Carmen Fantasie is a virtuoso showpiece for violin and orchestra. The piece is part of Franz Waxman's score to the 1946 movie Humoresque for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture. The music, based on various themes from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen ( not at all related to the Pablo de Sarasate's hodgepodge version), was initially meant to be played by Jascha Heifetz. However, he was replaced by a young Isaac Stern for the film's recording of the score. Stern's hands can be seen in the close-up shots from the movie.  Jascha Heifetz saw the Joan Crawford–Oscar Levant melodrama with a screenplay by Clifford Odets based on the famous Fannie Hurst story about the budding career of a young New York violinist (Garfield) and his patron (Crawford). The Jerry Wald production was directed by Jean Negulesco.

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. Carmen Fantasie is Waxman’s most-requested concert work and the post-Heifetz generation of violinists has championed the music on every continent.