Customer Reviews

Carmen. Partitura

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Bizet's CARMEN OVERTURE is well known and frequently used in the occasion that a champion comes out.In my opinion,Carmen is a champion,a champion of love,a champion of freedom.Mérimée,the author of CARMEM,describes Carmen as a sparkish and abandoned woman,searching for true love and sticking to freedom.In this book, Mérimée narrates how he ran across Don Jose' and the whole story between Don Jose' and Carmen.Don Jose',a soldier,falls in love with Carmen,a prisoner who kills a woman worker,when he is on his way to send her to prison.He gives her reins in spite of being punished.He becomes a bandit and killer so as to stay with her and please her.He kills her eventually for preventing her from loving someone else.It is a tragic ending.And I am deeply shocked.But if not for the death of Carmen,her spirit of chasing freedom can't be that striking.
There are two plots that make me consider a lot:
1.FOR OBTAINING CARMEN,DON JOSE' KILLS A SUBALTERN.
<I ran away,all-out in the street,but not knowing where to go.I felt someone after me.When I came to,it turned out to be Carmen.she never left me alone.>He was injured,and Carmen took good care of him until he recovered.I am moved for it.Someone may say Carmen has many lovers,and her love to Don Jose' is not true love.But I can't agree with it.From this part,we can see clearly that her love is of ligeance.Why she risked her life to save Don Jose',just for exploiting him sometime?Absolutely not.Don't forget Carmen can let any man do anything.Don Jose' is puny,but her love is significant.It can be confirmed in the latter part.When they were attacked by the army,Don Jose' was unfortunately shot,and Carmen looked after him patiently and attentively,without sleeping.<Never has a woman cherished a man she loves with so much consideration.>She did love him with every beat of her heart.It must be noticed that only one time Carmen's crying was mentioned and this was the first time Don Jose' had seen her weep.Carmen stole Mérimée's watch but failed to get his ring for the prevention of Don Jose'.And then they quarrelled.Don Jose' beat her.<Her face turned pale and she cried.>A woman who is beat will cry,but a woman who cries is not certainly beat.Personaly I think Carmen cried for love,not for the beat.
2.FOR OCCUPYING CARMEN,DON JOSE' KILLS HER.
Here,the story comes to climax.<I am sure you are going to kill me.This is my destiny.But I won't give in to you........I don't love you anymore,but you still love me,therefore,you are going to kill me.I can tell lies over and over again,but I am not inclined to do so.All is over.As my rum,you have the right to kill your rummy.But Carmen is free forever.....It is impossible for me to go on loving you,and I am unwilling to live with you anymore.>Even when Don Jose' took out a knife to threaten her,Carmen did not quail a bit.she took off the ring he had given to her and threw it into the jungle.Finally,he thrust into her heart...She died for her freedom,and her freedom survived.I don't think one should give up freedom in order to love someone.Carmen is a classic example.She prefers being killed to staying with Don Jose'.Her love is for freedom,and her freedom is for love.She will love whom gives her freedom.Free love is unselfish.Don Jose' can't give her free love,and longs to occupy her on his own,so he is doomed to fail.
So,do remember that Real Love is a rational emotion!

But rather a collection of some of Merimee's finest short stories.

They range from the tragio-comic (The Etruscan Vase) to pure horror (The Lokis). Others are just strange (Venus of Ille). Merimee's writing (or at least the translation) flows in a way that makes him easily accessible to the modern reader (like me).

This is the perfect book to put on your nightstand for a good evening read.

First, this is a collection of Prosper Merimée's short stories and novellas, including "Carmen," which became the basis for the more famous Bizet opera. But this is NOT the opera or anything to do with the opera other than being the source material.

The novella "Carmen" holds up pretty well, though it's worth noting that Bizet only used a portion of the tale for his opera. Personally, my favorite story in the collection is "Colomba," in which a French soldier, returning to his Coriscan homeland, finds himself entangled in a tragic family feud, spurred on by his scheming sister--it's a riveting tale, very suspenseful and filled with rich Corsican detail.

The story concerns the eponymous Carmen, a beautiful gypsy lady with a fiery temper. Not careful with her love, she is responsible for the downfall of many men. She woos the corporal Don José, leading him to mutiny against his superior. His infatuation causes him to join a band of smugglers, of which Carmen is a member. He is happy with Carmen for a brief period, but is driven to madness when she turns from him to the bullfighter Escamillo....

Am I at the right site? I am looking for Merimée's story, not for Bizet's opera. Why is every review referring to a CD package, if I'm in the "books" store of Amazon? I don't know, but here's the review:

The narrator, a French archaeologist, is travelling through Andalucia, in Southern Spain, when he meets Jose Navarro, a famous bandit and smuggler. Two days later, he meets a beautiful gitana, named Carmen. In her house he finds Jose again. After that, he notices his watch has been stolen, but investigates nothing. Weeks later, he meets Jose again, just as he's about to be executed for his crimes. There, Jose tells the story of his love for Carmen, who happens to have stolen the watch, and how, for that love, he transformed from soldier to bandit. It is a story of Spanish passion, betrayal and lust, full of the romantic flavor of that corner of the world. Merimée is a good storyteller, and you can feel the heat and dust, the powerful sun burning the brains of these passionate people. No wonder it inspired one of the best operas of all time.

Back in 1875, a man named Georges Bizet died leaving
us an opera. However the credit does not fully be-
long to him.It rightfully belongs to Prosper
Merimee, whose imagination gave birth to a gypsy
called Carmen and her distressed lover Don Jose.
Carmen, though her name is the title of the book,
is not the most important character of the book.
In this case Don Jose is the attention getter be-
cause of his mental and moral makeup.
Just as Don Quixote fantasized about Dulcinea,
so Don Jose fantasizes about Carmen. Don Jose
is a dreamer. Reality hits him in the head
only when Carmen chooses a career of smuggling
and murdering for him.Don Jose is weak, no
matter what he can't say no to Carmen. We
can't help but to pity him and say
"If only we could send you to a physcologist...."
Don Jose and Carmen are crazy,insane,and
immoral, much like people today.