Georges Bizet (1838–1875)
Prelude to Carmen
The bullring march and the Toreador's song that open Bizet's opera (1875), transcribed for piano by Armando Tinajero
In Opera
Plays on a MIDI keyboard in Chrome, Edge or Firefox on a computer, or Chrome on an Android phone or tablet, or on the keys on screen without one.
Versions
Each easier version only leaves notes out and adds none, so every note in it is the piece's own. Print any of them free.
- As written1935 notes
- Melody and a simpler left hand1360 notes
- Melody and left-hand roots725 notes
- Right-hand melody590 notes
The easy version, the melody and left-hand roots at level 4, engraved on its own page.
To practise it on paper: a practice chart for this piece, a week of steps from each hand alone to full tempo, with their speeds.
What it asks of you
- Treble clef from G3 to A6, with ledger lines
- Bass clef from G1 to G4, with ledger lines
- Key signature: 3 sharps (A major or F♯ minor)
- Accidentals: naturals, sharps outside the key
- Rhythm: quarter notes, half notes, eighth notes, dotted quarter notes, sixteenth notes, triplets, dotted eighth notes
- Intervals: 2nds (steps), octaves, 4ths, 5ths, 7ths, 6ths
- Chords: inverted triads, triads, seventh chords
- Hands playing together, moving the hand to a new position, one hand moving while the other holds, hands taking turns, hands in different rhythms
Sections
The piece in 15 sections, cut where its music breaks, each read at its own level. Tap one to loop it on the stand until it's clean, then the next.
- Bars 1–8played twicelevel 4 of 7
- Bars 9–16played twicelevel 5 of 7
- Bars 17–24level 5 of 7
- Bars 25–32level 4 of 7
- Bars 33–40level 4 of 7
- Bars 41–48level 5 of 7
- Bars 49–56level 6 of 7
- Bars 57–64level 7 of 7
- Bars 65–72level 5 of 7
- Bars 73–80level 7 of 7
- Bars 81–88level 7 of 7
- Bars 89–96level 5 of 7
- Bars 97–104level 4 of 7
- Bars 105–112level 4 of 7
- Bars 113–119level 7 of 7
What stands between you and this piece
Clefsight compares the notes of this piece with what you already read.
Score from PDMX (CC0 1.0); the composition is public domain: Georges Bizet died in 1875, and so is Armando Tinajero’s arrangement. Credits
Community source. A score shared on MuseScore that passed our computer checks; not yet checked bar by bar against a printed edition. How we check