Georges Bizet's final opera, Carmen, has become one of the best-known plots with the most memorable of music, despite its initial rejection by Paris critics following its "scandalous" 1875 premiere at the Opéra-Comique, a theater known for works of a lighter flavor. Basing their work on Prosper Mérimée's novella, talented librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy fashioned a timeless story of love, jealousy, and violence in the Spanish city of Seville, all set into motion by Carmen, a seductive, free-spirited femme fatale. For this new edition of Carmen, artist Davide Pizzigoni once again creates a stage for the imagination with richly allusive illustrations that capture the exotic spirit of the Spanish setting. J. D. McClatchy's fluid and rhythmic translation of the libretto allows the listener full appreciation of Bizet's swift and lustrous score as it is exquisitely performed in this 1950 recording of André Cluytens conducting the Orchestre du Théâtre del'Opéra-Comique.