Editing Georges Bizet (section)

==Life==
===Early years===
====Family background and childhood====
Georges Bizet was born in Paris on 25 October 1838. He was registered as Alexandre César Léopold, but baptised as "Georges" on 16 March 1840, and was known by this name for the rest of his life. His father, Adolphe Bizet, had been a hairdresser and wigmaker before becoming a singing teacher despite his lack of formal training.<ref>Dean (1965), p. 1</ref> He also composed a few works, including at least one published song.<ref name= C7>Curtiss, p. 7</ref> In 1837, Adolphe married Aimée Delsarte, against the wishes of her family who considered him a poor prospect; the Delsartes, though impoverished, were a cultured and highly musical family.<ref name= D2>Dean (1965), pp. 2–4</ref> Aimée was an accomplished pianist, while her brother [[François Delsarte]] was a distinguished singer and teacher who performed at the courts of both [[Louis Philippe I|Louis Philippe]] and [[Napoleon III]].<ref>Curtiss, pp. 8–10</ref> François Delsarte's wife Rosine, a musical prodigy, had been an assistant professor of [[solfeggio|solfège]] at the [[Conservatoire de Paris]] at the age of 13.<ref>Curtiss, pp. 12–13</ref> At least one author has suggested that Aimée was from a Jewish family, but this is not substantiated in any of Georges' official biographies.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9YZgJW1u9vYC&pg=PA123|title=Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)|first=Timothy L.|last=Jackson|author-link=Timothy L. Jackson|date=7 October 1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521646765|access-date=17 November 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>[[Philip Bohlman]], ''Jewish Musical Modernism, Old and New'', University of Chicago Press (2008), p. 10</ref>

Georges, an only child,<ref name= D2/> showed early aptitude for music and quickly picked up the basics of musical notation from his mother, who probably gave him his first piano lessons.<ref name= C7/> By listening at the door of the room where Adolphe conducted his classes, Georges learned to sing difficult songs accurately from memory and developed an ability to identify and analyse complex [[chord (music)|chordal structures]]. This precocity convinced his ambitious parents that he was ready to begin studying at the Conservatoire even though he was still only nine years old (the minimum entry age was 10). Georges was interviewed by [[Joseph Meifred]], the [[French horn|horn]] virtuoso who was a member of the Conservatoire's Committee of Studies. Meifred was so struck by the boy's demonstration of his skills that he waived the age rule and offered to take him as soon as a place became available.<ref name= D2/><ref>Curtiss, pp. 15–17</ref>

====Conservatoire====
[[File:Theatre du Conservatoire Paris CNSAD.jpg|thumb|left|Part of the [[Conservatoire de Paris|Paris Conservatoire]], where Bizet studied from 1848 to 1857 (photographed in 2009)]]
Bizet was admitted to the Conservatoire on 9 October 1848, two weeks before his 10th birthday.<ref name= D2/> He made an early impression; within six months he had won first prize in solfège, a feat that impressed [[Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmerman]], the Conservatoire's former professor of piano. Zimmerman gave Bizet private lessons in [[counterpoint]] and [[fugue]], which continued until the old man's death in 1853.<ref name=OMO>{{cite dictionary|last=Macdonald|first=Hugh|author-link=Hugh Macdonald (musicologist)|url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/51829?q=Georges+Bizet&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1|title=Bizet, Georges (Alexandre-César-Léopold)|dictionary=Oxford Music Online|access-date=18 September 2011}}{{subscription required}}</ref> Through these classes, Bizet met Zimmerman's son-in-law, the composer [[Charles Gounod]], who became a lasting influence on the young pupil's musical style—although their relationship was often strained in later years.<ref>Dean (1965), p. 6</ref> He also met another of Gounod's young students, the 13-year-old [[Camille Saint-Saëns]], who remained a firm friend of Bizet's. Under the tuition of [[Antoine François Marmontel]], the Conservatoire's professor of piano, Bizet's pianism developed rapidly; he won the Conservatoire's second prize for piano in 1851, and first prize the following year. Bizet would later write to Marmontel: "In your class one learns something besides the piano; one becomes a musician".<ref>Curtiss, p. 21</ref>
[[File:Gounod-Bayard.png|alt=photograph of man in early middle age, balding, with neat moustache and beard|thumb|upright|[[Charles Gounod]], a mentor and inspiration to Bizet in the latter's Conservatoire years]]
Bizet's first preserved compositions, two wordless songs for [[soprano]], date from around 1850. In 1853, he joined [[Fromental Halévy]]'s composition class and began to produce works of increasing sophistication and quality.<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 7–8</ref> Two of his songs, "Petite Marguerite" and "La Rose et l'abeille", were published in 1854.<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 153, 266–267</ref> In 1855, he wrote an ambitious overture for a large orchestra,<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 138–39, 262–63</ref> and prepared four-hand piano versions of two of Gounod's works: the opera ''[[La nonne sanglante]]'' and the Symphony in D. Bizet's work on the Gounod symphony inspired him, shortly after his seventeenth birthday, to write [[Symphony in C (Bizet)|his own symphony]], which bore a close resemblance to Gounod's—note for note in some passages. Bizet never published the symphony, which came to light again only in 1933, and was finally performed in 1935.<ref>Curtiss, pp. 38–39</ref>

