DOI article:
Willeby, Charles: The composer of "Carmen"
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21215#0076
jz The Composer of " Carmen "
Shortly after this he married Genevieve HaleVy, the daughter of
the composer of " La Juive," and lived almost exclusively at le
V^sinet. There, at 8, Rue des Cultures, a rustic place enough>
one might find Georges Bizet, seated in Iiis favourite corner of the
lovely garden, en chapeau de canotier, smoking his pipe and chatting
to his friends. It had been the home of Jacques HaleVy, and
Bizet had been wont to do his courting there. Now the old man
was no more, and in the long Summer days, the daughter and the
son—for HaleVy had been as a father to Bizet—missed sorely the
familiär figure hard at work with rake or hoe at his beloved flower-
beds. They were the passion of his later days, and they well repaid
his care. Even in the middle of a lesson—and he taught up to well-
nigh the last weeks of his life—would he rush out to uproot a
noxious weed that might chance to catch his eye. " How well I
remember my first day there," says Louis Gallet. "The war
was not long finished, and the traces of it were with us yet.
True, Paris had resumed her lovely girdle of green ; but beneath
this verdure reflected in the tardy waters of the Seine, there was
enough still to teil the terrible tale of ruin. One could not go to
Pecq or le V6sinet without some difficulty. Bizet, to save me
trouble, had taken care to meet me at Rueil, whence we made for
the little place where he was staying for the summer. The day
was lovely, and 'Djamileh ' made great strides as we talked and
paced the pretty garden walks. This habit of discussing while
Walking, what was uppermost in his mind, was always, to me, a
powerful characteristic of Georges Bizet. I do not remember
any important discussion between us that did not take place
during a stroll, or at all events whilst Walking, if only to and from
his study. We talked long that afternoon—of the influence of
Wagner on the future of musical art, of the reception in störe for
' Djamileh,' both by the public and by the OpeVa Comique itself.
This
Shortly after this he married Genevieve HaleVy, the daughter of
the composer of " La Juive," and lived almost exclusively at le
V^sinet. There, at 8, Rue des Cultures, a rustic place enough>
one might find Georges Bizet, seated in Iiis favourite corner of the
lovely garden, en chapeau de canotier, smoking his pipe and chatting
to his friends. It had been the home of Jacques HaleVy, and
Bizet had been wont to do his courting there. Now the old man
was no more, and in the long Summer days, the daughter and the
son—for HaleVy had been as a father to Bizet—missed sorely the
familiär figure hard at work with rake or hoe at his beloved flower-
beds. They were the passion of his later days, and they well repaid
his care. Even in the middle of a lesson—and he taught up to well-
nigh the last weeks of his life—would he rush out to uproot a
noxious weed that might chance to catch his eye. " How well I
remember my first day there," says Louis Gallet. "The war
was not long finished, and the traces of it were with us yet.
True, Paris had resumed her lovely girdle of green ; but beneath
this verdure reflected in the tardy waters of the Seine, there was
enough still to teil the terrible tale of ruin. One could not go to
Pecq or le V6sinet without some difficulty. Bizet, to save me
trouble, had taken care to meet me at Rueil, whence we made for
the little place where he was staying for the summer. The day
was lovely, and 'Djamileh ' made great strides as we talked and
paced the pretty garden walks. This habit of discussing while
Walking, what was uppermost in his mind, was always, to me, a
powerful characteristic of Georges Bizet. I do not remember
any important discussion between us that did not take place
during a stroll, or at all events whilst Walking, if only to and from
his study. We talked long that afternoon—of the influence of
Wagner on the future of musical art, of the reception in störe for
' Djamileh,' both by the public and by the OpeVa Comique itself.
This