Carmen. Opéra Comique en 4 actes. Tiré de la nouvelle de Prosper Merimée. Poème de H. Meilhac et L. Halévy. HAND PAINTED SET DESIGNS FROM THE PREMIERE

Paris: Choudens Père et Fils. [1875]. Four elaborately hand painted lithographs illustrating the original scenic designs for the 1875 first production of Bizet's "Carmen." Each measuring 25.8 x 18.8 cm, mounted to larger sheets and contained in the original publisher's wrappers featuring an ornate cover design, 34.5 x 27 cm. A printed ticket affixed to the upper front wrapper reads "N.B. Aussitot apres la premier representation nous renvoyer par poste franco ce Modele des Decors CHOUDENS Pere et Fils 30, Boulevard Ces Capucines."


"The lithographic reproductions of the set designs are rare and may be found, for the most part, only in the archives of certain music publishers, notably in those of the Choudens firm....During the preparations for an exhibition centering on the first production of Carmen, I was able to examine a set of hand-colored, lithographed stage designs for the opera in the Choudens archives in Paris. Each design measures 25.8 x 18.8 cm, and all of the lithographs are mounted on larger sheets and bound together as an album with an ornate title page. The signature of A[uguste] Lamy can be seen in the lower left corners of the third and fourth-act designs; it is not clear, however, that Lamy was the actual scene designer. Two of the designs were previously published in 1912 without attribution in the French periodical, Musica. After comparing these lithographs with other extant materials, I began to suspect that they might well be the original designs for the 1875 production. If this is the case, as I now believe it is, these Choudens scene designs would take on a special importance, for there are no other iconographical and documentary materials that have any direct relationship with the Carmen premiere in 1875. No other production records appear to survive: most likely, they were destroyed in the catastrophic fire of 1887 at the Opera-comique." (Evan Baker, "The Scene Designs for the First Performances of Bizet's Carmen," in "19th-Century Music, Vol. 13, No. 3, p. 231 -232) In her study "Georges Bizet: Carmen," (Cambridge University Press: 1992, page 25), Susan McClary notes that "The set designs for the first production of Carmen have only recently been located and identified by Evan Baker."


Original set designs are exceedingly rare as they were almost never offered for sale, and unlike costume designs - which were frequently reproduced in a variety of contexts - were available generally only for rent from the publishers or from the theaters in which the work had received its first performances. Apart from the set in the Choudens archive discussed by Evan Baker in his scholarship around these designs, we locate no other institutional copies of these designs nor any having surfaced on the auction market in 75 years of records.


One of the best-loved works in the operatic repertory, Carmen was first performed on March 3, 1875 in Paris. (9320)

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