Background
Bizet spent three years in Italy, 1857 to 1860, as winner of the Prix de Rome. Looking for inspiration for a work to send home, he found the subject for his opera buffa in a second-hand bookstall in Rome, writing home that the piece was "an Italian farce in the manner of Don Pasquale" by Carlo Cambiaggio (1798-1880). The words were a reduced version of I pretendenti delusi (1811) by Giuseppe Mosca (1772-1839).
Composition was sporadic over the winter of 1858-59; Bizet confessed that he was still trying to find his voice, although he intentionally aimed at an Italian style for this piece. The report from the Prix de Rome judges noted advances, but a later report signed by Ambroise Thomas criticised Bizet for sending an 'opéra bouffe' as his first envoi and suggested he divert his attention away from this toward sacred music (although Bizet failed to submit a religious envoi of any sort from Rome).
Read more about this topic: Don Procopio
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“Pilate with his question “What is truth?” is gladly trotted out these days as an advocate of Christ, so as to arouse the suspicion that everything known and knowable is an illusion and to erect the cross upon that gruesome background of the impossibility of knowledge.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)