Opéra comique is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular opéras comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent, which co
Poster for Carmen, probably the most famous opéra comique
André Grétry, the most famous composer of opéra comique before the French Revolution
Title page of the first edition of the full score of Médée by Cherubini, 1797
Carmen is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera
Opéra comique
…existing popular tunes with spoken sections. Associated with the Paris theatre of the same name, opéra comique is not necessarily comical or shallow; Carmen, perhaps the most famous opéra comique, is a tragedy. The term opéra comique is complex in meaning and cannot simply be translated as "comic opera…
Célestine Galli-Marié as Carmen
Lithograph of act 1 in the premiere performance, by Pierre-Auguste Lamy, 1875
Magdalena Kožená and Jonas Kaufmann at the Salzburg Festival 2012