Yesterday, the radio opera was Bizet’s “Carmen.” I expect everyone has heard something from it at some point, including people who have never been within miles of an opera house. The Toreador Song is probably the piece most likely to be known by name, though the Gypsy dance in Act 2 is also very catchy. Even fluent French speakers may miss the straight-out-of-Pete-Hegseth lines in the Toreador song: “Some men are soldiers, some are toreros. What’s the diffrence who we are? We all love a fight!” Carmen is the opera know better than any other, except maybe La Boheme, and that would be at most a tie. When I was studying music after leaving the USMC, the college I was studying at staged it, and I played first chair second violin (not well – some of it is tough.) That consitutes really getting to know an opera the hard way.
I’m going to let the good news speak for itself again, and continue running through the alphabet for my links. (Some you may need to turn sound on.) If the song is a rerun, I apologize.