In 1856, Bizet competed for the prestigious [[Prix de Rome]]. His entry was not successful, but nor were any of the others; the musician's prize was not awarded that year.<ref>Curtiss, pp. 39–40</ref> After this rebuff, Bizet entered an opera competition which [[Jacques Offenbach]] had organised for young composers, with a prize of 1,200 [[franc#French franc|francs]]. The challenge was to set the one-act [[libretto]] of ''[[Le docteur Miracle]]'' by Léon Battu and [[Ludovic Halévy]]. The prize was awarded jointly to Bizet and [[Charles Lecocq]],<ref>Dean (1965), p. 9</ref> a compromise which years later Lecocq criticised on the grounds of the jury's manipulation by Fromental Halévy in favour of Bizet.{{refn|Lecocq wrote: "Bizet's score was not bad, but rather heavy, and he failed with almost all of the little couplets I was able to bring off". Mina Curtiss suggests that this pique reflected Lecocq's general disappointment with a career in which theatrical success largely eluded him.<ref>Curtiss, pp. 41–42</ref>|group= n}} As a result of his success, Bizet became a regular guest at Offenbach's Friday evening parties, where among other musicians he met the aged [[Gioachino Rossini]], who presented the young man with a signed photograph.<ref name= D10>Dean (1965), pp. 10–11</ref>{{refn|Although Bizet was initially flattered to be part of Offenbach's circle, and relished the contacts he made at the Friday gatherings, he became resentful of the hold which the older composer had established over French musical theatre, and grew contemptuous of his music. In a letter to [[Paul Lacombe (composer)|Paul Lacombe]] in 1871 Bizet refers to "the ever-increasing invasion of that infernal Offenbach", and dismisses Offenbach's work as "trash" and "this obscenity".<ref>Curtiss, pp. 311–312</ref>|group= n}} Bizet was a great admirer of Rossini's music, and wrote not long after their first meeting that "Rossini is the greatest of them all, because like Mozart, he has all the virtues".<ref>{{cite journal|last= Curtiss|first= Mina|title= Bizet, Offenbach, and Rossini|journal=[[The Musical Quarterly]]|volume= 40|issue= 3|date= July 1954|pages= 350–359 | jstor = 740074|doi=10.1093/mq/xl.3.350}}{{subscription required}}</ref>

For his 1857 Prix de Rome entry, Bizet, with Gounod's enthusiastic approval, chose to set the [[cantata]] ''Clovis et Clotilde'' by Amédée Burion. Bizet was awarded the prize after a ballot of the members of the [[Académie des Beaux-Arts]] overturned the judges' initial decision, which was in favour of the oboist Charles Colin. Under the terms of the award, Bizet received a financial grant for five years, the first two to be spent in Rome, the third in Germany and the final two in Paris. The only other requirement was the submission each year of an "envoi", a piece of original work to the satisfaction of the Académie. Before his departure for Rome in December 1857, Bizet's prize cantata was performed at the Académie to an enthusiastic reception.<ref name= D10/><ref name= Curtiss48>Curtiss, pp. 48–50</ref>

===Rome, 1858–1860===
[[File:Villa Medicis.jpg|thumb|The Villa Medici, the official home of the French Académie in Rome since 1803]]
On 27 January 1858, Bizet arrived at the [[Villa Medici]], a 16th-century palace that since 1803 had housed the French Académie in Rome and which he described in a letter home as "paradise".<ref>Curtiss, p. 53</ref> Under its director, the painter [[Jean-Victor Schnetz]], the villa provided an ideal environment in which Bizet and his fellow-laureates could pursue their artistic endeavours. Bizet relished the convivial atmosphere, and quickly involved himself in the distractions of its social life; in his first six months in Rome, his only composition was a ''[[Te Deum]]'' written for the Rodrigues Prize, a competition for a new religious work open to Prix de Rome winners. This piece failed to impress the judges, who awarded the prize to Adrien Barthe, the only other entrant.<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 15 and 21</ref> Bizet was discouraged to the extent that he vowed to write no more religious music. His ''Te Deum'' remained forgotten and unpublished until 1971.<ref>{{cite journal|author-link= Edward Greenfield|last= Greenfield|first= Edward|title= Bizet&nbsp;– Clovis et Clotilde. Te Deum|url= http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/the-new-gramophone-digital-archive |journal= Gramophone|date= February 2011}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

