Sax Septets

Seguidilla

Georges Bizet

Composed:
1875 Arranged:
1906 & 2025 Grouping:
A+sSATBb Duration:
02:30

After an incident in the tobacco factory Carmen is arrested. In a quiet moment she beguiles her guard, Don José, with this Seguidilla. She describes a night of dancing and passion wth whoever accompanies her to her friends' tavern, and persuades Don José to free her. This sets the stage for the rest of the opera as Don José pursues Carmen's affections to disasterous ends.

Otto Singer Jr, best known for his piano reductions of all of Beethoven's symphonies, created a number of arrangements of music from Carmen for solo violin and piano. Here we make use of his arrangement but recast it for saxophone sextet with the solo on alto sax, a perfect fit for its playful and seductive nature.

See also the more traditional version for alto solo with piano accompaniment.

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