Georges Bizet died at the age of 36, unaware that his Carmen, which premiered at Paris’s Opéra-Comique in 1875, would come to be seen as one of the great operatic masterpieces of all times. This historical novel, written in a lively, cinematographic style, portrays the life of the young composer, from his birth to composing his most famous work. But it is above all a love story between an ill-fated artist and his subject: the passionate Carmen. Georges Bizet was a shy young man with low self-confidence, who worried about rejection. Meeting the mezzo-soprano Célestine Galli-Marié, who would become his muse, enabled the artist to bring his heroine – who was a tad too scandalous for her day – to life.

The making of the most popular opera in history. A well-documented historical novel, but above all, a magnificent love story.