synopsis

Act 1

The curtain rises on a square in Seville with a cigarette factory on one side and a guardroom on the other. To amuse themselves on guard duty Corporal Morales and his soldiers watch the passers-by (“Sur la place chacun passe”). Among them is Micaëla who, she tells Morales, has come in search of a Corporal called Don José. But he is not there and, turning down the soldiers’ offers to entertain her in the guardroom, Micaëla decides to return when the guard changes and Don José comes on duty. At the changing of the guard, which is accompanied by a group of street urchins playing at soldiers (“Avec la garde montante”), Lieutenant Zuniga asks about the girls who work in the cigarette factory across the road. José tells him that, since he is in love with Micaëla, he doesn’t know much about them. At this point the cigarette girls comes out of the factory for a break (“Dans l’air nous suivons”), the last of them being the beautiful gypsy Carmen who announces herself with a provocative Habanera (“L’amour est un oiseau rebelle”) and picks out José, the one man who is not interested in her, by throwing a flower at his feet.

The girls go back into the factory and as Micaëla returns José picks up the flower and carefully conceals it. The message Micaëla brings him from his mother and the maternal kiss she passes on to him (“Parle-moi de ma mère”) will protect him, he feels, from the danger represented by Carmen. He resolves to follow his mother’s wishes and marry Micaëla. Fate intervenes, however. Following a disturbance in the factory, in which Carmen has knifed another girl, José is ordered to guard Carmen while Zuniga goes for a warrant to imprison her. Seduced by her Seguidilla (“Près des remparts de Séville”) and the promise of a reward for his services when he joins her at Lillas Pastia’s tavern, he allows her to knock him over and make her escape.

Act 2

The second act is set in Lillas Pastia’s, where Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercedes are entertaining the officers, Zuniga among them. Led by Carmen they join in a vigorous Spanish gypsy song and dance (“Les tringles des sistres”). Their efforts to get the officers to leave the tavern at closing time are interrupted by the entry of the toreador Escamilllo who boasts of his prowess in the bull ring (“Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre”) and, to the joy of his fans, delivers his heroic signature tune (“Toréador, en garde!”). Before he goes Escamillo’s eye is caught by Carmen, who gives him no immediate encouragement but admits he can hope. The smugglers El Remondado and El Dancairo attempt to enlist the help of the three girls for their next job (“Nous avons en tête une affaire”) but Carmen refuses to join in because, she says, she is in love.

The voice of José, who has has spent two months in prison for abetting Carmen’s escape, is heard offstage (“Halte-là! Qui va là?”) as he approaches Lillas Pastia’s to claim his prize. When they are alone she dances for him but her performance is interrupted by bugle calls from the barracks and José insists he has to go. She taunts him and he swears his love for her (“La fleur que tu m’avais jetée”), only to be told that if he loved her he would desert the army and follow her to freedom (“Là-bas, là-bas dans le montagne”). Just as he is about to tear himself away Zuniga comes back for Carmen and orders José to return to barracks. He refuses, they draw their weapons, and the smugglers disarm Zuniga. José now has no alternative but to follow them into the mountains (“Suis-nous à travers la compagne”).

Act 3

The third act opens with the smugglers carrying their contraband through the mountains at night. As they take a rest, Carmen tells José, whose conscience and thoughts of his mother torment him, that he should leave her. His angry response suggests he could kill her but she is ready to accept her fate - a fate apparently confirmed by the cards, which predict a happy future for Frasquita and Mercedes (“Mêlons! Coupons!”) but only death for Carmen and José (“En vain éviter les réponses”). Hearing that three customs officers are guarding the mountain pass, the three girls undertake to distract them (“Quant au douanier”) and the smugglers move on, leaving José to guard the camp.

Micaëla still loves José, however, and she has bravely made her way into the mountains to find him and rescue him from Carmen’s grasp (“Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante”). Before she can complete her mission she has to take cover as Escamillo arrives to claim Carmen. A fight ensues and José is about to kill Escamillo when Carmen returns just in time to stop him - to the delight of the toreador who invites her to his next bullfight in Seville. Micaëla is discovered and she pleads with José to return to his grieving mother (“Là-bas est la chaumière”). Carmen tells him to go but it is only when Micaëla reveals that his mother is dying that he is persuaded to depart. Escamillo’s voice can still be heard in the distance and Carmen decides to follow him.

Act 4

Set outside the bull ring in Seville, the fourth act begins with a chorus of street vendors (“A duex cuartos!”) and the march of the toreadors (“Les voici”), Escamillo prominent among them with Carmen by his side. They declare their love for each other (“Si tu m’aimes, Carmen’”). Frasquite and Mercedes warn Carmen that José is hiding in the crowd and tell her to be careful. She, however, refuses to be intimidated and chooses to confront him (“C’est toi! C’est moi!). He pleads with her to start a new life with him (“Carmen! Il est temps encore”). She refuses, swearing she would rather die. Offstage cheers indicate Escamillo’s victory in the bull ring but as Carmen attempts to enter the arena to share his triumph José bars her way. She insists she loves Escamillo and throws José’s ring back at him. Provoked beyond all reason, José stabs her and gives himself up.