The Carmen Suites are two suites of orchestral music drawn from the music of Georges Bizet's 1875 opera Carmen and compiled posthumously by his friend Ernest Guiraud. They adhere very closely to Bizet's orchestration.
Guiraud also wrote the recitatives for Carmen, and compiled the second of the two suites from Bizet's L'Arlésienne incidental music.
Each of the Carmen Suites contains six numbers. Both suites have been performed and recorded many times.
Carmen Suite No. 1
Prélude: Act I, Prélude: "Fate" motive
Aragonaise: Interlude (Entr'acte) before Act IV
Intermezzo: Interlude (Entr'acte) before Act III
Séguedille: Act I, Seguidilla (Carmen): Près des remparts de Séville
Les Dragons d'Alcala: Interlude (Entr'acte) before Act II
Les Toréadors: Theme from Prelude to Act I and Procession of the Toreadors from Act IV: Les voici! voici la quadrille des Toreros!.
Suite No. 1 was published in c. 1882.[1]
The Aragonaise was also used by Pablo de Sarasate in his Carmen Fantasy for violin and orchestra[2] and further used by Franz Waxman in his own Carmen Fantasie.
