Georges Bizet, born as Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer who lived during the romantic era. He is best known for writing operas, but his career was cut short by an early death. During his life, he had few successes until his last opera, Carmen, which became one of the most popular and often performed operas in the world. Bizet studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he won many prizes, including the important Prix de Rome in 1857. Although he was a skilled pianist, he rarely performed in public and did not focus on this talent for his career. After spending almost three years in Italy, he returned to Paris, but found that opera theaters preferred older, well-known works over new operas. His own compositions, including his music for piano and orchestra, were mostly ignored. To make a living, he arranged and transcribed music written by others. During the 1860s, he started many new theater projects but gave-up,;andhisoperasLespêcheursdeperlesandLajoliefilledelperthwerenotsuccessfulatthetime. Bizet served in the National Guard during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. After the war, his one-act opera Djamileh was not well received. However, an orchestral suite from his music for the play L'Arlésienne became very popular. His final opera, Carmen, faced delays before it was performed because people worried its story of betrayal and murder would upset audiences. When it premiered on March 3, 1875, Bizet thought it was a failure. He died only three months later from a heart attack without knowing that Carmen would become a huge and lasting success.