The Story of Carmen, Act IIĪt Lilas Pastia’s Inn, Carmen and her friends, Mercedes and Frasquita, are socializing with several soldiers including Officer Zuniga, when the victorious bullfighter, Escamillo, arrives with a celebrating entourage. When Don Jose is discovered for letting Carmen escape, he is thrown into jail for one month’s time. However, Carmen charms Don Jose into letting her escape. Zuniga commands Don Jose to escort Carmen to prison. Moments later, a fight breaks out at the cigarette factory between Carmen and another woman.Ĭarmen injures the woman before she is captured by Officer Zuniga. Don Jose promises his fidelity and love to Micaela. In the letter, Don Jose’s mother has asked him to marry Micaela. Shortly thereafter, Micaela returns with a letter and a kiss sent to Don Jose by his mother. When Carmen sees Don Jose she tosses a flower in front of him in order to seduce him.ĭon Jose picks up the flower and becomes enchanted by the beautiful Carmen. ( Watch a video of the Habanera.) Learn more about the creation of the Habanera in this Habanera Profile. (Can’t understand French? Read the Habanera lyrics and translation). Her reply is given in the famous aria, “L’amour est un oiseau rebella” a.k.a. The soldiers flirt with the girls and asks Carmen when when she will love them.
Soon, Don Jose arrives moments before the cigarette factory bell rings and a group of women, including the beautiful gypsy, Carmen, exit the building. The soldiers try to persuade the young girl to stay with them until Don Jose returns, but she declines and leaves.
In a town square in Seville, soldiers and townspeople are gathered chatting and moving about, when a young peasant girl name Micaela questions the soldiers about her love, Don Jose. The depictions of proletarian life, immorality, and lawlessness, and the tragic death of the main character on stage, broke new ground in French opera and were highly controversial. José abandons his childhood sweetheart and deserts from his military duties, yet loses Carmen’s love to the glamorous matador Escamillo, after which José kills her in a jealous rage. It is set in southern Spain and tells the story of the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier who is seduced by the wiles of the fiery gypsy Carmen. The opera was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875, where its breaking of conventions shocked and scandalized its first audiences. The opera is written in the genre of opéra comique with musical numbers separated by dialogue. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on a novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. Carmen is an opera in four acts by French composer Georges Bizet.
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