Séguedille, from Carmen (string quartet)

Title: Séguedille, from the opera Carmen

Composer: Georges Bizet, arr. David Gable

Instrumentation: Violin1; Violin 2; Viola; Cello

Printout: 8 pages

Note: When he began working on the score for Carmen, Bizet set out to study Spanish folk music in order to give the opera an authentic feel. This aria is based on Spanish idioms, though it is not in itself a Spanish work. Carmen sings the Séguedille at the end of Act I when, having been arrested for violently attacking a co-worker at the cigarette factory, she persuades Don José to allow her to escape, enticing him with hints of future intimacy. Carmen is not your average operatic heroine, which is one reason why the opera did not immediately appeal to the audiences of the time.

Other string quartet arrangements of selections from Carmen are available:

Aragonaise

Choeur des Gamins (Chorus of the Street Children)

Habañera

Intermezzo

Les Dragons d’Alcala

Marche des Contrebandiers (March of the Smugglers)

Prelude to Act I (Entrance of the Toreadors)

The Toreador’s Song

Tra-la-la Coupe-moi, brûle-moi