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|<score>{ \set Score.proportionalNotationDuration = #(ly:make-moment 1/8) \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } { \clef treble d'\glissando fis} }</score>
|<score>{ \set Score.proportionalNotationDuration = #(ly:make-moment 1/8) \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } {\clef treble d'\glissando d} }</score>
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Habanera ("music or dance of Havana") is the popular name for "" (; "Love is a rebellious bird"), an aria from Georges Bizet's 1875 opéra comique Carmen. It is the entrance aria of the title character, a mezzo-soprano role, in scene 5 of the first act.
Background
The score of the aria was adapted from the habanera "El Arreglito ou la Promesse de mariage", by the Spanish musician Sebastián Iradier, first published in 1863, which Bizet believed to be a folk song. he added a note about its derivation in the first edition of the vocal score which he himself prepared. Although the French libretto of the complete opéra comique was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, the words of the habanera originated from Bizet. The Habanera was first performed by Célestine Galli-Marié at the Opéra-Comique on 3 March 1875. Bizet, having removed during rehearsals his first version of Carmen's entrance song, in with a refrain in , rewrote the Habanera several times before he (and Galli-Marié) were satisfied with it. Rodney Milnes, reviewing a range of interpretations on record, described the piece as "after all, ... a simple, teasingly articulated statement of fact, not an earth-shattering philosophical credo".
Music
<score raw="1" lang="lilypond">
\header { tagline = ##f }
\score {
<<
\new Voice = "Carmen" { \set Staff.vocalName = \markup \smallCaps Carmen
\clef treble \time 2/4 \key d \minor
R2 R2 R2 \relative d { \autoBeamOff
r4 d8 cis | \tupletUp \times 2/3 { c c c } b bes |
a8 a16 a gis8 g | \times 2/3 { f16([ g f]) } e[([ f])] g8 f | e8
}
}
\new Lyrics \lyricsto Carmen { L'a -- mour est un oi -- seau re -- bel -- le que nul ne peut ap -- pri -- voi -- ser. }
\new Staff { \set Staff.instrumentName = "Cello"
\clef bass \time 2/4 \key d \minor
{ \repeat unfold 7 { d,8-. r16 a,( f8-.) a,-. | } d,8-. }
}
>>
}
</score>
Although Bizet kept the basic layout of the Iradier song, which has each verse in D minor and each refrain in the tonic major, he let go of the long ritornelli and second half material, and, by adding chromaticism, variations in the refrain and harmonic interest in the accompaniment, made it a memorable number. The reharmonization, addition of triplets in the vocal line and the flute in its low register add to the effect. The orchestral complement for the premiere run was 62 or 57 musicians in total (depending on whether the pit players doubled for off-stage music).
José is the only person on stage who pays no attention to Carmen while she sings the Habanera, and after she finishes she approaches him. In the following short spoken scene he tells her that he is making a chain to attach his (lapel pin), whereupon she calls him (fastener of my soul) and throws a cassia flower at him, and the female chorus reprises the refrain The refrain also returns briefly at the end of the act, in scene XI, No. 1 Final, where Carmen hums it () in the face of the lieutenant Zuniga.