DOI Artikel:
Willeby, Charles: The composer of "Carmen"
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21215#0073
By Charles Willeby
69
work against it, directing his energies in the first place against
Schnetz, "the dear old director " as they called him. Schnetz,
owning to a soft spot for his youngpensionnaire, was overcome, and
through him I fancy the powers that were in Paris. However,
Bizet was permitted to remain in his beloved Rome. Delighted,
he wrote off to Marmontel: " I am daily expecting Guiraud, and
words cannot express how glad I shall be to see him. Would you
believe it, it is two years since I have spoken with an intelligent
musician ? My colleague Z-bores me frightfully. He speaks
to me of Donizetti, of Fesca even, and I reply to him with
Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Gounod."
This last year spent with Guiraud was perhaps the happiest of
his life. At the close of it the two set off together on a ramble
through the land, with fancy for their only guide. They had got
so far as Venice when news of his mother's dangerous illness
called Bizet to her side. He arrived in time to say farewell, and
he never returned to Italy.
Of work done at the Villa, " Vasco de Gama" is the only
tangible sample ; " but I have not wasted my time," he wrote,
"I have read a good many volumes of history, and ever so much
more literature of all kinds. I have travelled, I have learned
something of the history of art, and I really am a bit of a
connoisseur in painting and sculpture. All I want now, on my
return, are trou jolis actes for the Theätre Lyrique."
And shortly we find him in füll swing with " Les Pecheurs des
Perles." It was produced on the 30th September of 1863, and
had some eighteen representations. " La Jolie Fille de Perth,"
which followed it four years later, had, I think, twenty-one. In
between these two works, we are told, Bizet, in a fit of violent
admiration for Verdi, strove to emulate him in an opera entitled
"Ivan le Terrible." It is said to have been completed and
The Yellow Book—Vol. II. E handed
69
work against it, directing his energies in the first place against
Schnetz, "the dear old director " as they called him. Schnetz,
owning to a soft spot for his youngpensionnaire, was overcome, and
through him I fancy the powers that were in Paris. However,
Bizet was permitted to remain in his beloved Rome. Delighted,
he wrote off to Marmontel: " I am daily expecting Guiraud, and
words cannot express how glad I shall be to see him. Would you
believe it, it is two years since I have spoken with an intelligent
musician ? My colleague Z-bores me frightfully. He speaks
to me of Donizetti, of Fesca even, and I reply to him with
Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Gounod."
This last year spent with Guiraud was perhaps the happiest of
his life. At the close of it the two set off together on a ramble
through the land, with fancy for their only guide. They had got
so far as Venice when news of his mother's dangerous illness
called Bizet to her side. He arrived in time to say farewell, and
he never returned to Italy.
Of work done at the Villa, " Vasco de Gama" is the only
tangible sample ; " but I have not wasted my time," he wrote,
"I have read a good many volumes of history, and ever so much
more literature of all kinds. I have travelled, I have learned
something of the history of art, and I really am a bit of a
connoisseur in painting and sculpture. All I want now, on my
return, are trou jolis actes for the Theätre Lyrique."
And shortly we find him in füll swing with " Les Pecheurs des
Perles." It was produced on the 30th September of 1863, and
had some eighteen representations. " La Jolie Fille de Perth,"
which followed it four years later, had, I think, twenty-one. In
between these two works, we are told, Bizet, in a fit of violent
admiration for Verdi, strove to emulate him in an opera entitled
"Ivan le Terrible." It is said to have been completed and
The Yellow Book—Vol. II. E handed