“Imiter est d’un sot.” The Symphonies of Bizet

Grosz, Sára Aksza (2023) “Imiter est d’un sot.” The Symphonies of Bizet. MUSICOLOGY PAPERS, 38 (2). pp. 7-33. ISSN 2068-8601

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Abstract

After the composer’s first English biographer, D. C. Parker found the Symphony in C major at the Conservatoire’s library and following its world premiere in 1935, this youthful work conquered the ballet stage as well, due to the choreography (1947) of George Balanchine. Since then, researchers aim to reveal its possible models. They generally connect and compare Bizet’s First Symphony to that of Gounod’s, both dating from 1855. The Baia-Mare born conductor, musicologist and Bizet’s biographer, Amadé Németh (1922-2001) strongly suggests Mozart echoes. On the one hand, I follow his footsteps. On the other hand, considering the analogies in Bizet’s writings between composers and artists, I challenge if non-musical sources could have also served as models for his symphonies, in particular for the second. In the 1860s, during his stay in Italy as a Prix-winner, the idea of depicting four Italian cities (Venice, Rome, Florence, and Naples) came into Bizet’s mind. What music does resemble and point forward to the so-called “Roma” Symphony (1860-1868)? This paper aims to commemorate 185 years since the birth of Georges Bizet through challenging his own words, quoted in the title: “is imitation a fool’s job”?

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