Despite being deemed a "failure" upon its release in 1875, Carmen has gone on to become one of the world’s favorite operas and the fourth most performed opera in North America. Based on the story of the same name by Prosper Merimee and adapted by French writer Georges Bizet, it is the tale of a young gypsy girl with a fiery temper, whose immense beauty unwittingly destroys the lives of men.
One such man is Corporal Don Jose, who is led astray by Carmen and eventually driven into madness by his love for her. After helping her escape imprisonment when her temper leads her to into trouble, Jose is forced to flee with her, and the two join a band of smugglers. When Carmen casts Jose aside for another, the story illustrates how one can go from faithful partner to obsessed lunatic at the hands of jealousy and love.
A tale of love, fidelity and resolution, Carmen is said to contain some of the most "profound characters in all of operatic literature" that elicit a tense combination of pity and foreboding.