The première of Daudet's play L'Arlésienne with incidental music by Bizet 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. Thus before his death in June 1875 Bizet had the satisfaction that his suite from L'Arlésienne was played by all the major concert societies in Paris and it has remained firmly in the concert and recorded repertoire ever since.

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.

Cette sélection douce et mélodique béatement est le moyen idéal pour vos élèves à développer un style de jeu legato sensible. Suggérant l'air frais des montagnes d'une soirée en Espagne, cet intermezzo ouvre l'acte II de chef d'opéra de Bizet avec un solo de flûte lyrique qui est finalement repris par tout l'orchestre. Mature à consonance et fidèle à l'originale du compositeur, l'orchestration colorée est sûre de garder toutes les sections intéressées. La partie accompagnement de piano peut être joué par la harpe (comme dans la version originale) ou un clavier avec réglage de la harpe. / Orchestre

'Carmen ' est l'un des opéras plus populaires et les plus souvent jouées à travers le monde. Première mondiale a été un flop. Néanmoins, l'opéra gagné très rapidement l'acceptation à tous les grands théâtres, apportant dans son sillage des arrangements d'innombrables de certains par / Orchestre

Version originale de 1872 pour ensemble instrumental et ch?ur Édition critique de Hervé Lacombe.