Through the winter of 1858–59, Bizet worked on his first envoi, an [[opera buffa]] setting of Carlo Cambiaggio's libretto ''[[Don Procopio]]''. Under the terms of his prize, Bizet's first envoi was supposed to be a mass, but after his ''Te Deum'' experience, he was averse to writing religious music. He was apprehensive about how this breach of the rules would be received at the Académie, but their response to ''Don Procopio'' was initially positive, with praise for the composer's "easy and brilliant touch" and "youthful and bold style".<ref name= OMO/><ref>Dean (1965), p. 24</ref>
[[File:Young Georges Bizet.png|thumb|left|upright|Georges Bizet photographed in about 1860]]
For his second envoi, not wishing to test the Académie's tolerance too far, Bizet proposed to submit a quasi-religious work in the form of a secular mass on a text by [[Horace]]. This work, entitled ''Carmen Saeculare'', was intended as a song to [[Apollo]] and [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]]. No trace exists, and it is unlikely that Bizet ever started it.<ref>Curtiss, pp. 94–95</ref> A tendency to conceive ambitious projects, only to quickly abandon them, became a feature of Bizet's Rome years; in addition to ''Carmen Saeculare'', he considered and discarded at least five opera projects, two attempts at a symphony, and a symphonic ode on the theme of [[Odysseus#Journey home to Ithaca|Ulysses and Circe]].<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 20, 260–266, 270–271</ref> After ''Don Procopio'', Bizet completed only one further work in Rome, the symphonic poem ''Vasco da Gama''. This replaced ''Carmen Saeculare'' as his second envoi, and was well received by the Académie, though swiftly forgotten thereafter.<ref name= C106>Curtiss, pp. 106–107</ref>

In the summer of 1859, Bizet and several companions travelled in the mountains and forests around [[Anagni]] and [[Frosinone]]. They also visited a convict settlement at [[Anzio]]; Bizet sent an enthusiastic letter to Marmontel, recounting his experiences.<ref>Dean (1965), p. 17</ref> In August, he made an extended journey south to [[Naples]] and [[Pompeii]], where he was unimpressed with the former but delighted with the latter: "Here you live with the ancients; you see their temples, their theatres, their houses in which you find their furniture, their kitchen utensils..."<ref>Curtiss, p. 88</ref> Bizet began sketching a symphony based on his Italian experiences, but made little immediate headway; the project, which became his [[Roma Symphony (Bizet)|''Roma'' symphony]], was not finished until 1868.<ref name= OMO/> On his return to Rome, Bizet successfully requested permission to extend his stay in Italy into a third year, rather than going to Germany, so that he could complete "an important work" (which has not been identified).<ref>Dean (1965), p. 19</ref> In September 1860, while visiting [[Venice]] with his friend and fellow-laureate [[Ernest Guiraud]], Bizet received news that his mother was gravely ill in Paris, and made his way home.<ref>Curtiss, pp. 97–106</ref>

===Emergent composer===

====Paris, 1860–1863====
[[File:Théâtre Historique on the Boulevard du Temple - L'illustration 12 April 1862 - Levin p380.jpg|thumb|The Théâtre Historique in Paris, one of the homes of the Théâtre Lyrique company, pictured in 1862]]
Back in Paris with two years of his grant remaining, Bizet was temporarily secure financially and could ignore for the moment the difficulties that other young composers faced in the city.<ref name= D41>Dean (1965), pp. 41–42</ref> The two state-subsidised opera houses, [[Paris Opera|the Opéra]] and the [[Opéra-Comique]],{{refn|The name "Opéra-Comique" does not imply literal "comic opera" or [[opera buffa]]. The most specific characteristic of Opéra-Comique productions was the replacement of sung [[recitative]] with spoken dialogue—the German ''[[singspiel]]'' model.<ref name= Dean36>Dean (1965), pp. 36–39</ref><ref>Schonberg (Vol. I), p. 210</ref> |group= n}} each presented traditional repertoires that tended to stifle and frustrate new homegrown talent; only eight of the 54 Prix de Rome laureates between 1830 and 1860 had had works staged at the Opéra.<ref name= Steen586>Steen, p. 586</ref> Although French composers were better represented at the Opéra-Comique, the style and character of productions had remained largely unchanged since the 1830s.<ref name= Steen586/> A number of smaller theatres catered for [[operetta]], a field in which Offenbach was then paramount,<ref name= Dean36/> while the [[Comédie-Italienne|Théâtre Italien]] specialised in second-rate Italian opera. The best prospect for aspirant opera composers was the [[Théâtre Lyrique]] company which, despite repeated financial crises, operated intermittently in various premises under its resourceful manager [[Léon Carvalho]].<ref name= Steen586/> This company had staged the first performances of Gounod's ''[[Faust (opera)|Faust]]'' and his ''[[Roméo et Juliette]]'', and of a shortened version of [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]'s ''[[Les Troyens]]''.<ref name= Dean36/><ref>Neef (ed.), pp. 48, 184, 190</ref>

