A 'habanera' is a slow melodic dance with words to be sung. Characteristically, it has two beats in the bar split into four quavers with first one dotted. The melody starts on the second beat in two equal quavers with a triplet on the first beat of the next bar. The form, originally from Cuba (hence the name) is now firmly fixed in the Spanish and Spanish American music traditions, but is thought to have originated in Africa. One of the best known habaneras - hugely popular in the Spanish speaking world when it was written and still loved throughout the wider world today - is 'La Paloma' (La Colombe)[1861] by Yradier. It's one of the world's most recorded songs.

Not too much seems to be known about the life of Yradier. Born into a Spanish Basque family in 1809, he died in 1865, blind and in relative obscurity. We know he spent some time in Cuba and as a result, gave the world this wonderful piece inspired by his time there. We know too that his publishers persuaded him to change his name from Sebastián de Iradier y Salaverri to Yradier, presumably in the hope that it would be easier for most people to remember. One of his many habaneras, 'Ay Chicita' (from his work 'El Arregilito') was regularly sung in a popular Parisian café in the 1860s by a colourful character called (Celeste Vénard La Mogador) thought to have been Bizet's inspiration for 'Carmen' (although, not Merrimée's). It's said that Bizet believed 'Ay Chicita' was a just folk song when he heard Venard sing it (c.1865) and so used the tune in his opera, 'Carmen'. Today, we know it as the opera's famous Habanera - 'L'amour est un oiseau rebelle'.

Perhaps it's wrong to accuse Bizet of plagiarism, but Bizet and Yradier were contemporaries and it's highly likely that he would have known of the Spaniard's work. Who could blame Bizet for just recognising this song as an absolute show-stopper and using it in his opera?

From the dates, Yradier might only have recently died when Bizet decided to include it. Maybe Yradier was aware of it - or even approved. Who knows? The irony is that Bizet did not live long enough either to see how successful the Carmen habanera would become. He died only three months after Carmen's first performance in 1875 without knowing that the opera would ever achieve success.

So the next time you hear the 'Habanera' from Carmen, please spare a thought for it's original composer  - 'Yradier', the Basque composer who also gave us the wonderful,

Find La Paloma Accompaniment MP3