Bad News Bears Part Deux

The heavily bearded fellow above is one Georges Bizet born this day 1838, in Paris, France. He was born into a musical family, and entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of ten. He wrote his first symphony at the age of 17, but it remained undiscovered until well after his death. His claim to my hero fame is he wrote the opera Carmen. The story that was written by previous hero Prosper Merimee, and is the theme music to the movie The Bad News Bears starring another hero Walter Matthau. Isn't it lovely how the circle of life is completed by all of this music? Originally the opera received a lukewarm reception, and even though it played 37 performances in the first three months of its release, its reception was a bitter disappointment to Bizet. However, his contemporaries in the music world recognised it for the work of genius that it was. Brahms attended over 20 performances, and their verdict would prove correct. Carmen has become one of the best known operas in the world today. Sadly, Bizet did not live to see Carmen's true success, he died of a heart attack at the age of 36 after engaging in a swimming contest with a friend. As a result of his death, Carmen was immediately dropped from the French Opera, but within three years it had made it way to various cities around the world where it was a huge hit. The eventual success of Carmen did overshadow Bizet's talent as a pianist. At a dinner party in 1861, he gave a performance on the piano that impressed Franz Liszt, who was in attendance, so much that he claimed that Bizet was one of the three finest pianists alive at the time. High praise that. But, for writing a lovely opera that we all know a song or two from, no matter how low brow we may be, Georges Bizet (October 25th 1838- June 3rd 1875, at the age of 36), you are my hero of the day.