“As a musician I tell you that if you were to suppress adultery, fanaticism, crime, evil, the supernatural, there would no longer be the means for writing one note.”

– Georges Bizet, French, musician, composer, opera

Although Carmen was not a big success when first presented and performed, it went on to be astonishingly one of top Operas of all time.

Carmen’s extraordinary status transcended the opera house.

Chaplin’s Burlesque on Carmen

Geraldine Farrar in the de Mille movie

The sheer number and variety of forms in which it has appeared and constantly re-emerges is truly astounding and unprecedented for an opera. There were at least seven silent film versions, ranging from sexpots Theda Bara and Pola Negri playing up the sensual side of the character (which became acceptable under the guise of high culture) to Charlie Chaplin‘s 1916 “Burlesque on Carmen,” in which he played Darn Hosiery and…