KULTURA / CULTURE
Rozinin balkon iz Rosinijevog „Seviljskog berberina“
Rosina’s Balcony from Rossini’s the Barber of Seville
CARMEN, FIGARO, FIDELIO Singing Seville’s praises as the world’s opera capital barber, via Mozart tormented Don Giovanni, all the way to Beethoven’s only opera – all roads lead to the sweltering Seville From Bizet’s passionate beauty and Rossini’s sly I f the world’s opera heritage was mapped not according to the places where the works were pre- miered, but where they were set, the geographical centre of the op- era universe wouldn’t be Paris, Vienna or Milan - it would be a city on the Gua- dalquivir River. According to meticulous musicological research, over a hundred operas – from baroque gems to 20 th cen- tury dramas – are located in Seville. For the European romantics and classicists of the 18 th and 19 th centuries, Southern Spain was that which the Ori- ent was to adventurers: Europe’s exotic, dangerous, sun-drenched and passionate
frontier. It was a place where Christian and Moorish cultures had intertwined for centuries, where law and tradition were always trapped in a tense duel with individual freedom, while the strict- ness of the aristocracy confronted the wild rhythm of the streets. Seville was the perfect dramatic excuse for forbid- den love, sword fights beneath balconies and fatal passions. And yet, for cultur- al travellers the greatest charm lies in the fact that the Seville of the opera isn’t fic- tional. Its librettos represent a cartogra- phy of real streets, buildings and squares that remain today, under that same An- dalusian sun. Scandal, passion and uncompromising freedom It was the year 1875 when Paris’s Opéra-Comique hosted the premiere per- formance of a work that would forev- er change the art of opera. Its creator, French composer Georges Bizet, was a misunderstood genius. The French au- diences of the time were accustomed to cute comedies and morally unambigu- ous heroines, but Bizet imposed on them a raw, obsessive drama about a tobacco factory worker, a gypsy called Carmen, who valued her freedom more than life itself. The plot follows young soldier Don José, whose serene and orderly life col- lapses completely the moment he meets Carmen. Captivated by her beauty and
wild spirit, he abandons his fiancée Mi- caëla, defies the army, and even becomes a smuggler just so he can be by her side. However, Carmen doesn’t accept any shackles or coercion. When she falls in love with a bullfighter called Escamillo, Don José’s mind gives way to tragic jeal- ousy that ends in a fatal confrontation. It is a fascinating fact that Bizet nev- er set foot in Spain. He shaped his Seville on the basis of Prosper Mérimée’s novel- la of the same name, but also through his own ingenious musical intuitiveness. By studying Spanish rhythms, he com- posed the arias Habanera and Seguidilla, which pulse with the authentic rhythm of Andalusia. The premiere proved dis- astrous, with the audience left shocked by the scandalous conduct of the char- acters, while the critics were unprepared for the raw realism on stage. Broken and convinced that he’d experienced total failure, Bizet died just three months lat- er, at the age of 36, not knowing that he had created what would become the most performed opera in history. Today’s travellers can literally walk through the scenes of this opera. The sto- ry begins in front of the Royal Tobac- co Factory, a monumental 18 th century building. Today it houses the Rectorate of the University of Seville, and entering its inner stone courtyards provides an ac- curate sense of the place where, in Act I, Carmen seduces Don José while taking
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