Program Notes

Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

Patrie (1874)

Scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, four horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, strings and harp

No one would argue that Georges Bizet’s greatest masterpiece is the beloved opera Carmen. It is among not only the greatest operatic treasures in the world, but among musical works of any kind. It is so justly famous and familiar that most would be shocked to hear that its premier was a dismal failure. Its remarkable music was not enough to overcome the mature themes of sexual passion, moral ambiguity and murder that are presented. In fact, it was pronounced obscene by many who saw it for the first time in Paris. The opera would recover, but, unfortunately, Bizet would not. He died only three months after Carmen’s debut.

The story of Carmen is typical of the tragically short life of the great French master. He was bolstered by a number of early successes, including winning the coveted prix de Rome, which offered him a chance to work and study in Italy for three years. He found acceptance as both pianist and composer and on his return to Paris he received many offers to teach and perform, offers that would have given him a comfortable living. But Bizet turned them all down. By then he knew beyond any doubt that his life’s work would be composition, and he threw himself into it with all his soul. His greatest passion was now the operatic stage, and in 1863, his one-act La guzla de l'emir was in rehearsal when the Theatre-Lyrique director invited Bizet to compose The Pearl Fishers.

But the Parisian audiences were notoriously difficult to please and they met the work with, at best, polite indifference. Added to this, the frustrations of having conceived a child out of wedlock, service in the National Guard during the Franco-Prussian war and serious bouts of bad health, put considerable strain on him. Discouraged but not beaten, he continued to compose, and in 1874 he was able to muster the strength and courage to write the spirited overture Patrie.

The piece was commissioned from the famous conductor Charles Pasdeloup, a champion of new compositions and the first man to introduce German music into France. It is notable for being one of the few works from late in the composer’s life that was met with an enthusiastic reception. The overture is a jaunty, vivacious offering filled to overflowing with French patriotic fervor. The beautiful middle section is at turns brooding, stirringly dramatic and deeply passionate, and the overture ends on a note of uninhibited triumph. It was just the thing for a public for which the Franco-Prussian war was still a recent and bitter memory.