Martiny (p. 455) affirms that Galli-Marié was in Liège for 7 weeks during which she sang 10 performances, including Mignon, Charles VI and Les Dragons de Villars, but does not say how many performances she gave of Carmen.
Eugène Minne had previously directed Carmen in Antwerp (1 April 1876), which Célos and Bernier designed. Only two new sets were painted in Liège, for Acts II and IV.
Benefit performance for the victims of the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes, 1944-5).
Repeated annually until 1912 (new production), with breaks in 1880-81, 1882-83, 1884-86, 1888-89, 1891-92, and 1894-95.
Sets and mise en scène from the Théâtre Royal in Ostend.
At the first performance ‘more than five hundred people could not find a place.’ Journal de Bruges , 6 November 1912.
One performance was on 8 August 1931.
Staged until 1963.
Belgian premiere; ‘the event of the season […] more memorable than expected, no doubt’ (Isnardon, 554); revivals until 1901; the performance of Saturday September 29, 1876 was attended by Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria, a brother of Franz Joseph I.
It was first decided that the poem would be put into recitatives, but, to leave the work all its color, all its strength, we came back to leave it in its original form.’ The Worldy Notebook , 4-10 September 1902.
Gay performed on 26 February 1905.
