Thomas’s ‘Hamlet’ (1868) is accepted as a masterpiece in Paris, where the absurdities of the libretto are either ignored or condoned.  In England Shakespeare’s tragedy is fortunately so familiar that such a ridiculous parody of it as MM.  Barbier and Carre’s libretto has not been found endurable.  Much of Thomas’s music is grandiose rather than grand, but in the less exacting scenes there is not a little of the plaintive charm of ‘Mignon,’ Ophelia’s mad scene, which occupies most of the last act, is dramatically ludicrous, but the music is brilliant and captivating, and the ghost scene, earlier in the opera, is powerful and effective.  Thomas employs several charming old Scandinavian tunes in the course of the work, which give a clever tinge of local colour to the score.

With Bizet (1838-1875), the influence of Wagner is felt in French music for the first time.  ‘Les Pecheurs de Perles’ (1863), his first work, follows traditional models pretty closely for the most part, and though containing music of charm and originality, does not, of course, represent Bizet’s genius in its most characteristic aspects.  It tells the story of the love of two Cingalese pearl-fishers for the priestess Leila.  There are only three characters in the piece, and very little incident.  The score owes a good deal to Felicien David’s ‘Le Desert,’ but there is a dramatic force about several scenes which foreshadows the power and variety of ‘Carmen.’  ‘La Jolie Fille de Perth’ (1867), is to a great extent a tribute to the powerful influence of Verdi.  It is a tuneful and effective work, but cannot be called an advance on ’Les Pecheurs de Perles,’ In ‘Djamileh’ (1872), we find the real Bizet for the first time.  The story tells of the salvation of a world-wearied youth, who is won back to life by the love and devotion of his slave.  It is a clever study in Oriental colour, but has little dramatic value, though it was thought very advanced at the time of its production.  In 1875, the year of Bizet’s death, ‘Carmen’ was produced.  The libretto is founded upon Merimee’s famous novel.  Carmen, a sensual and passionate gipsy girl, is arrested for stabbing one of her comrades in a cigarette manufactory at Seville.  She exercises all her powers of fascination upon the soldier, Jose by name, who is told off to guard her, and succeeds in persuading him to connive at her escape.  For this offence he is imprisoned for a month, but Carmen contrives to communicate with him in gaol, and at the expiration of his sentence he meets her once more in an inn at the outskirts of the town.  The passionate animalism of the gipsy completely captivates him, and forgetting Micaela, the country damsel to whom he is betrothed, he yields himself entirely to Carmen’s fascinations.  He quarrels with one of his officers about her, and to escape punishment flies with Carmen to join a band of smugglers in the mountains.  Carmen’s capricious affection for Jose soon dies out, and she transfers her allegiance to the bull-fighter