Opera Rant (Rather Disjointed):

I saw Carmen, the opera, on Saturday night. This has lead to two different chains of thought which I will mention here:

The first thought I had was that Georges Bizet, who wrote Carmen, died less than three months after it premiered in Paris. Carmen, originally, was not well-received. When it came out, the opera in Paris was meant to be very family-friendly, and Bizet got a lot of flack for writing something with so much scandal and depravity (for the time). So, Bizet writes Carmen, it’s performed in Paris, and people basically boo it out of the opera. He couldn’t sell the tickets, his audiences were very critical of him, his principal performers became unemployable, and he was in disgrace with pretty much everyone who knew him.

…And then he dies from painful coronary complications.

A few months after he dies, Carmen was picked up in Vienna, where it was loved. It gains respect. It becomes one of the most famous operas of all time.

Now, this really bothers me. Maybe it’s just a reflection of my own views regarding mortality and greatness, but it seems to me that dying in disgrace and never knowing that all the effort you put into your work (three or four years writing this opera) actually came out to mean something to people... that’s just a horribly sad way to die.

On a secondary note (you’d have to know the plot of Carmen to get this, but I’m putting it here, anyway):

Carmen was incredibly depressing. Almost all the characters, in some way or another, are extremely flawed. Don José is stupid. He gives up his good, true love for Carmen (and he should know it’s not going to work out) and kills her in a fit of jealousy. Carmen is cheating and deceitful. Escamillo is vain (I don’t even think he has any other character traits). And in the end, on some levels, karma comes back to get at them all. Carmen dies, Don José goes to prison, and Escamillo’s girlfriend gets killed. And that makes sense, in terms of a story.

But what about Micaela? She is a completely whole, pure, innocent, and good character. But her true love (and her mother) end up dead. She’s totally alone. That just doesn’t seem fair.

But, then, maybe that’s the point.

Right, anyway. Enough ranting about opera. I’m mostly writing this down for my sake, just to think about.