Don Jose: from "novella" to "dramma lirico" --- the tragic hero

Speranza

The question of characterization in a dramatic (including operatic) work can be viewed interms of the “truth” or authenticity value of the character(s) in the dramatic situationrepresented by the stage, film-set or sound recording.

The values of the Russian school of psychological realism, initiated by the writers Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol, and theactor Mikhail Shchepkin, of “credible behaviour in believable circumstances” (Benedetti,1999, pp 14-15), were famously standardized by the actor and theatre director ConstantinStanislavski. Stanislavski’s system relied on the concept of
emotional truth (Whyman, 2008,p. 49) and could be summed up in terms of the director’s (or critic’s or audience’s) emotionalreaction to a performance: either “I believe” or “I don’t believe”).

But, in Stanislavski’s system, in order for an actor or singer to portray a dramatic character inemotional truth, and not simply vent his own subjective feelings (and risk ‘hysteria’), it isnecessary to use imagination and belief within the circumstances established by the text.

Therefore, the emotional truth value of a performance is as much the the authors’responsibility as it is that of the actor.

In the case of any portrayal of the character of "Don José" in the opera Carmen
(Bizet, 1895) we can tentatively establish a chain of responsibilities.

We begin with ourselves as “audience members”, and our belief or disbelief in the character; through the particular singer who portrays the character with his voice (and, in a live situation, other acting skills); via the composer, Georges Bizet, who creates themusical characterisation; the librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy (Meilhac,2007); Prosper Merimée, the author of the novella
Carmen on which the libretto was based (Merimée, 1845); and even potentially beyond.

According to Jean Decottignies, author of the notes accompanying the Garnier Flammarion 1973 edition of Carmen, Merimeé obtained the idea of the novella from a friend, María Manuela Enriqueta Kirkpatrick, Countess of Montijo, whom he met during his first visit to Spain in1830 (whose daughter was later to become Empress of the French through her marriage toNapoleon III).

In a letter to Dona Manuella, Merimée wrote of his novella:

Il s'agissait de ce jaque de Malaga
qui avait tué sa maîtresse,
laquelle se consacrait
exclusivement
au public.

Comme j'étudie les
bohémiens depuis
quelque temps,
j'ai fait mon
heroïne bohémienne"

(Decottignies, 1973)

We may therefore surmise that there could
well have been an actual living character, Don Jose Bengolea, a Basque,
whose life story and publicly witnessed fate (execution by garotte for desertion, banditry and the murder of his lover) conformed to the story of Don José, even if the ‘Gypsy’ aspect of the character of his femme fatale counterpart, Carmen, so central to the novella’s and the opera’scharacterisation of her, is an entirely fictionalized (and somewhat inconsistent) construct of Merimée’s (embellished further by the librettists and the composer).

Don José conforms to E.M. Forster’s definition of a ‘round’ character, that is, a fictional character who develops through action, as opposed to a flat, two-dimensional characterwhose essential characteristics remain the same.
(Napierkowski, 1998).

Both in Merrimée’s novella and in Bizet’s opera, Don José is the only character whose fate, experienced by us in terms of its emotional truth, is revealed through the decisions he takes.

In contrast, the other main characters are more stereotyped and, consequently ‘flat’.

Micaela is a sweet, virginal, domestic ‘angel’ (McClary, 2008, p.132).

Escamillo, a self-assured sexual and sporting conquistador, whose manly feats (and deep operatic voice) designate a character who masculinity is never in question.

Even Carmen, while contradictory, is consistent throughout in that all that she wants is “
être libre et faire ce qui me plaît
.” (Merimée, 1845, p.44;Meilhac, 1875, p.65)

It may be observed that the eponymous Carmen’s character, while certainly colourful and central to the opera and novella, is ‘flat’ by virtue of the fact that she represents the abstract concept of Love itself (in all its complex contradictoriness): like Love she is a ‘gypsy’s child’ as well as a ‘rebellious bird’—“
 L’amour est … un oiseau rebelle...enfant du bohème”
(Meilhac, 1875, p.18)
—
and, in Don José’s words, it is precisely this upbringing that has caused her eventual death at his hands—“
Ce sont les Calé qui sont coupables pour l'avoir élevée ainsi” (
Merrimée, 1845, p. 48)

Bizet implicitly recognizes the important role played by ‘flat’ characters in providing a context, within which a ‘round’ character like Don José can develop, and employs a numberof musical strategies to portray them.

