Description

GEORGES BIZET: Habanera, from Carmen Suite no. 2
Arranged for bassoon quartet by Michael A. Grant
 
Today, ‘Carmen’ is one of Bizet’s most famous and often-performed works, however this was not always the case. It was initially received poorly, and its composer sadly did not live to see it achieve great acclaim. In the opera, the ‘Habanera’ is a provocative song about the untameable nature of love, sung in Act I by the gypsy girl Carmen. Bizet unwittingly adapted the melody from a piece by Sebastián Iradier (who had died only a decade earlier), thinking it to be a traditional folk song, and later added a note to the opera’s vocal score to acknowledge the music’s source.
 
This arrangement can be performed as a bassoon quartet or (by eliminating the optional 4th part) as a trio.