A one-act ballet to the music of J. Bizet, arranged by R. K. Shchedrin, based on the story of the short story of the same name by Prosper Merimee, first staged back in 1845 under the title Carmen and the Bullfighter by choreographer Marius Petipa in Madrid. But after the appearance of the music of Georges Bizet in 1875, it was impossible to refuse it, and all subsequent performances were staged precisely to his music for the opera Carmen.
The basis of the storyline is free, unrestrained and sacrificial love on the part of the young soldier Jose, who became a deserter and smuggler for the sake of the beautiful gypsy Carmen, who values her own freedom above all else. Infatuated with the Toreador, Carmen dies at the hands of her beloved, who stabbed her in a fit of jealousy.