Carmen

Place, Seville, Spain.

Time, the beginning of the nineteenth century.

The Spanish gypsy Carmen lives only for sensuality. Love drives her from passion to passion. After she has loved many, she is attracted by the sergeant Don Jos? encompasses him with her wiles, and leads him to mutiny and desertion, so that finally nothing remains for him but to join a band of smugglers of which Carmen is a member. His fate is endurable as long as he retains the love of Carmen, but when she turns from him he is sunk in the depths of despair. Called to the death-bed of his mother, on returning he finds his still passionately loved Carmen before the arena in Seville with the bull fighter Escamillo, to whom she has promised her love if he is the victor at the fight. She is approached by Jos? who asks her to return to him, and when she coldly repulses him and tries to escape to Escamillo he stabs her to the heart.

Full Synopsis

Act I. A square in Seville with bridge. To the left the guard house, opposite a cigarette factory. Mica?a appears seeking Jos? but is accosted by the impudent soldiers and retires. Jos?approaches with the guard to relieve Morales. The commanding officer is Lieutenant Zuniga. The workpeople emerge from the factory. Carmen appears, wooed by all, with the exception of Jos? upon whom she has cast her eyes. (Habanera: “Love is a bird.”) Mica?a, who loves Jos? brings him a letter and greeting from his mother. (Don Jos? “Tell me what of my mother.”) When she has gone, a tumult takes place in the factory and Zuniga arrests Carmen, who has been threatening her companions with a knife. She is placed in charge of Jos? who is beguiled by the coquette and he allows her to escape. (Seguidilla: “Near to the walls of Seville.”)

Act II. Evening at a smuggler’s inn. Song and dance of the gipsies. (Carmen, Frasquita, Mercedes: “The rattling, ringing tambourine.”) The bull fighter Escamillo arrives and is boisterously greeted. They sing the Torea?dor song (“To the. fight, torero”). Smuggler quintet of Dancairo, Remendado, Carmen, Frasquita and Mercedes. Carmen refuses to accompany them, for she is waiting for her adored Jos? who has been arrested on her account and whose imprisonment has expired. Jos?arrives and is pre?vented from rejoining his comrades. (Canzonetta: “Halt, who goes there.”) Surprised by Zuniga, he draws his sword upon his superior officer; the lieutenant is disarmed by the smugglers and Jos?resolves to fly with Carmen. (Duet and dance, Carmen, Don Jos? “I will dance in your honour.”)

Act III. A rocky gorge, Jos?arrives with the smugglers (Sextet and chorus: “Listen, comrades”), but Carmen loves him no longer. Her inconstant heart now turns to Escamillo. (Trio, over the cards: “Shuffle, shuffle, cut them, cut them.”) A fight between Jos?and Escamillo is narrowly averted by the smugglers. (Duet: “I am Escamillo.”) Mica?a arrives (Aria: “Here is the smugglers’ stronghold”) and tells Jos?that his mother is dying, and with threats to Carmen he leaves the band.

Act IV. A square before the arena at Seville. Festal procession of the bull fighters. Carmen promises herself to Escamillo if he returns victorious. As she is about entering the arena she is confronted by the pale and despairing Jos? (Duet, Carmen, Don Jos? “Is it thou; it is I.”) For the last time he demands her love and fidelity. When she coldly refuses he stabs her to the heart and she expires at the moment that the victorious Escamillo arrives upon the scene.

References and external links: Plot taken from The Opera Goer's Complete Guide by Leo Melitz, 1921 version.