Georges Bizet (October 25, 1838 – June 3, 1875) was a French composer, best known for the last work he created in his short life, the opera Carmen.
He was born in Paris on October 25, 1838 and grew up in a musical family environment where his inclination for music was evident from an early age. At the age of nine he entered the Paris Conservatoire, his very first compositions won several prizes. WIn 1857, he secured a five-year scholarship to Italy, where he experienced first-hand the Italian way of life that greatly influenced him. But he quickly realized that the many awards did not imply either artistic or financial success. In 1860, and at the age of 22, after winning a competition he staged the first of his exotic operas, Les Pecheurs des Perles (The Pearl Fishers) and later in 1867, La Jolie Fille de Perth (The Beautiful Daughter of Perth). They were not successful.
In 1874 he wrote Carmen, his undoubted triumph, which, when it was performed in 1875, it shocked the audience of the time who were scandalized by the vulgar story of passion and crime. Three months after the unsuccessful premiere of Carmen, on June 3, 1875, the composer died of a heart attack.
