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Andrew Pau, Common-Tone Tonality in Bizet’s Carmen, Music Theory Spectrum, Volume 40, Issue 2, Fall 2018, Pages 280–301, https://doi.org/10.1093/mts/mty023
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Abstract
This article explores Bizet’s use of common-tone tonality in selections from Carmen. Common-tone relations are associated with love and seduction from Carmen’s first entrance, in which a single pitch class is harmonized by four different tonicized triads in the space of only thirteen measures. A similar common-tone-based logic underlies Carmen’s harmonic moves in the Act I Séguedille et Duo, often characterized as slippery and illogical. In this context, Don José’s music, which adheres to a harmonic system based on functional leading tones, represents a fundamental incompatibility with Carmen’s world view. The analysis continues with an examination of the Act II Duo and concludes that the two main characters switch harmonic roles in response to the change in dramatic situation between the two acts. The article extends the reach of recent studies in Riemannian and neo-Riemannian theory to the French operatic repertoire and situates Bizet’s score within the larger context of nineteenth-century chromatic practices.