On 13 March 1861, Bizet attended the Paris premiere of [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]'s opera ''[[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]]'', a performance greeted by audience riots that were stage-managed by the influential [[Jockey-Club de Paris]].<ref>Osborne, p. 89</ref> Despite this distraction, Bizet revised his opinions of Wagner's music, which he had previously dismissed as merely eccentric. He now declared Wagner "above and beyond all living composers".<ref name= C106/> Thereafter, accusations of "Wagnerism" were often laid against Bizet, throughout his compositional career.<ref>Curtiss, p. 112</ref>

As a pianist, Bizet showed considerable skill from his earliest years. A contemporary asserted that he could have assured a future on the concert platform, but chose to conceal his talent "as though it were a vice".<ref>Curtiss, p. 109</ref> In May 1861 Bizet gave a rare demonstration of his virtuoso skills when, at a dinner party at which [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]] was present, he astonished everyone by playing on sight, flawlessly, one of the maestro's most difficult pieces. Liszt commented: "I thought there were only two men able to surmount the difficulties&nbsp;... there are three, and&nbsp;... the youngest is perhaps the boldest and most brilliant."<ref>Dean (1965), p. 45</ref>
[[File:Bizet - Les pêcheurs de perles - Scene from act II at the Metropolitan - The Victrola book of the opera.jpg|thumb|left| A scene from Act II of ''Les pêcheurs de perles'']]

Bizet's third envoi was delayed for nearly a year by the prolonged illness and death, in September 1861, of his mother.<ref name= D41/> He eventually submitted a trio of orchestral works: an overture entitled ''La Chasse d'Ossian'', a scherzo and a funeral march. The overture has been lost; the scherzo was later absorbed into the ''Roma'' symphony, and the funeral march music was adapted and used in a later opera.<ref name= OMO/><ref name= D754>Dean (1980), pp. 754–755</ref> Bizet's fourth and final envoi, which occupied him for much of 1862, was a one-act opera, ''La guzla de l'émir''. As a state-subsidised theatre, the Opéra-Comique was obliged from time to time to stage the works of Prix de Rome laureates, and ''La guzla'' duly went into rehearsal in 1863. However, in April Bizet received an offer, which originated from [[Count Alexandre Joseph Colonna-Walewski|Count Walewski]], to compose the music for a three-act opera. This was ''[[Les pêcheurs de perles]]'', based on a libretto by [[Michel Carré]] and [[Eugène Cormon]]. Because a condition of this offer was that the opera should be the composer's first publicly staged work, Bizet hurriedly withdrew ''La guzla'' from production and incorporated parts of its music into the new opera.<ref name= D754/> The first performance of ''Les pêcheurs de perles'', by the Théâtre Lyrique company, was on 30 September 1863. Critical opinion was generally hostile, though Berlioz praised the work, writing that it "does M. Bizet the greatest honour".<ref>Curtiss, pp. 140–141</ref> Public reaction was lukewarm, and the opera's run ended after 18 performances. It was not performed again until 1886.<ref name= D755>Dean (1980), pp. 755–756</ref>

In 1862, Bizet had fathered a child with the family's housekeeper, Marie Reiter. The boy was brought up to believe that he was Adolphe Bizet's child; only on her deathbed in 1913 did Reiter reveal her son's true paternity.<ref>Curtiss, p. 122</ref>

====Years of struggle====
[[File:Bizet caricature 1863.jpg|thumb|upright|Caricature of Bizet, 1863, from the French magazine ''Diogène'']]
When his Prix de Rome grant expired, Bizet found he could not make a living from writing music. He accepted piano pupils and some composition students, two of whom, Edmond Galabert and [[Paul Lacombe (composer)|Paul Lacombe]], became his close friends.<ref name= OMO/> He also worked as an accompanist at rehearsals and auditions for various staged works, including Berlioz's oratorio ''[[L'enfance du Christ]]'' and Gounod's opera ''[[Mireille (opera)|Mireille]]''.<ref>Curtiss, p. 146</ref> However, his main work in this period was as an arranger of others' works. He made piano transcriptions for hundreds of operas and other pieces and prepared vocal scores and orchestral arrangements for all kinds of music.<ref name= OMO/><ref>Dean (1965), pp. 54–55</ref> He was also, briefly, a music critic for ''La Revue Nationale et Étrangère'', under the assumed name of "Gaston de Betzi". Bizet's single contribution in this capacity appeared on 3 August 1867, after which he quarrelled with the magazine's new editor and resigned.<ref>Steen, p. 589</ref>

Since 1862, Bizet had been working intermittently on ''Ivan IV'', an opera based on the life of [[Ivan the Terrible]]. Carvalho failed to deliver on his promise to produce it, so in December 1865, Bizet offered it to the Opéra, which rejected it; the work remained unperformed until 1946.<ref name= D755/><ref>Dean (1965), p. 261</ref> In July 1866, Bizet signed another contract with Carvalho, for ''[[La jolie fille de Perth]]'', the libretto for which, by [[Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges]] after [[Walter Scott|Sir Walter Scott]], is described by Bizet's biographer [[Winton Dean]] as "the worst Bizet was ever called upon to set".<ref>Dean (1965), p. 62</ref> Problems over the casting and other issues delayed its premiere for a year before it was finally performed by the Théâtre Lyrique on 26 December 1867.<ref name= D755/> Its press reception was more favourable than that for any of Bizet's other operas; ''Le Ménestral's'' critic hailed the second act as "a masterpiece from beginning to end".<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 71–72</ref> Despite the opera's success, Carvalho's financial difficulties meant a run of only 18 performances.<ref name= D755/>

