Carmen Fantasy, Op. 25

Program notes

About the Work

When a nineteenth-century violin virtuoso wanted a new piece for his own concerts, the obvious thing to do was to take the hit tunes of a popular opera and decorate them. Pablo de Sarasate wrote fantasies of this kind on operas from Don Giovanni and Der Freischütz to Gounod’s Faust. The best known is the one on Bizet’s Carmen.

The opera was still recent. Carmen had its premiere in Paris in 1875, to a cool and in part scandalised reception, and began its conquest of the world’s stages only after a production in Vienna later that year. Sarasate composed his fantasy in 1881 and published it the following year. For a Spanish violinist the attraction was obvious, and he chose precisely the numbers with the strongest Spanish flavour.

The Carmen Fantasy is among the best known of his works and is considered one of the most demanding pieces in the violin repertoire.

What to Listen For

There are five sections, played without a break, each based on a different number from the opera. You will recognise most of them.

First comes the Aragonaise, the entr’acte before the last act. Then the Habanera, Carmen’s entrance song, lavishly ornamented. A slower section follows, built on the mocking “Tra la la” with which Carmen defies the officer Zuniga; it ends in ghostly high harmonics. Next is the Seguidilla from the first act. The finale is the Gypsy Dance from the opening of the second act, where Carmen and her friends entertain the officers. It ends with a virtuoso acceleration, the soloist adding racing passages in thirds and arpeggios that sweep the whole range of the instrument.