For Georges Bizet, his opera Carmen was just another near miss.

Its premiere in 1875 was riddled with mishaps: an out-of-tune tenor, a mistimed timpani explosion in the middle of a tender love scene, and an audience so disillusioned it abandoned the show. Bizet died three months later.

Carmen may have gone on to conquer the world in the century-and-a-half since then, but to the opera's creator, it was, in his own words, nothing but "a hopeless flop."

The fourth instalment of Classical (De)composition, a video series written by CBC Radio 2's Tom Allen, takes us through the tribulations of the most unpopular popular opera in history. Illustrations by Kevin Sylvester. Watch it below.

Explore more:

How did Tchaikovsky die?



The story of Enrique Granados's final hours will break your heart

Is Mozart's Requiem cursed?