Page 232 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

Bizet borrowed phrases from several Spanish popular songs, folksongs, and flamenco melodies (songs of southern Spain infused with gypsy elements). The Habanera, which introduces the character Carmen, makes use of a then- popular Spanish song.
Literally, habanera means “the thing from Havana.” Musically, it is a type of dance-song that developed in Spanish-controlled Cuba during the early nine- teenth century. African and Latin influences on its musical style can perhaps be seen in the descending chromatic scale, and certainly in the static harmony (the downbeat of every measure is a D in the bass), as well as in the insistent, repeti- tious rhythm (24 C TU C C C C TU C C C ). The infectious rhythm of the habanera gives it its irresistible quality—we all want to get up and join the dance. But the habanera is a sensual dance, like its descendant the tango, and this sensual quality contrib- utes greatly to Carmen’s seductive aura.
The structure of Bizet’s Habanera is straightforward (Example 13.3). At first, Carmen sings a descending chromatic line of four 4-bar phrases (“Love is like an elusive bird”) (see Listening Cue). By their nature, fully chromatic melodies have no tonal center. This one, too, is musically noncommittal and slippery, just as Carmen herself is both ambiguous and evasive. The chorus immediately repeats the chromatic melody, but now Carmen voluptuously glides above it, singing the single word “L’amour” (“Love”). As her voice soars, like the elusive bird of love, the tonality brightens from minor to major. To this is then added a refrain (“Love is like a gypsy child”) in which the melody al- ternates between a major triad and a minor one. Against this refrain, the cho- rus shouts, “Watch out!” warning of Carmen’s destructive potential. This same structure—a chromatically descending melody, followed by a triadic refrain with choral shouts—then repeats. Bizet wanted his Habanera to establish the character of Carmen as a sensual enchantress. In every way, the music is Car- men. And like Carmen, once this seductive melody has us in its spell, it will never let go.
Example 13.3 > habanera melody
(Love is like an elusive bird that cannot be tamed. You call it in vain if it decides to refuse.)
210 chapter thirteen romantic opera
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