While ''La jolie fille'' was in rehearsal, Bizet worked with three other composers, each of whom contributed a single act to a four-act operetta ''Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre''. When the work was performed at the Théâtre de l'Athénée on 13 December 1867, it was a great success, and the ''Revue et Gazette Musicale's'' critic lavished particular praise on Bizet's act: "Nothing could be more stylish, smarter and, at the same time, more distinguished".<ref>Curtiss, pp. 206–209</ref> Bizet also found time to finish his long-gestating ''Roma'' symphony and wrote numerous keyboard works and songs. Nevertheless, this period of Bizet's life was marked by significant disappointments. At least two projected operas were abandoned with little or no work done.{{refn|Dean identifies one of these as ''Les Templiers'', libretto by Saint-Georges and Léon Halévy. Another, title unknown, was for a libretto by Arthur Leroy and [[Thomas Sauvage]].<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 79, 260–263</ref>|group= n}} Several competition entries, including a cantata and a hymn composed for the [[Exposition Universelle (1867)|Paris Exhibition of 1867]], were unsuccessful.<ref>Curtiss, pp. 194–198</ref> ''La Coupe du Roi de Thulé'', his entry for an opera competition, was not placed in the first five; from the fragments of this score that survive, analysts have discerned pre-echoes of ''Carmen''.<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 77–79</ref><ref name= D757>Dean (1980), p. 757</ref> On 28 February 1869, the ''Roma'' symphony was performed at the Cirque Napoléon, under [[Jules Pasdeloup]]. Afterwards, Bizet informed Galabert that on the basis of proportionate applause, hisses, and catcalls, the work was a success.<ref>Curtiss, p. 232</ref>{{refn|This performance, against Bizet's wishes, omitted the scherzo that had formed part of his third envoi. The scherzo was not included in the symphony until 1880, five years after Bizet's death.<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 80–81</ref>|group= n}}

===Marriage===
[[File:Madame Georges Bizet by Jules-Élie Delaunay (conrasted).jpg|thumb|upright|left|Geneviève Bizet, painted in 1878 by [[Jules-Élie Delaunay]]]]
Not long after Fromental Halévy's death in 1862, Bizet had been approached on behalf of Mme. Halévy about completing his old tutor's unfinished opera ''[[Noé (opera)|Noé]]''.<ref name= D84>Dean (1965), p. 84</ref> Although no action was taken at that time, Bizet remained on friendly terms with the Halévy family. Fromental had left two daughters; the elder, Esther, died in 1864, an event which so traumatised Mme. Halévy that she could not tolerate the company of her younger daughter [[Geneviève Halévy|Geneviève]], who from the age of 15 lived with other family members.<ref name="Dean 1965, p. 82">Dean (1965), p. 82</ref> It is unclear when Geneviève and Bizet became emotionally attached, but in October 1867, he informed Galabert: "I have met an adorable girl whom I love! In two years she will be my wife!"<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 69–70</ref> The pair became engaged, although the Halévy family initially disallowed the match. According to Bizet they considered him an unsuitable catch: "penniless, left-wing, anti-religious and Bohemian",<ref>Steen, pp. 589–590</ref> which Dean observes are odd grounds of objection from "a family bristling with artists and eccentrics".<ref>Dean (1965), p. 70</ref> By summer 1869, their objections had been overcome, and the wedding took place on 3 June 1869. Ludovic Halévy wrote in his journal: "Bizet has spirit and talent. He ''should'' succeed".<ref>Curtiss, p. 250</ref>

As a belated homage to his late father-in-law, Bizet took up the ''Noé'' manuscript and completed it. Parts of his moribund ''Vasco da Gama'' and ''Ivan IV'' were incorporated into the score, but a projected production at the Théâtre Lyrique failed to materialise when Carvalho's company finally went bankrupt, and ''Noé'' remained unperformed until 1885.<ref name= OMO/><ref name= D84/> Bizet's marriage was initially happy, but was affected by Geneviève's nervous instability (inherited from both her parents),<ref name="Dean 1965, p. 82"/> her difficult relations with her mother and by Mme. Halévy's interference in the couple's affairs.<ref name= D757/> Despite this, Bizet kept on good terms with his mother-in-law and maintained an extensive correspondence with her.<ref name= Letters/> In the year following the marriage, he considered plans for at least half a dozen new operas and began to sketch the music for two of them: ''Clarissa Harlowe'' based on [[Samuel Richardson]]'s novel ''[[Clarissa; or, The History of a Young Lady|Clarissa]]'', and ''Grisélidis'' with a libretto from [[Victorien Sardou]].<ref>Curtiss, pp. 254–256</ref> However, his progress on these projects was brought to a halt in July 1870, with the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]].<ref>Curtiss, p. 258</ref>

