What was the name of the composer Bizet? Many scholars will immediately answer: Georges. This is true, and not quite. 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 the capital of France, Paris. His father, Adolf Bizet, earned his living by hairdressing and directly making wigs. A little later, Adolf began to give music lessons, although he did not have any primary education in the field of art. Georges mother, Aimee, worked as a pianist, and her brother Francois Delsarte became famous as a talented singer and vocal teacher, speaking 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 with his mother, demonstrating amazing abilities, and already on October 9, 1848, two weeks before his tenth birthday, he entered the Paris Music Conservatory. It was in this educational institution that a talented young man composed his first famous compositions.
Music career
In November 1855, at the age of seventeen, the young composer Bizet wrote the first symphony as homework. Until 1933, it remained unknown and subsequently was completely accidentally discovered in the archives of the library of the Paris Conservatory. For the first time this symphony was played in 1935, and it instantly received universal recognition as a masterpiece, written by a young but capable and spiritualized musician.
In subsequent years, the young composer participated in various creative contests, seeking to win cash prizes and prestigious prizes, and eventually won the competition of the authors of the opera, organized by Offenbach. First place and a prize of 1200 francs George shared with Charles Lecock. In several other competitions, the already well- known composer Bizet won an impressive grant, for which he lived comfortably for the next five years. Of these, he spent the first two years in Rome, the year in Germany and the last two years in Paris.
In the prime of life
In July 1860, after Georges left Rome and was still traveling around Italy, he came up with the idea to write a four-part symphony in which each fragment would be a musical embodiment of the Italian city - Rome, Venice, Florence and Naples, respectively . However, in the same year, composer Bizet found out 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. Only in 1866 did he finally write the first version of the completed symphony. Until 1871, he did everything possible to correct his musical composition - and died suddenly, without having time to bring the creation inspired by Italy to the ideal. In 1880, it was published under the name "Roman Symphony".
What did Bizet the composer really become famous for? "Carmen" - an opera written on the basis of the novel of the same name by the French writer Prosper Merime, became his most significant and famous work. The main role, as conceived by the musician, was intended for mezzo-soprano. The author wrote most of the opera in the summer of 1873, but it remained incomplete until the end of the following, 1874. Probably due to problems in his personal life and separation from his wife for two whole months. Although the audience initially did not receive Carmen too warmly, it remains Bizet's best work.
Personal life
Composer Bizet married the daughter of his late teacher, Genevieve Halevi, June 3, 1869. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in July of the following year, the musician, like many of his other creative compatriots, joined the French National Guard. Due to war and post-war chaos, Georges suspended work on many works. On July 10, 1871, Genevieve gave birth to George the 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 thirty-six. It was rumored that Eli Miriam Delabord, allegedly the illegitimate son of Charles-Valentin Alcan, could have been indirectly guilty of the death of Georges, since shortly before the death of the last two men had a swimming competition, after which Bizet caught a cold and fell ill with a fever. At that time, even murder and suicide were suspected, since the composer's left neck wound was found to be similar to a gunshot. Historians, however, believe that the lymph node looked like this, which, due to a serious illness and heart attack, swelled and burst. 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, along with no less famous musicians Chopin and Rossini.