The swashbuckling story that inspired one of the world's most beloved operasThe novella that was the basis for one of the most popular operas of all time, Prosper Merimee's Carmen is swashbuckling story of a nineteenth-century Spanish soldier who deserts his post to pursue the fiery gypsy beauty, Carmen — who seems to love him yet nonetheless seems to do everything in her power to escape him.But the opera, it turns out, is only based on a part of the larger adventure that is Carmen. The story opens, for example, with Prosper Merimee himself meeting an famous (and on-the-run) highwayman on the plains of Andalusia. Helping the dangerous robber — whom he feels is a kind of Robin Hood — he is rewarded with the story of the wild Gypsy woman he knows of back in Seville… What follows is a swashbuckling tale to rival those of Zorro, with sword fights and and horse chases and wild dancing and more — except, no mezzo-sopranos.
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