Les Toréadors (brass)

Georges Bizet, Arranged by Mike Tupper

Instrumentation: Brass Quintet

Length: 3 Minutes

Difficulty: B Grade

Carmen (1875) is Bizet's best-known work and is based on a novella of the same title written in 1846 by Prosper Mérimée. Bizet composed the title role for a mezzo-soprano. Carmen was not initially well-received but praise for it eventually came from well-known contemporaries including Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns and Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Johannes Brahms attended over twenty performances of it, and considered it the greatest opera produced in Europe since the Franco-Prussian war. The views of these composers proved to be prophetic, as Carmen has since become one of the most popular works in the entire operatic repertoire. However Bizet did not live to see its success as he died from a heart attack at the age of 36, on his third wedding anniversary, only a few months after Carmen's first performances . He was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

The Toreador Song (Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre) is one of the most famous arias from the opera. Sung by the matador Escamillo, it describes various situations in the ring, the cheering of the crowds and the fame that comes with victory.

The Scorch preview below shows an 'orchestral' brass quintet, we'll happily change this to a 'brass band' instrumentation (cornets, tenor horn, trombone and Eb bass) free of charge.

See the Scorch version below. For a larger, clearer version, click here!