Editing Carmen (section)

===Worldwide success===
[[File:Carmen at the Met1915.jpg|thumb|''Carmen'' at the New York Met in 1915; a publicity photograph that shows the three principal stars: [[Geraldine Farrar]], [[Enrico Caruso]] and [[Pasquale Amato]]]]
On 9 January 1884, ''Carmen'' was given its first New York [[Metropolitan Opera]] performance, to a mixed critical reception. ''[[The New York Times]]'' welcomed Bizet's "pretty and effective work", but compared [[Zelia Trebelli-Bettini|Zelia Trebelli]]'s interpretation of the title role unfavourably with that of Minnie Hauk.<ref name=Met/> Thereafter ''Carmen'' was quickly incorporated into the Met's regular repertory. In February 1906 [[Enrico Caruso]] sang José at the Met for the first time; he continued to perform in this role until 1919, two years before his death.<ref name=Met>{{cite web|title=''Carmen'', 9 January 1884, Met Performance CID: 1590, performance details and reviews|url=https://archives.metopera.org/MetOperaSearch/record.jsp?dockey=0357467|publisher=Metropolitan Opera|access-date=13 August 2024}})</ref> On 17 April 1906, on tour with the Met, he sang the role at the Grand Opera House in [[San Francisco]]. Afterwards he sat up until 3 am reading the reviews in the early editions of the following day's papers.<ref>Winchester, pp. 206–209</ref> Two hours later he was awakened by the first violent shocks of the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]], after which he and his fellow performers made a hurried escape from the [[Palace Hotel, San Francisco|Palace Hotel]].<ref>Winchester, pp. 221–223</ref>

The popularity of ''Carmen'' continued through succeeding generations of American opera-goers; by the beginning of 2011 the Met alone had performed it almost a thousand times.<ref name= Met/> It enjoyed similar success in other American cities and in all parts of the world, in many different languages.<ref name=C435>Curtiss, pp. 435–436</ref> Carmen's [[Habanera (aria)|habanera]] from act 1, and the toreador's song "[[Votre toast]]" from act 2, are among the most popular and best-known of all operatic arias,<ref>{{cite web|title= Ten Pieces|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/PfZrGYnFV7zgRMcrqzp1zW/habanera-and-toreador-song-from-carmen-suite-no-2|publisher= BBC|year= 2016|access-date= 22 May 2016|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160923213816/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/PfZrGYnFV7zgRMcrqzp1zW/habanera-and-toreador-song-from-carmen-suite-no-2|archive-date= 23 September 2016}}</ref> the latter "a splendid piece of swagger" according to Newman, "against which the voices and the eyebrows of purists have long been raised in vain".<ref>Newman, p. 274</ref> Most of the productions outside France followed the example created in Vienna and incorporated lavish ballet interludes and other spectacles, a practice which [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]] abandoned in Vienna when he revived the work there in 1900.<ref name=N248 /> In 1919, Bizet's aged contemporary [[Camille Saint-Saëns]] was still complaining about the "strange idea" of adding a ballet, which he considered "a hideous blemish in that masterpiece", and he wondered why Bizet's wife had permitted it.<ref>Curtiss, p. 462</ref>

At the Opéra-Comique, after its 1883 revival, ''Carmen'' was always presented in the dialogue version with minimal musical embellishments.<ref name="D218" /> By 1888, the year of the 50th anniversary of Bizet's birth, the opera had been performed there 330 times;<ref name=C435 /> by 1938, his centenary year, the total of performances at the theatre had reached 2,271.<ref>Steen, p. 606</ref> However, outside France the practice of using recitatives remained the norm for many years; the [[Carl Rosa Opera Company]]'s 1947 London production, and [[Walter Felsenstein]]'s 1949 staging at the Berlin [[Komische Oper Berlin|Komische Oper]], are among the first known instances in which the dialogue version was used other than in France.<ref name="D218">Dean 1965, pp. 218–221</ref><ref>Neef, p. 62</ref> Neither of these innovations led to much change in practice; a similar experiment was tried at Covent Garden in 1953 but hurriedly withdrawn, and the first American production with spoken dialogue, in Colorado in 1953, met with a similar fate.<ref name="D218" />

Dean has commented on the dramatic distortions that arise from the suppression of the dialogue; the effect, he says, is that the action moves forward "in a series of jerks, rather instead of by smooth transition", and that most of the minor characters are substantially diminished.<ref name="D218" /><ref>McClary, p. 18</ref> Only late in the 20th century did dialogue versions become common in opera houses outside France, but there is still no universally recognised full score. [[Fritz Oeser]]'s 1964 edition is an attempt to fill this gap, but in Dean's view is unsatisfactory. Oeser reintroduces material removed by Bizet during the first rehearsals, and ignores many of the late changes and improvements that the composer made immediately before the first performance;<ref name=Grove /> he thus, according to [[Susan McClary]], "inadvertently preserves as definitive an early draft of the opera".<ref name="McC" /> In the early 21st century new editions were prepared by Robert Didion and Richard Langham-Smith, published by Schott and Peters respectively.<ref name=Wright>Wright, pp. xviii–xxi</ref> Each departs significantly from Bizet's vocal score of March 1875, published during his lifetime after he had personally corrected the proofs; Dean believes this vocal score should be the basis of any standard edition.<ref name=Grove /> Lesley Wright, a contemporary Bizet scholar, remarks that, unlike his compatriots [[Jean-Philippe Rameau|Rameau]] and [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]], Bizet has not been accorded a [[critical edition (opera)|critical edition]] of his principal works;<ref>Wright, pp. ix–x</ref> should this transpire, she says, "we might expect yet another scholar to attempt to refine the details of this vibrant score which has so fascinated the public and performers for more than a century."<ref name=Wright /> Meanwhile, ''Carmen''{{'}}s popularity endures; according to Macdonald: "The memorability of Bizet's tunes will keep the music of Carmen alive in perpetuity," and its status as a popular classic is unchallenged by any other French opera.<ref name=OMO2 />{{refn|A 2018 performance at the [[Teatro Comunale, Florence]], changed the ending to take a stand against violence against women. Instead of being killed, Carmen kills Don José with a pistol she grabs from him.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180208152729/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/02/italy-gives-world-famous-opera-carmen-defiant-new-ending-stand/ "Italy gives world-famous opera Carmen a defiant new ending in stand against violence to women"] by Nick Squires, ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', London, 2 January 2018</ref> Many applauded the change, seeing it as way to break the tradition of representing [[misogyny]] in opera while so many women continue to suffer from violence and abuse.<ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/florence-italy-change-carmen-1.4482413 "Plot twist: opera Carmen altered in anti-violence protest"], 11 January 2018, CBC News, Associated Press</ref>|group=n}}