In the last programme of the series telling the stories of famous pieces of music through the hand-written
manuscripts on which they were first created, Frances Fyfield is at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France - the French National Library.

Her subject is the score and rehearsal material for Bizet's Carmen. It has become one of the most popular
operas in the repertoire but the story in the manuscript belies the ebullience and self-confidence of the
many tunes now embedded in our culture.

Frances finds out about the struggles at the Opera Comique as this ultimately tragic story threatened the
gentility and bonhomie of the clientele. 'Please' said one of the managers at the time 'don't let Carmen die'.
Sadly for him, fortunately for posterity, Bizet and his librettists stuck to their guns and to the word of the
original Prosper Mérimée story on which the opera was based. Carmen dies, and has gone on dying ever since.

Frances is joined by the singer Bea Robein and the music writer and editor Richard Langham Smith.

Producer: Tom Alban. Show less