The story of the passionate and beautiful Carmen, the frivolous seductress, whose fickle life ands at the hands of the jilted lover, was written by Prosper Mérimée a whole thirty years before the premier of Bizet´s work. The thirty-seven-year-old composer intro-duced more characters into the plot. He positioned the carefree Carmen in juxtaposition to the pure and responsible Micaela, in addition to José there is his arch enemy Don Escamillo.

While preserving the simple story Bizet composed an opera full of sensual and wild Spanish melodies which, how-ever, generated enthusiasm throughout Europe only after the premier in 1875 (the audience hiss at the premier in Paris six month earlier). The composer, however, did not live to experience the success of his masterpiece.