===War and upheaval===
[[File:Franco-Prussian War - Students Going to Man the Barricades - Illustrated London News Oct 1 1870.jpg|thumb|upright|Paris during the siege, 1870–71. A contemporary English cartoon]]
After a series of perceived provocations from Prussia, culminating in the offer of the Spanish crown to the Prussian [[Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern|Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern]], the French Emperor Napoleon III declared war on 15 July 1870. Initially, this step was supported by an outbreak of patriotic fervour and confident expectations of victory.<ref name= OMO/><ref>Steen, p. 591</ref> Bizet, along with other composers and artists, joined the [[National Guard (France)|National Guard]] and began training.<ref name= Curtiss259>Curtiss, pp. 259–262</ref> He was critical of the antiquated equipment with which he was supposed to fight; his unit's guns, he said, were more dangerous to themselves than to the enemy.<ref name= Letters>{{Cite journal
  | last = Curtiss
  | first = Mina
  |author2=Bizet, Georges
  | title = Unpublished Letters by Georges Bizet
  | journal =[[The Musical Quarterly]]
  | volume = 36
  | issue = 3
  | pages = 375–409
  | publisher = Oxford University Press
  | date = July 1950
  | jstor = 739910
  | doi=10.1093/mq/xxxvi.3.375
  }}{{subscription required}}</ref> The national mood was soon depressed by news of successive reverses; at [[Battle of Sedan (1870)|Sedan]] on 2 September, the French armies suffered an overwhelming defeat; Napoleon was captured and deposed, and the [[Second Empire (France)|Second Empire]] came to a sudden end.<ref name= Curtiss259/>

Bizet greeted with enthusiasm the proclamation in Paris of the [[Third Republic (France)|Third Republic]].<ref name= Curtiss259/> The new government did not sue for peace, and by 17 September, the Prussian armies had surrounded Paris.<ref name= Steen594>Steen, p. 594</ref> Unlike Gounod, who fled to England,<ref>Curtiss, p. 263</ref> Bizet rejected opportunities to leave the besieged city: "I can't leave Paris! It's impossible! It would be quite simply an act of cowardice", he wrote to Mme Halévy.<ref name= Letters/> Life in the city became frugal and harsh,{{refn|Although there were few instances of actual starvation during the Siege, infant mortality rose considerably because of a shortage of milk. The main sources of meat were horses and domestic pets: "It has been calculated that during the entire Siege 65,000 horses, 5,000 cats and 1,200 dogs were eaten".<ref>Steen, p. 596</ref>|group= n}} although, by October, there were efforts to re-establish normality. Pasdeloup resumed his regular Sunday concerts, and on 5 November, the Opéra reopened with excerpts from works by Gluck, Rossini, and Meyerbeer.<ref name= Steen594/><ref>Curtiss, p. 268</ref>

An armistice was signed on 26 January 1871, but the departure of the Prussian troops from Paris in March presaged a period of confusion and civil disturbance. Following an uprising, the city's municipal authority was taken over by dissidents who established the [[Paris Commune]].<ref>Steen, pp. 598–601</ref> Bizet decided that he was no longer safe in the city, and he and Geneviève escaped to [[Compiègne]].<ref name= Letters/> Later, they moved to [[Le Vésinet]] where they sat out the two months of the Commune, within hearing distance of the gunfire that resounded as government troops gradually crushed the uprising: "The cannons are rumbling with unbelievable violence", Bizet wrote to his mother-in-law on 12 May.<ref name= Letters/><ref>Dean (1965), p. 87</ref>

