Carmen Composed by Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (1838-1875) composed the opera Carmen, it opened on March 3, 1875 at the Opera Comique in Paris. It was not a success, initially. Then again, Carmen would soon become the most popular opera of all time. The entire work however, was disapproved of for its harsh libretto, and the music was criticized. The reception of Carmen left Bizet acutely depressed and on June 3, 1875 he suffered from two heart attacks and died.
Carmen opens with a Prelude in ternary form (ABACA) in which it opens the stage action with a faint motif. Act I starts off in a square in Seville which contains a cigarette factory and a guard station. The square is filled of people and the soldiers watch with interest as the peasant girl Micaela enters the square. Micaela is introduced by a light accompaniment and chromatic scales. She is looking for Corporal Don Jose which she has a letter from his mother. Here Micaela meets Sergeant Morales who tells her that Don Jose was in another company. Morales offers to keep her company while she waits for the other company to arrive but she declines and runs away. A trumpet sounds, which signals the changing of the guards. During the changing of the company a chorus of street boys sing. The boys go into formation like the soldiers that they are pretending to be. The boys add to the reality of the times at which the boys would pick pocket and cause mischief. Don Jose enters. He meets with Lieutenant Zuniga and hints to Jose that the girls who work in the cigarette factory will be arriving after lunch. Jose proclaims that the only one he loves is Micaela. Hereafter, a bell rings and the factory girls arrive in the square, Jose is not interested in thei...
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... In a violent rage he stabs her. He couldn’t see anyone loving her except himself.
This opera tells the story of a man’s infatuation with a woman that throws her heart away to any man that picks her fancy. Jose in general is a confused man torn between his mother, Micaela, and Carmen. Being a “momma’s boy” does not help his situation in the least. Jose starts caring for Micaela because his mother wished it so. Carmen comes into his life and he is dumbstruck with lust and that eventually turns into infatuation. By the end of the opera Jose becomes wild with crazy obsession for Carmen. However, Carmen is also looking for a love that will be hers forever. This is why she is continually juxtaposing love and lust. Carmen makes a statement early in Act I that “I will die for the one I love”. By the end of Act IV she loves Escamillo and ends up dying for him.
"The House of Bernarda Alba" is set in Spain in the 1940's. It is definitely a very dramatic and very tragic play. Bernarda Alba is the tyrannical mother of five girls: Angustias, Magdalena, Amelia, Martitio, and Adela. At the opening of the play, we find out that Bernarda's husband has died, and the family is supposed to be in mourning for eight years. The trouble is that only Magdalena actually loved her father. The main focus of this play is to show just how unfair and unjust life was for Women in Spain during this time. Of the five daughters there is only one man who fit the bill according to Bernarda. His name is Pepe el Romano. He is supposed to marry Angustias, simply because she is the oldest and that's the way things are supposed to be. She is also the one to inherit her father's money. Pepe would come to the house and meet with Angustias, but we soon find out that he had something going on with another sister. He would meet with Angustias for a little while and then go and spend time with Adela, the youngest and most attractive of the sisters. This comes out when the other sisters say they hear Pepe leave at four in the morning, but Angustias insists that she only talked with him unt...
She confronts him about the way he’s treated her.
inexperience with the evils of the world leads to her demise. One's innocence attracts all types, yet this attraction may become lethal. Her husband, Othello, will protect her at any means. He will sacrifice himself for the love of his beloved wife.
The complexity of this opera is witnessed straight away with the first few leitmotifs that are introduced. The most notable thing about these leitmotifs is that they are very strong both melodically and rhythmically. Each motif serves a purpose, and there is almost no musical phrase used without context.He successfully portrays emotion through musical development.
Therefore, this scene reflects various concepts of contemporary ideas in the modern world of social justice issues and relationships between people, particularly the modern day romance which is transmuted through social networks. These human natures are evolved as the transcension of time continues, to create an image of one’s self and compare to the rest. The fundamental ideologies with the conveyance of ideas of Othello are seen through its themes, specifically deception, romance and jealousy and the use of language techniques of emotive language to portray an authentic outlook to the comparison to today’s society. There are still social justice issues that relate to these themes which is a concerning issue as it may lead to downfall’s, death’s and other unfortunate ravel of events that will discontinue the balance of human nature and its peaceful assets.
