Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 25, 2013

Georges Bizet (1838–75) was a French composer, mainly of opera, whose final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed in the opera repertory. As a young composer during the 1860s he struggled for recognition; he began many theatrical projects, but found that the main Parisian opera theatres preferred the established classics to the works of newcomers. Two early operas—Les pêcheurs de perles and La jolie fille de Perth—failed to achieve initial success on the stage. The production of Carmen was delayed through fears that its themes of betrayal and murder would offend audiences; after its premiere in 1875, Bizet was convinced that the work was a failure. He died of a heart attack three months later, aged 36, unaware that Carmen would prove an enduring success. After his death Bizet's other work was largely forgotten. Manuscripts were given away or lost, and published versions were often the result of revision by other hands. As his operas began to be performed more frequently in the 20th century, commentators increasingly acclaimed Bizet as a brilliant and original composer, whose premature death was a significant loss to French musical theatre. (Full article...)

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