"CARMEN"
Sir-If your correspondent J. L. Kelly took the trouble to read Mérimée’s Carmen he would see that it is not the novel but the opera that is filled with the "soul convulsions of the exotically romantic egotists." The novel is not even the product of a "soul convulsion." Mérimée’s genius was too precise, cynical, and self-critical for that. The novel. is exotic, but it hasn’t the flashy, cheap, pseudo-Spanish colouring that Meilhac and Halévy provide (tempered. of course with a little Victorian prudery), And if Tchaikovski desired a libretto like Carmen, all I can say: is ‘Poor Tchaikovski." Again, where are the moral blots in Mozart’s operas comparable in size to those spattered all! over Carmen? | If there are any, does that imply we should reject Mozart's works? The music to Mozart’s operas and even Tchaikovski’s, when considered apart from the stage settings, can stand on its own feet and as great music can mean something. MBizet’s music to
Carmen-never!
E. F.
KAYE
(Wanganui).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19480917.2.14.7
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 482, 17 September 1948, Page 23
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165"CARMEN" New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 482, 17 September 1948, Page 23
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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