L’amour est un Oiseau Rebelle

“L’amour est un Oiseau Rebelle” or “Love is a Rebellious Bird” is an aria from Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera, Carmen. Often referred to as “Habanera” because of the song style, this aria is said to contain appropriated melodic material from Spanish musician, Sebastián Iradier. While this may be the case, Bizet went above and beyond to make it his own with an elaborate arrangement and poetic lyrics beautifully describing the complicated state of being in love.

The Prodigies version of this melody has been simplified to 8th notes, taking out the triplet and 16th note rhythms from the original composition. It is challenging enough, using almost all of the notes of the chromatic octave! We’ve added two percussion parts with ORFF notation, bongo and claves for the first section and kick and snare to follow.

“L’amour est un Oiseau Rebelle” sheet music is arranged in the key of C Minor and modulates to C Major.