|
ACT
I. Corporal
Morales and the soldiers while away the time watching
the passers-by, among whom is Micaela, a peasant girl
from Navarre. She asks Morales if he knows Don José,
and is told that he is a corporal in another platoon expected
shortly to relieve the present guard. Avoiding their invitation to
step inside the guardroom, Micaela escapes. A trumpet
call heralds the approach not only of the relief guard but also of
a gang of street urchins imitating their drill. As the guards are
changed, Morales tells José that a girl is looking
for him. Zuniga, the lieutenant in command of the new guard,
questions Corporal José about the tobacco factory. A stranger in
Seville, Zuniga is apprehensive of the dangerous atmosphere of the
locale.
The factory bell rings and the men of Seville gather round the
female workers as they return after their lunch break. The gypsy
Carmen is awaited with anticipation. When the men gather round
her, she tells them love obeys no known laws (Habanera:
"L'amour est un oiseau rebelle").
Only one man pays no attention to her - Don José. Carmen throws a
flower at him. The women go back into the factory and the crowd
disperses.
Micaela returns, bringing news of José's mother. She
has sent Micaela, who lives with her, to give him a
letter ("Parle-moi de ma mère").
José feels that his mother is protecting him from afar. When he
starts to read her letter, Micaela runs off in
embarrassment since it suggests that he marry her. At the moment
that he decides to obey, a fight is heard from within the factory.
The girls stream out with sharply conflicting accounts of what has
occurred, but it is certain that Carmen and one of her fellow
workers quarreled and that the other girl was wounded. Carmen, led
out by José, refuses to answer any of Zuniga's questions. José
is ordered to tie her up and take her to prison. Carmen entices
him to go dancing at Lillas Pastia's tavern outside the walls of
Seville (Seguidilla: "Près
des remparts de Séville"). Mesmerized, José
agrees to help her escape. He unties the rope and, as they leave
for prison, Carmen slips away. Don José is arrested.
ACT
II.
Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercedes
entertain Zuniga and other officers ("Les tringles
des sistres tintaient"). Zuniga tells Carmen that
José has been released this very day. A torchlight procession in
honor of the bullfighter Escamillo is heard, and the officers
invite him in. He describes the excitements of his profession, in
particular the amorous rewards that follow a successful bullfight
(Toreador's Song: "Votre toast").
Escamillo then propositions Carmen, but she replies that she is
engaged for the moment. He says he will wait. Carmen refuses to
leave with Zuniga, who threatens to return later.
When the company has departed, the smugglers Dancaïre and
Remendado enter. They have business in hand for which their
regular female accomplices are essential ("Nous
avons en tête une affaire"). Frasquita and Mercedes
are game, but Carmen refuses to leave Seville: she is in love. Her
friends are incredulous. José's song is heard in the distance.
("Dragon d'Alcala"). The smugglers
withdraw. Carmen tells José that she has been dancing for his
officers. When he reacts jealously, she agrees to entertain him
alone (Finale: "Je vais danser en votre honneur").
Bugles are heard sounding the retreat. José says that he must
return to barracks. Stupefied, Carmen mocks him, but he answers by
producing the flower she threw and telling her how its faded scent
sustained his love during the long weeks in prison (Flower Song:
"La fleur que tu m'avais jetée").
But she replies that he doesn't love her; if he did he would
desert and join her in a life of freedom in the mountains. When,
torn with doubts, he finally refuses, she dismisses him
contemptuously. As he leaves, Zuniga bursts in. In jealous rage
José attacks him. The smugglers return, separate them, and put
Zuniga under temporary constraint ("Bel officier").
José now has no choice but to desert and join the smugglers.
ACT
III.
The gang enters with contraband and pauses for a brief rest while
Dancaïre and Remendado go on a reconnaissance mission. Carmen and
José quarrel, and José gazes regretfully down to the valley
where his mother is living. Carmen advises him to join her. The
women turn the cards to tell their fortunes: Frasquita and Mercedes
foresee rich and gallant lovers, but Carmen's cards spell death,
for her and for José. She accepts the prophecy (Card Song: "En
vain pour éviter les réponses amères").
Remendado and Dancaïre return announcing that customs officers
are guarding the pass: Carmen, Frasquita, and Mercedes
know how to deal with them ("Quant au douanier").
All depart. Micaela appears, led by a mountaineer.
She says that she fears nothing so much as meeting the woman who
has turned the man she once loved into a criminal ("Je
dis que rien ne m'épouvante"). But she hurries
away in fear when a shot rings out. It is José firing at an
intruder, who turns out to be Escamillo, transporting bulls to
Seville ("Je suis Escamillo"). When
he refers to the soldier whom Carmen once loved, José reveals
himself and they fight. Carmen and the smugglers return and
separate them. Escamillo invites everyone, especially Carmen, to
be his guests at the next bullfight in Seville. José is at the
end of his tether. Micaela is discovered, and she
begs José to go with her to his mother but he furiously refuses
("Dût-il m'en couter la vie"). Micaela
then reveals that his mother is dying. José promises Carmen that
they will meet again. As José and Micaela leave,
Escamillo is heard singing in the distance.
ACT
IV.
Among the excited crowd cheering the bullfighters are Frasquita
and Mercedes. Carmen enters on Escamillo's arm
("Si tu m'aimes"). Frasquita and Mercedes
warn Carmen that José has been seen in the crowd. She says that
she is not afraid. José enters. He implores her to forget the
past and start a new life with him. She tells him calmly that
everything between them is over. She will never give in: she was
born free and free she will die. While the crowd is heard cheering
Escamillo, José tries to prevent Carmen from joining her new
lover. Carmen finally loses her temper, takes from her finger the
ring that José once gave her, and throws it at his feet. José
stabs her, and then confesses to the murder of the woman he loved.
Source: Metopera Website (Comments: Rodney Milnes) |