===Late career===

====''Djamileh'', ''L'Arlésienne'' and ''Don Rodrigue''====
As life in Paris returned to normal, in June 1871, Bizet's appointment as chorus-master at the Opéra was seemingly confirmed by its director, [[Émile Perrin]]. Bizet was due to begin his duties in October, but on 1 November, the post was assumed by [[Hector Salomon]]. In her biography of Bizet, Mina Curtiss surmises that he either resigned or refused to take up the position as a protest against what he thought was the director's unjustified closing of [[Ernest Reyer]]'s opera ''Erostrate'' after only two performances.<ref>Curtiss, pp. 315–317</ref> Bizet resumed work on ''Clarissa Harlowe'' and ''Grisélidis'', but plans for the latter to be staged at the Opéra-Comique fell through, and neither work was finished; only fragments of their music survive.<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 91–95</ref> Bizet's other completed works in 1871 were the piano duet entitled ''[[Jeux d'enfants (Bizet)|Jeux d'enfants]]'', and a one-act opera, ''[[Djamileh]]'', which opened at the Opéra-Comique in May 1872. It was poorly staged and incompetently sung; at one point the leading singer missed 32 bars of music. It closed after 11 performances, not to be heard again until 1938.<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 96–98</ref> On 10 July Geneviève gave birth to the couple's only child, a son, [[Jacques Bizet|Jacques]].<ref>Curtiss, pp. 329–330</ref>
[[File:Paris Opera fire 29 10 1873.jpg|thumb|left|The Opéra, destroyed by fire, 29 October 1873]]
[[File:Georges Bizet L'Arlésienne Suite no. 1 1st movement excerpt.mp3|thumb|''L'Arlesienne Suite no. 1'', first movement (excerpt)]]
Bizet's next major assignment came from Carvalho, who was now managing Paris' Vaudeville theatre and wanted incidental music for [[Alphonse Daudet]]'s play ''[[L'Arlésienne (novel and play)|L'Arlésienne]]''. When the play opened on 1 October, the music was dismissed by critics as too complex for popular taste. However, encouraged by Reyer and [[Jules Massenet|Massenet]], Bizet fashioned [[L'Arlésienne (Bizet)|a four-movement suite]] from the music,<ref>Curtiss, pp. 332–340</ref> which was performed under Pasdeloup on 10 November to an enthusiastic reception.<ref name= OMO/>{{refn|A second ''L'Arlésienne'' suite was prepared by Guiraud and performed in 1879, four years after Bizet's death. This is generally known as ''L'Arlésienne suite No. 2''.<ref>Curtiss, p. 332</ref>|group= n}} In the winter of 1872–73, Bizet supervised preparations for a revival of the still-absent Gounod's ''Roméo et Juliette'' at the Opéra-Comique. Relations between the two had been cool for some years, but Bizet responded positively to his former mentor's request for help, writing: "You were the beginning of my life as an artist. I spring from you".<ref>Curtiss, p. 342</ref>

In June 1872, Bizet informed Galabert: "I have just been ordered to compose three acts for the Opéra-Comique. [[Henri Meilhac|[Henri] Meilhac]] and [Ludovic] Halévy are doing my piece".<ref>Dean (1965), p. 100</ref> The subject chosen for this project was [[Prosper Mérimée]]'s short novel, ''[[Carmen (novella)|Carmen]]''. Bizet began the music in the summer of 1873, but the Opéra-Comique's management was concerned about the suitability of this risqué story for a theatre that generally provided wholesome entertainment, and work was suspended.<ref name= OMO/><ref>Schonberg (Vol. II), p. 36</ref> Bizet then began composing ''Don Rodrigue'', an adaptation of the [[El Cid]] story by [[Louis Gallet]] and [[Édouard Blau]]. He played a piano version to a select audience that included the Opéra's principal baritone [[Jean-Baptiste Faure]], hoping that the singer's approval might influence the directors of the Opéra to stage the work.<ref>Dean (1965), p. 107</ref> However, on the night of 28–29 October, the Opéra burned to the ground; the directors, amid other pressing concerns, set ''Don Rodrigue'' aside.<ref>Curtiss, pp. 352–353</ref> It was never completed; Bizet later adapted a theme from its final act as the basis of his 1875 overture, ''Patrie''.<ref name= OMO/>

====''Carmen''====
{{main|Carmen}}
[[File:Prudent-Louis_Leray_-_Poster_for_the_première_of_Georges_Bizet's_Carmen.jpg|thumb|Poster from ''Carmen'''s première]]
[[Adolphe de Leuven]], the co-director of the Opéra-Comique most bitterly opposed to the ''[[Carmen]]'' project, resigned early in 1874, removing the main barrier to the work's production.<ref name= OMO/> Bizet finished the score during the summer and was pleased with the outcome: "I have written a work that is all clarity and vivacity, full of colour and melody".<ref>Dean (1965), p. 108</ref> The renowned mezzo-soprano [[Célestine Galli-Marié]] (known professionally as "Galli-Marié") was engaged to sing the title role. According to Dean, she was as delighted by the part as Bizet was by her suitability for it. There were rumours that he and the singer pursued a brief affair; his relations with Geneviève were strained at this time, and they lived apart for several months.<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 110–111</ref>

When rehearsals began in October 1874, the orchestra had difficulties with the score, finding some parts unplayable.<ref name= D758>Dean (1980), pp. 758–760</ref> The chorus likewise declared some of their music impossible to sing and were dismayed that they had to act as individuals, smoking and fighting onstage rather than merely standing in line.<ref>McClary, p. 24</ref> Bizet also had to counter further attempts at the Opéra-Comique to modify parts of the action which they deemed improper. Only when the leading singers threatened to withdraw from the production did the management give way.<ref>Dean (1965), pp. 112–114</ref><ref>McClary, p. 23</ref> Resolving these issues delayed the first night until 3 March 1875 on which morning, by chance, Bizet's appointment as a Chevalier of the [[Legion of Honour]] was announced.<ref name= C387/>