Carmen, in particular, is a repository for a large number of musical devices that denote her ‘exoticism’ (Smith, 2008, p. 209).

The musical forms featured in her ‘numbers’ portray her as an assimilated Latina, as in the Habanera (Bizet,1895, pp 49-59), with its simple duple time and dotted rhythm Andalusian-Gypsy, as in the Seguidilla, a triple time dance form,as well as ‘pure’ (fantasy) Gypsy, as in the Chanson Bohémienne
(ibid., pp 118-132);
 whereas Escamillo’s equally stereotyped macho character is presented by the
 paso doble
two-step form employed in his Toréador theme (Smith, 2008, p. 217).

The character of Micaela, while every bit as ‘flat’, is represented musically in a slightlydifferent way.

Because there is nothing ‘exotic’ about her character—her
 jupe bleu et nappestombant sur les épaules
(Merimée, 1845, p. 23; Meilhac, 1875, pp 14-15) mark her out as anorthern Navarrese (and thus ethnically closer to France)—her ‘homely’ character is always accompanied by rather conventional (i.e. recognizably from the European operatic tradition)  orchestration and particularly smooth legato vocal lines that create a plaintive, unthreatening effect.

When portrayed in solo numbers Micaela’s character rarely imposes a strong melodic line;whereas when duetting with Don José her vocal melody intertwines with his, supporting him but never undermining him or providing him with any unpleasant surprises.

This can be contrasted by Carmen’s duets with Don José, in which she often either contradicts him or intertwines her vocal line with his in order to MOCK him.

----- as Luigi Ravelli was well aware in his stage interventions with Minnie Hauk!

-----------------------------------

 The more significant ‘flat’ musical characters discussed above are complemented by lesser parts, such as Le Dancaïre, Lieutenant Zuniga, Morales, Frasquita and Mercédès.

As well asthe Chorus, which performs the role, consistent since the ancient times of Greek theatre, of responding to and commenting on the action of the drama.

Winton Dean’s view that Don José’s character development can be viewed as a ‘gradual decline’ (Dean, 1980) is consistent with his role as tragic hero.


But it is also possible to view José’s journey from a sexually immature youth — sentimentally fixated on his mother and childhood sweetheart and constantly fiddling with his ‘priming pin’ (Meilhac, 1875, p. 20) in  an analogy of masturbation (Smith, 2008, p. 232) — to a mature man capable of fully committing himself to a passionate love affair with a woman who is every bit his equal — in terms of a necessary life journey.

The ‘bourgeois’ (ibid. p. 203) audiences at the Opéra-Comique in 1870s Paris may have gone home wishing the handsome Don José had avoided the dangerous sorcière (Merimée, 1845, pp 14, 16, 26; Meilhac, 1875, p. 20) and instead followed his mother’s admonition and married the innocent Micaela.

But the character of Don José would scarcely warrant a mention had he done so.

There is a compelling case to be made that Don José is aware of the basic existential choice facing him at every juncture: the choice between the dutiful, parasitic existence of a petty army officer and the possibility of authenticity, emotional truth and committed love.

Bizet is aware of the musical characterisation
opportunities of these decision points by Don Jose and takes great care to convey the necessary emotions with all the resources at his disposal.

The most significant resource employed to signify a decision point in Don José’s development is Carmen’s motif, which she never sings herself, but which is frequently played by the orchestra as her influence over Don José is about to become apparent.

This motif manages to encapsulate all that is essential about Carmen.

It sounds rather eastern with its augmented second interval (and hence exotic and feasibly ‘gypsy’) and it signifies not just Carmen, but also Love, “freedom” and, in particular, as far as Don José is concerned, fate.

Another resource Bizet uses to signify a change in Don José’s emotional state is the C diminished chord played by the orchestra, representing a hammer blow of fate to which José must respond decisively.

The first of these occurs
at the Scene that occurs after the end of
Carmen’s Habanera
when she throws the cassia
flower at him (Bizet, 1895, no. 6, bar 25).

He reacts abruptly and everybody laughs.



This love dart is the beginning of José’s troubles.

His decision is to pick up the cassia flowr and breathe in its fragrance (Meilhac, 1875, p. 20).

This the basis of Carmen’s initial sexual power over him.

The same C diminished chord is heard again, voiced higher, during Act 1’s "Finale" (no. 11, bar 72) when Don Jose allows himself to be pushed by the escaping Carmen (Meilhac, p. 36) thus exposinghimself to demotion and prison.

