The première of Daudet's play L'Arlésienne with incidental music by Bizet given at the Théâtre du Vaudeville on 30 September 1872 was a devastating event for both playwright and composer and the production was removed from the repertory after 19 performances. The critic Johannès Weber however was alert to the quality of Bizet's score and suggested that the composer should excerpt and rescore several pieces for the Concerts populaires where 'the lovely music would be better appreciated than at the Vaudeville'. Bizet must have moved rather quickly to follow Weber's suggestion for the première of the first Arlésienne suitetook place only six weeks later at the Concerts populaires on 10 November 1872 and the work in its new abridged form was soon taken up by many other orchestras. Bizet however did not turn to preparing a second suite from L'Arlésienne. Some four years after Bizet's death the success of the first suite may have prompted his original publisher to commission the arrangement of more excerpts from the Arlésienne MS from Bizet's good friend Ernest Guiraud who had earlier written recitatives and put together a ballet for Carmen.

Carmen' is one of the most popular and most frequently performed operas across the globe. Its world premiere was a flop which the composer Bizet did not live to see. Nevertheless, the opera very quickly gained acceptance at all major theatres, bringing in its wake countless arrangements of some particularly beautiful music numbers.It was, in all probability, Bizet's close friend and fellow student Ernest Guiraud who brought 12 numbers of the opera together to form two orchestral suites. After the first Carmen Suite which unites the most beautiful instrumental settings, the second suite with arrangements of the best-known vocal pieces is now available as well. The musical text is based on our new scientific edition of the opera edited by Robert Didion. / Orchestre

The more you read, the more you hear!



The Eulenburg Audio Score Series contains the orchestral world's treasures from the baroque, classical and romantic repertoire. Each of the 50 volumes consists of a clearly-presented and authoritative score, an informative preface detailing the biographical and creative background, and a Naxos CD containing the work in full length.

Eulenburg Audio Score is the new way to hear, read and understand music. / Conducteur : Anthony Bramall / Partition CD /