Among leading musical figures at the premiere were [[Jules Massenet]], [[Camille Saint-Saëns]], and [[Charles Gounod]]. Geneviève, suffering from an abscess in her right eye, was unable to be present.<ref name= C387>Curtiss, p. 387</ref> The opera's first performance extended to four-and-a-half hours; the final act did not begin until after midnight.<ref name= S604>Sheen, pp. 604–605</ref> Afterwards, Massenet and Saint-Saëns were congratulatory, Gounod less so. According to one account, he accused Bizet of plagiarism: "Georges has robbed me! Take the Spanish airs and mine out of the score and there remains nothing to Bizet's credit but the sauce that masks the fish".<ref>Curtiss, p. 391</ref>{{refn|The acknowledged Spanish melodies are the Habanera, which uses a popular tune by [[Sebastián Iradier]], and the entr'acte to Act 4 which is based on an aria from [[Manuel García (tenor)|Manuel Garcia]]'s opera ''El criado fingido''.<ref>McClary, p. 26</ref><ref name= Locke>Locke, pp. 318–319</ref>|group= n}} Much of the press comment was negative, expressing consternation that the heroine was an amoral seductress rather than a woman of virtue.<ref name= S604/> Galli-Marié's performance was described by one critic as "the very incarnation of vice".<ref>Dean (1965), p. 117</ref> Others complained of a lack of melody and made unfavourable comparisons with the traditional Opéra-Comique fare of [[Daniel Auber|Auber]] and [[François-Adrien Boieldieu|Boieldieu]]. Léon Escudier in ''L'Art Musical'' called the music "dull and obscure&nbsp;... the ear grows weary of waiting for the cadence that never comes".<ref>Dean (1965), p. 118</ref> There was, however, praise from the poet [[Théodore de Banville]], who applauded Bizet for presenting a drama with real men and women instead of the usual Opéra-Comique "puppets".<ref>Curtiss, pp. 408–409</ref> The public's reaction was lukewarm, and Bizet soon became convinced of its failure: "I foresee a definite and hopeless flop".<ref>Dean (1965), p. 116</ref>

===Illness and death===
 [[File:Trinity Church Paris France.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, where Bizet's funeral service was held on 5 June 1875]]
For most of his life, Bizet had suffered from a recurrent throat complaint.<ref>Curtiss, p. 61</ref> A heavy smoker, he may have further undermined his health by overwork during the mid-1860s, when he toiled over publishers' transcriptions for up to 16 hours a day.<ref>Steen, p. 588</ref> In 1868, he informed Galabert that he had been very ill with abscesses in the windpipe: "I suffered like a dog".<ref>Curtiss, p. 221</ref> In 1871, and again in 1874, while completing ''Carmen'', he had been disabled by severe bouts of what he described as "throat angina", and suffered a further attack in late March 1875.<ref>Curtiss, pp. 310 and 367</ref><ref>Dean (1965), p. 122</ref> At that time, depressed by the evident failure of ''Carmen'', Bizet was slow to recover and fell ill again in May. At the end of the month, he went to his holiday home at [[Bougival]] and, feeling a little better, went for a swim in the [[River Seine|Seine]]. On the next day, 1 June, he was afflicted by high fever and pain, which was followed by an apparent heart attack. He seemed temporarily to recover, but in the early hours of 3 June, his wedding anniversary, he suffered a fatal second attack.<ref name= D124>Dean (1965), pp. 124–126</ref> He was 36 years old.

The suddenness of Bizet's death, and awareness of his depressed mental state, fuelled rumours of suicide. Although the exact cause of death was never settled with certainty, physicians eventually determined the cause as "a cardiac complication of acute articular rheumatism".{{refn|This opinion was recorded by a physician, Eugène Gelma of the [[University of Strasbourg]], many years after Bizet's death.<ref>Curtiss, p. 419</ref>|group= n}} News of the death stunned the Paris musical world, and because Galli-Marié was too upset to appear, that evening's performance of ''Carmen'' was cancelled and replaced with [[François-Adrien Boieldieu|Boieldieu]]'s ''[[La dame blanche]]''.<ref name= D124/>

More than 4,000 people were present at the funeral on 5 June, at the [[Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris|Église de la Sainte-Trinité]], just to the north of the Opéra. Adolphe Bizet led the mourners, who included Gounod, Thomas, [[Ludovic Halévy]], [[Léon Halévy]] and Massenet. An orchestra, under [[Jules Pasdeloup]], played ''Patrie'', and the organist improvised a fantasy on themes from ''Carmen''. At the burial which followed at the [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]], Gounod gave the eulogy. He said that Bizet had been struck down just as he was becoming recognised as a true artist. Towards the end of his address, Gounod broke down and was unable to deliver his [[peroration]].<ref>Curtiss, pp. 422–423</ref> After a special performance of ''Carmen'' at the Opéra-Comique that night, the press, which had almost universally condemned the piece three months earlier, now declared Bizet a master.<ref>Dean (1965), p. 128</ref>