Habañera, from Carmen (cello duo)

Title: Habañera, from the opera Carmen

Composer: Georges Bizet, arr. David Gable

Instrumentation: Two Cellos

Printout: 4 pages

Note: When writing the score for his operatic masterpiece, Carmen, Bizet set about researching Spanish folk music. He found what he thought to be a traditional song, which he used for this aria, only to later learn that it was composed by Sebastien Yridier. Bizet acknowledged this “borrowing” in the published version of the vocal score. Carmen sings the Habañera in Act I as she makes flirtatious overtures to Don Jose.

No opera set is complete without this work and the Toreador’s Song, also from the opera Carmen.