Bizet, Georges

Bizet, Georges (1838-1875), French composer, best known for his operas. He was born Alexandre Cesar Leopold Bizet in Bougival near Paris, and trained at the Paris Conservatoire under the French composer Jacques Halévy.

Bizet's operas include Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers, 1863), La jolie fille de Perth (Fair Maid of Perth, 1867), and Djamileh (1872). Carmen (1875) is generally considered his most important work. Although not an immediate success, it soon became one of the most popular works in operatic history. Bizet was an outstanding dramatist, and his style influenced the realistic, or verismo, school of opera in the later 19th century. His other compositions include the Symphony in C (1855); the symphonic suite Roma (1866-1868); incidental music (1872) to the play L'Arlésienne (The Woman from Arles), by the French writer Alphonse Daudet; the dramatic overture Patrie (Native Land, 1873); and works for piano and voice.