The Carmen melody of the small music box sounds enchanting, almost like an old long-playing record. Even after the first notes, you recognise the Habanera, the famous melody from George Bizet's opera Carmen. Bizet, who has Carmen sing about the contradictory and indomitable nature of love, also draws a wonderful musical portrait of Carmen in the Habanera … Best listen to it.
If you place the small music box on a larger resonating body, the self-assured melody sounds louder and more intense. This could be a table, a chair, a shelf or a box.
By the way: "Scandalous!" was the indignation of the well-behaved audience when the opera Carmen was staged in 1875. Bizet did not live to see the later success of his work, for he died only three months after the premiere. Today, Carmen is one of the most performed operas in the world and its melodies, such as the Habanera or the Torero March, are known on every continent.
