George Bizek

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to read music at the same time she was teaching him his
alphabet.
Bizet was enrolled in the Paris Conservatory when he was nine years old.
This was a special exception arranged by his uncle who taught at the
Conservatory, since Bizet was still a year younger than the minimum age
requirement. Here he studied piano, organ, singing, harp, strings, woodwinds,
and composition. His instructors were the composers Charles Gounod, who is
known for his opera Faust, and who is considered the greatest musical influence
in Bizet's life. And Jacque Halevy, who wrote the opera LaJuive, is also
considered an important musical influence. He had a unique, unstructured
teaching style. Halevy would listen to and correct his students but he would
never require them to do any specific types of composition. This was to affect
Bizet throughout his life as he would be known to start and abandon work after
work. This was blamed directly on Halevy's lack of discipline. At age fifteen,
Halevy tried ...

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paid. It was in this same
year that he tied for first place in a contest sponsored by Jacques Offenbach
who was trying to raise awareness of the operetta, then very popular in
Paris. All contestants were given the same libretto, Le Docteur Miracle.
Bizet's winning composition was produced at a small Paris theater. Ten days
after his arrival in Rome Bizet was asked to play at one of the Villa Medici's
Sunday evening dinners. Of his experience Bizet said, “I had a great success,
it was the first time since M. Schnetz has been director that a musician has
been heard and applauded at the Academie. It is fair to say that there are
no pianists in Italy, and if you can play your scales ...

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