creation inspired by Italy to the ideal. In 1880 it was published under the title "Roman Symphony".

What is Bizet the composer really famous for? "Carmen" - an opera written on the basis of the short story of the same name by the French writer Prosper Mérimée, became his most significant and famous work. The main role, according to the musician's intention, was intended for the mezzo-soprano. The author wrote most of the opera in the summer of 1873, but it remained unfinished until the end of the next year, 1874. Probably due to problems in his personal life and parting with his wife for two whole months. Although the listeners did not warmly accept "Carmen" at first, it remains Bizet's best work.

Private life

Composer Bizet married the daughter of his late teacher, Geneviève Halévy, on June 3, 1869. When the Franco-Prussian War began in July the following year, the musician, like many of his other creative compatriots, joined the French National Guard. Due to the war and post-war chaos, Georges suspended work on many works. On July 10, 1871, Genevieve gave birth to Georges' first and only child, a son named Jacques.

Death

Composer Bizet, whose biography is known to every professional musician today, died of a heart attack at the age of thirtysix years old. It was rumored that Elie-Miriam Delaborde, allegedly the illegitimate son of Charles-Valentin Alkan, could be indirectly responsible for the death of Georges, since shortly before the death of the latter, two men arranged a swimming competition, after which Bizet caught a bad cold and came down with a fever. At that time, even murder and suicide were suspected, since a wound similar to a gunshot was found on the left side of the composer's neck. Historians, however, believe that this is what the lymph node looked like, which, due to a serious illness and a heart attack, swelled and broke through. Bizet died on the sixth anniversary of his own marriage, exactly three months after the first performance of Carmen. His death came suddenly just when he began to find his own "adult", unique style. Georges Bizet was buried at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris next to the equally famous musicians Chopin and Rossini.