The music, based on various themes from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen and unrelated to the similarly titled work Carmen Fantasy by Pablo de Sarasate,[2] was initially meant to be played by Jascha Heifetz.
[3] However, he was replaced by a young Isaac Stern for the film's recording of the score.
After seeing the film, Heifetz asked Waxman to expand the work because he wanted to play it on the radio program, The Bell Telephone Hour, where it premiered on 9 September 1946.
[2] It has also been adapted for a variety of orchestral/chamber arrangements, such as a versions for trumpet and orchestra, for violin and piano, as well as for viola and piano/orchestra.
[5][6] It and the rest of Waxman's catalog was acquired by G. Schirmer from the composer's son in 2022.