BIOGRAPHY Georges Bizet was born in 1838 and began showing his own musical talent at a young age. He began his studies at the Paris Conservatoire at age 10, where he continued to work on his composing. For one of his early compositions, he won an award called the Prix de Rome in 1857, which led to a pension to work at the French Academy in Rome. He lived in Rome for the next two years before returning to France in 1860. Later in his life, although he was admired by other composers of the time, Bizet was often overlooked and forgotten by the public. Furthermore, he seemed frustrated with his own compositions, starting several operas and then leaving them unfinished. Bizet wedded Geneviève Halévy in 1869; they had a son and a generally happy marriage. Bizet passed away at the early age of 36. Although he didn’t achieve widespread success during his lifetime, appreciation for his works continued to grow after his passing, with several of his operas reaching widespread popularity that Bizet would never get to see.
B
Georges
izet
BORN: October 25, 1838, Paris, France DIED: June 3, 1875, Bougival, France
FUN FACTS • He was not the first musician in his family! His father was a voice teacher and his mother a skilled amateur pianist. • Although we know him as Georges Bizet, his original full name was Alexandre César Léopold Bizet. By his baptism two years later, his family was referring to him as Georges, though it is unclear how or why this name came about. • He left a lot of unfinished works. Of the thirty operas we know he started in his lifetime, he only finished six. However, he often reused material from pieces he left incomplete in his later works.