Arredondo exposed Luisa as a dynamic character because during the story the readers can see the changes that her personality had over the time. At the beginning of the story the reader can see how Luisa takes care of her uncle with devotion and love, but after they married she considered it as a disgusting duty. Ines Arredondo described Luisa as woman who has the power of “purify everything” (81), but after suffering the physical abuse of her uncle, all her innocence disappear. She was an innocent girl that was reserving herself for marriage. However, after married her uncle, she started seen the things in a different way. Now, she thinks of herself as “the vilest of harlot” (87). The way that the author exposes Luisa is like happy young lady that thanks to the circumstances enter to a deep depression that changes her life and she “was not able to go back to who I [she] was”
She does not spew out all the reasons why she loves Othello or say that she is unavoidably attracted to him as she could have. Instead, she picks a practical reason –
One of the key figures in the history of opera, Wagner was largely responsible for altering its orientation in the nineteenth century. His program of artistic reform accelerated the trend towards organically conceived, through-composed structures, as well as influencing the development of the orchestra, of a new breed of singer, and of various aspects of theatrical practice. As the most influential composer during the second half of the nineteenth century, Richard Wagner's conception of music remains very much with us even a century after his death.
'Romeo and Juliet' is a play written by William Shakespeare. The play is about Romeo, a member of the Montague household, falls in love with Juliet, a member of the Capulet household. As the two houses are involved in a feud, they were not allowed to be together, but their deaths finally bring their family’s quarrel to an end. The personal weaknesses of the central characters are somewhat responsible for the tragic outcome of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. These are weaknesses shown by the main characters of Romeo and Juliet, mainly their emotions and love towards each other, which contributes to the tragic outcome. However, the personal weaknesses of Capulet and Montague are more responsible for the tragic outcome, because they have hated each other deeply for centuries, and would never have allowed Romeo and Juliet to marry no matter what. In this essay, the personal weaknesses of the central characters who are somewhat responsible for the tragic outcome: Romeo, Juliet, and Mercutio, will be explored.
During his three years in Rome Bizet began or projected many compositions; only four survive, including the opera buffa, Don Procopio (not performed until 1906). Shortly after his return to Paris, in September 1861, his mother died; the composer consoled himself with his parents' maid, by whom he had a son in June 1862. He rejected teaching at the Conservatoire and the temptation to become a concert pianist, and completed his obligations under the terms of the Prix de Rome. The last of these, a one-act opéra comique, La guzla de l'emir, was rehearsed at the Opéra-Comique in 1863 but withdrawn when the Théâtre-Lyrique director, who had been offered 100 000 francs to produce annually an opera by a Prix de Rome winner who had not had a work staged, invited Bizet to compose Les pêcheurs de perles.
The Shakespearean classic work Othello enchants the readers mind through the tragic love story of the witty and cunning soldier Othello and the charming and powerful Desdemona. The continuous reinforcement of their tragedy is molded by the gender roles present in the play, particularly those of Bianca, Desdemona, and Emilia. Although the men are important within the outcome of the play, mainly Iago and Othello, the women take a more subtle, yet effective approach in manipulating the work through their personalities. Bianca is a woman of self-esteem and sexual power while Desdemona is the keeper of Othello’s heart and handkerchief, never once denouncing him, even her death. Emilia subtly represents that women are just as powerful, if not more,
Tchaikovsky is one of the most popular of all composers. The reasons are several and understandable. His music is extremely tuneful, opulently and colourfully scored, and filled with emotional passion. Undoubtedly the emotional temperature of the music reflected the composer's nature. He was afflicted by both repressed homosexuality and by the tendency to extreme fluctuations between ecstasy and depression. Tchaikovsky was neurotic and deeply sensitive, and his life was often painful, but through the agony shone a genius that created some of the most beautiful of all romantic melodies. With his rich gifts for melody and special flair for writing memorable dance tunes, with his ready response to the atmosphere of a theatrical situation and his masterly orchestration, Tchaikovsky was ideally equipped as a ballet composer. His delightful fairy-tale ballets, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker are performed more than any other ballets. Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky's first ballet, was commissioned by the Imperial Theatres in Moscow in 1875. He used some music from a little domestic ballet of the same title, composed for his sister Alexandra's children in 1871.
William Shakespeare's, Twelfth Night has many themes, but appearance vs. reality is the theme that illustrates a different picture from two perspectives, there are many characters behind their masks and disguises. Some are hiding love behind these disguises and some are trying to show their love through a different disguise. They both still being servants are using disguise differently. Malvolio, servant of Olivia, falls in love with the trap (the letter) thinking his lady likes him, and to show his love he uses a different appearance to express it. Viola, servant of Orsino, falls in love with him, but secretly, not wanting to express her love for him, because of her disguise as her barrier for that case. Viola/Ceasario is wearing a disguise and secretly loves Orsino. Malvolio, on the other hand, is also a servant but still changes his appearance to express love for the great lady Olivia. This essay will prove that disguises and appearances are symbolic of the characters named Viola and Malvolio and are differently used for both.
with the initial killing, he loves his wife and wants to make her happy. She is the
...o, who she cares about for the sake of Bassanio. Jessica gives up her family ties to marry Lorenzo. Even Gratiano and Nerissa are devoted to one another. The play is truly about the happiness that true love brings.