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Setting: Seville, Spain c. 1830
A beautiful square in Seville with a cigarette factory, a guard house, and a bridge. Morales and the soldiers are on guard, very bored (´Sur la place, Chacun passe´). Micaëla appears seeking José, her fiancé, but is accosted by the impudent soldiers who desire her company, causing her to run away. As José approaches with the new guard, he and the soldiers are imitated by the street-children (´Avec la garde montante´). The cigarette girls emerge from the factory, greeted by their men (´La cloche a sonné´). Carmen appears, and all the men ask her when she will love them (´Quand je vous aimerai?´). She replies that she loves the man that does not love her in the famous Habanera. (´L´amour est un oiseau rebelle´). When asked to choose a lover, she throws a flower in front of José (´Carmen! sur tes pas, nous nous pressons tous!´). José is temporarily transfixed until Micaëla brings him a letter and kiss from his mother (´Parle-moi de ma mère!´). José longingly thinks of his home. As soon as she leaves, screams are heard from the factory and the women run out, singing chaotically (´Au secours! Au secours!´). Don José and his superior, Zuniga find that Carmen has been fighting with another woman, and slashed her face with a knife. Zuniga attempts to interrogate Carmen who impudently sings a folk song, ignoring him (´Tra la la´). Zuniga instructs José to arrest her, and escort her to the gaol. Carmen seduces José with a Seguidilla (´Près des remparts de Séville´), and convinces José to let her escape. José is arrested for letting Carmen escape.
Act II
Evening at Lillas Pastia´s inn, frequented by smugglers. Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercédès sing and dance (´Les tringles des sist–res tintaient´ Gypsy Song). Zuniga attempts to woo Carmen, but she can only think of José, who has been in jail for a month and is due to be released that day. The Matador Escamillo is greeted with great enthusiasm by the patrons (´Vivat, vivat le Toréro´). He sings the Toreador song (´Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre´) and also attempts to woo Carmen. Carmen refuses him as well. The smugglers Dancaïro and Remendado discuss plans with Carmen and her gypsy friends (´Nous avons en tête une affaire´ – Quintet). Carmen refuses to accompany them, for she only can think of José. José arrives singing a folk song (´Halte là! Qui va là! Dragon d´Alcala!´), and he and Carmen are left alone. Carmen vexes him with stories of her dancing. She then dances for him alone (´Je vais danser en votre honneur...Lalala´), but is interrupted by the trumpets calling the soldiers to the barracks. Carmen´s temper flares when José begins to leave, causing him to pledge his devotion to her in the Flower Song (´La fleur que tu m´avais jetée´). Carmen asks him to join the smugglers if he really loves her (´Non, tu ne m´aime pas´). He refuses and begins to leave when he is surprised by Zuniga. He draws his sword upon his superior officer, but the Gypsies disarm both of them and take away Zuniga (´Mon cher monsieur´). José is forced to flee with Carmen (´La bas dans le montagne´).
Act IIl
A rocky gorge, where the smugglers ply their trade. José arrives with the smugglers (´Écoute, écoute, compagnon´), but Carmen loves him no longer, realizing that he is not her match. She now turns to Escamillo. Carmen, Frasquita and Mercedes read the cards (´Mêlons! Coupons!´). Frasquita and Mercedes foresee love and romance, wealth and luxury in their cards; but Carmen´s cards foretell death for her and José (´En vain pour éviter les réponses amères´). The smugglers plan their actions (´Quant au douanier, c´est notre affaire´). Micaëla arrives with a guide seeking José (´Je dis, que rien ne m´épouvante´), and hides in the rocks when she hears a gunshot. Escamillo arrives and tells José that he is infatuated with Carmen and tells José the story of her affair with a soldier, not knowing that José is the soldier. A fight between José and Escamillo over Carmen is narrowly averted by the smugglers (´Holà, holà José´). Escamillo leaves, but invites Carmen and the smugglers to the bullfights. Micaëla emerges and tells José that his mother wishes to see him. At first he refuses to go (´Non, je ne partirai pas!´), until Micaëla tells him that his mother is dying. Vowing that he will return to Carmen, he leaves. As he is leaving, Escamillo is heard singing in the distance. Carmen rushes to the sound of his voice, but José bars her way.
Act IV
A square before the arena at Seville. The general populace prepare for the bull fight (´A deux cuartos!´) (occasionally played as a ballet with a different text: ´Dansez, dansez´) and they see the cuadrilla arrive (´Les voici! voici la quadrille´). Carmen and Escamillo are greeted by the crowds and celebrate love and victory, Carmen adding that she had never loved one so much (´Si tu m´aimes, Carmen´). Frasquita warns Carmen that José is in the crowd (´Carmen! Prends garde!), and that he intends to kill her, but Carmen says she will speak to him. Before she can enter the arena she is confronted by the pale and despairing José (´C´est toi! C´est moi!´). For the last time, half-crazed he demands her love and fidelity, even after she repeatedly explains that she loves him no longer. When she scornfully throws back the ring that he gave to her (´Cette bague, autrefois), he stabs her to the heart (´Eh bien, damnée´) and she dies at the moment that Escamillo triumphs in the arena. The spectators exit the arena and José, completely broken, confesses his action to all, exclaiming: ´Ah! Carmen! ma Carmen adorée!´.
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