The B flat augmented chord, occurring at bar 190 in the "Duet" and final Chorus (no. 27), can also be taken to represent FATEFUL decision.

This is now the ultimate decision point, taken when José no longer has any good options, on the word “tiens!” at which Carmen removes

the ring from her finger,

symbolising his possession of her and throws it away (Meilhac,1875, p.57; Merrimée, 1845, p. 48).

Don Jose's response is to immediately draw his knife and stab her to death.

------

Both diminished and augmented chords play the role of pivots between keys.

Bizet uses key changes to
great effect to articulate the
moods evoked in the development
of Don José’scharacter.

Still in his innocent, virginal
period, where he duets
with Micaela, Don José
remains in the key of
G major, alternating between the major
— connoting fond memories — and
 the tonic minor,which expresses a sort of sentimental sadness.

This G major/minor alternation
continues as Don Jose approaches Lilias
Pastia’s tavern, the scene where he has been tacitly
promised Carmen’s love.

The song "Dragon d’Alcala"
is the last time he will
 succeed in reconciling love and duty (Smith, 2008, pp 239-240) in this stirring ode to masculine honour.

During the following scene
when don Jose is alone with Carmen, the G major/minor theme is continued.

But this time, it is Carmen who takes the reins and quite clearly José who follows her lead.

It is only after she has mocked his virginity, and his rather sentimental attempt to reconcile love and duty — and master his emotions — fails, that his mood changes and

the sombre key of B flat minor
signifies this new dark episode.



One of the functions of the famous "Toreador" theme is to act
as a sort of musical gadfly to taunt José,
who, unlike the self-assured bull-fighter,
doesn’t possess a recognisable motif.

But when José duets with Escamillo, it is as his equal and in the key of B flat MAJOR.

Don José has been assimilated into the gypsy band through his relationship with Carmen — to the extent that he views Escamillo as an “outsider” who must“pay” (Meilhac, 1875, p. 74) if he wishes to court Carmen.

Their knife fight is a vigorous, paradoxically life-affirming drama, compensating for Don José’s recent humiliation at Carmen’s hands.

But further chagrin is to swiftly follow as her reappearance results in his being disarmed (emasculated?) and forced to listen to the mocking toreador theme as he is once again forced to choose between love and duty (this time, it is duty that temporarily wins out as he accedes to Micaela’s request to visit his dying mother).

In the duet and final chorus (no. 27), don José’s asserts his emotional state on the situation by initiating the change into the key of A flat MAJOR (bar 33).

But Don Jose's ability to engage with Carmen on his own terms is limited by external circumstances.

Just as Carmen is explaining to don Jose (for the last time) that she was born free and will die free, the chorus break in, in the key of G major (bar 108), to inform us that the bull has been killed and therefore Escamillo—that paragon of decorative masculinity — has had another resounding success.

What can Don José do but acknowledge this powerful change of emotional circumstances?

Don Jose continues duetting with Carmen, but now in G and it is clear that his influence on her is reduced.

He asks her “what now?” (ibid., bar 128).

As if to ratchet up the tension, as Carmen is explaining to Don José that not only does she notlove him, she does love Escamillo, the chorus break in again, this time in the new key of A major in (bar 147) and accompanied by the dreaded, taunting Toreador theme.
 
As if to hammer home to Don José that the time for him to choose between alternatives — such as love and duty — is fast running out, the Carmen motif is now repeated (bar 160), this time in C minor, although the rest of the section is in C major.

With the death of Carmen, whom he truly loved, Don José is now completely undone.

Thereare no more choices for him other than to await his execution —and he knows it.

The end of the opera has therefore arrived, because the development of José’s character
is the opera.

But life goes on, more bulls will be killed and more women made love to by the vanquishing torero—and the Toreador theme returns to mock him one last time.

In conclusion, we would agree with Winton Dean’s assertion that Bizet’s musical characterisation of Don José’s is masterly.

In ‘Carmen’, Bizet uses many of the devices available to writers of mere literature to "show" (rather than "tell") the story of his lead character’s tragicfate.

But in addition to these, Bizet is able to employ devices that appeal directly to our emotions, bypassing logical analysis so that we are not aware of the need to “willingly suspend our disbelief” (Coleridge, 1817), providing a more than adequate text, working from which the singer-actor need only faithfully impart the emotional truth of the character of Don José.

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