Carmen is a tragic opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet to a libretto (text) in French by Ludovic Halevy and Henri Meilhac. It is based on a short novel by the French author Prosper Merimee published in 1845. See Bizet, Georges; Merimee, Prosper. Carmen received its first performance at the Opera Comique in Paris on March 3, 1875.