Georges Bizet

Born Alexandre César Léopold Bizet in 1838, he tore through the Conservatoire de Paris, winning the Prix de Rome in 1857 and earning a reputation as an outstanding pianist he mostly refused to exploit. After three years in Italy, he returned to a Paris that had no use for newcomers - the opera houses wanted the classics, his own compositions went ignored, and he made rent by arranging other people's music. The 1860s brought a string of abandoned projects and two operas that went nowhere; Les pêcheurs de perles and La jolie fille de Perth barely registered. After serving in the National Guard during the Franco-Prussian War, he had another miss with Djamileh, though an orchestral suite from his incidental music to L'Arlésienne caught on immediately. Carmen's premiere was delayed - theatres feared its betrayal and murder would alienate audiences - and when it finally opened on 3 March 1875, Bizet left convinced it was a disaster. He died of a heart attack three months later, at 36, never knowing what he'd made.