The Opera "Carmen" is one of the best-known operas today. It was written in the late 1800s by French composer Georges Bizet, and takes place in Spain.

During this period in music (referred to as the Romantic era), many composers sought to explore exotic locations: From Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" set in Japan to Verdi's "Aida" in Egypt, artists transported their audiences to a distant land. Carmen is another opera from that tradition.

Despite the exotic location, the plot follows the typical opera: boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl leaves boy for the hunky bull-fighter, boy kills girl. Throughout the plot, Carmen (the girl) sings in her sultry mezzo voice about fickle love and the gypsy life. Meanwhile, town life continues as normal.

There are two famous songs from the opera you may have heard: The first is "the Toreador Song," which has been used and spoofed liberally in film, television, and pop culture. The second is the beautiful "Habanera" (you may know it as "L'amour"), which has also been used in film and television, including at least one commercial for pasta sauce, ironically explaining how very Italian the sauce is (ironic, since the opera is in French and set in Spain, not Italian at all).

More Info: en.wikipedia.org