Changing of the Guard from the Ballet Suite "Carmen" (Bizet/Shchedrin)

Set in southern Spain around 1830, Carmen - an opéra comique by French composer Georges Bizet deals with the love and jealousy of Don José, who is lured away from his duty as a soldier and his beloved Micaela by Carmen, a seductive gypsy woman. The story opens in a town square in Seville, where soldiers and town people are gathered, chatting and moving about. It is time for changing of the guard. Don José arrives at the barracks with the new guard, which is greeted and imitated by a crowd of street urchins. Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin arranged the music of the opera for strings and percussion under the title Carmen Suite, making out of it a ballet music. This is an excerpt of his version adapted for Gitarrissima by Krisztina Groß Dobo.