Vivat, Torero!

On 25 November Alexei Markov will make his debut as Escamillo in the opera Carmen at the new Mariinsky Theatre.

The image of the handsome toreador, who always wins in the bullring and in love, is one of the most vivid and noble in the baritone repertoire. Moreover, it is a unique case in opera music where the baritone is the happy rival of the traditional loving hero – the tenor! It is Escamillo who wins the heart of the freedom-loving and inconstant gypsy girl; their duet in the final act is the only episode of the opera in which a man leads and Carmen follows.

Bizet constantly underscores the similarity of the two characters through musical means. In giving the role of the fateful tobacco-factory worker to a mezzo-soprano (while at that time the role of the heroine in an opera was generally given to a high-register voice) the composer also determined that her lover should be a baritone, and he wrote this role with extremely low tessitura. Not everyone was able to grasp his idea (for example, Shostakovich considered that this decision by Bizet was a mistake), and yet it is entirely justifiable – after all, Escamillo is not just a charismatic, handsome and powerfully masculine man, he is also a fateful hero, with José’s jealousy leading to the tragic denouement.

The closeness between Carmen and Escamillo, and in particular the position of the couple compared to the other characters in the opera, is set even before they appear on the stage. Bizet invented a brilliant technique that allowed the attention to be immediately drawn to this vital character of the plot. The entrance of the toreador in Act II (like Carmen’s entrance in Act I) is preceded by a large choral ensemble: the crowd eagerly awaits the victor of the corrida, welcoming and praising him (“Vivat, Torero! Vivat, Escamillo”). And the hero appears at the end of this chorus, moreover with the most effective vocal number – the famous couplets “Votre toast”.

The role of Escamillo, albeit not the largest in terms of the volume of musical material (apart from the couplets and the love duet with Carmen it includes the duel-like duet with José), it presents great demands for the performer; as well as perfect vocals the singer must have the right temperament and a dashing figure – a noble and courageous appearance, slim build and ideal posture. Alexei Markov’s heroic images have long and deservedly won wide acclaim at the world’s great opera houses. The authentic costumes of Spanish toreadors in Alexei Stepanyuk’s production will assist this leading Mariinsky Theatre baritone to reveal the secrets of Escamillo’s success.