“Carmen” by Georges Bizet libretto (English)

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Act Four

ACT THREE

No. 18 Sextet and Chorus

The curtain rises on a wild and rocky scene.
(The night is dark and the solitude complete.
During the musical prelude a smuggler appears at
the top of the rocks, then another, then two more,
and finally twenty here and there, climbing and
scrambling over the rocks. Some of them are
carrying heavy bales on their shoulders.)

CHORUS
Listen, friend, listen,
fortune lies over there,
but take care along the way,
and watch your step!

LE DANCAÏRE, LE REMENDADO, JOSÉ, CARMEN,

MERCÉDÈS and FRASQUITA
Our calling is a good one,
but to follow it you must
have a stout heart!
There's danger up above, and down below,
it's everywhere - what of it!
We go forward
without worrying about the torrent,
without worrying about the storm,
without worrying about the soldier
who's waiting for us over there,
and keeping a sharp lookout for us -
we go forward without worrying!

ALL
Listen, friend, listen, etc.

Recitative

LE DANCAÏRE
Let's rest here for an hour, comrades;
first, we'll go on ahead of you
and satisfy ourselves the way is clear,
and that the contraband
can get through unmolested.
(During this scene between Carmen and José, a
few gypsy men light a fire, by which Mercédès and
Frasquita come and sit down; the others roll
themselves up in their cloaks, lie down and go to
sleep.)

CARMEN (to José)
What are you looking at like that?

JOSÉ
I'm telling myself that down there
lives a good and kind old lady
who believes me to be an honest man.
Alas, she is mistaken!

CARMEN
And who is this lady?

JOSÉ
Ah, Carmen, by my soul, don't jeer...
because it's my mother.

CARMEN
Well then, go and find her right away!
Our calling, you see, means nothing to you.
And you would do very well to leave as you can

JOSÉ
Go away, and leave you?

CARMEN
Undoubtedly.

JOSÉ
Leave you, Carmen?
Listen, if you say that word again!...

CARMEN
You would kill me, perhaps?
What a look - you don't answer...
What do I care? After all, Fate is master.

No. 19 Trio

(She turns her back on José and goes to sit down
near Mercédès and Frasquita. After a moment of
indecision, José too goes off and stretches out on
the rocks. During the last exchanges Mercédès
and Frasquita have been spreading out cards.)

FRASQUITA and MERCÉDÈS
Shuffle! Cut!
Good, that's that!
Three cards here...
four there!
And now speak, my loveliness,
give us news of the future;
tell us who's going to betray us,
tell us who's going to love us!
Speak! Speak!

FRASQUITA
Me, I see a young suitor,
no one could love me more.

MERCÉDÈS
Mine is very rich and very old,
but he talks of marriage.

FRASQUITA
I settle myself firmly on his horse
and he carries me off into the mountains.

MERCÉDÈS
In an almost royal castle
mine installs me in queenly state!

FRASQUITA
Never-ending love,
every day new raptures!

MERCÉDÈS
As much gold as I can take,
diamonds, precious stones!

FRASQUITA
Mine becomes a famous leader,
a hundred men march in his train!

MERCÉDÈS
Mine...can I believe my eyes?
Yes...he dies!
Ah! I'm a widow and I inherit!

FRASQUITA and MERCÉDÈS (reprise)
Speak again, speak, my lovelies, etc.
(They begin to consult the cards again.)

MERCÉDÈS
Fortune!

FRASQUITA
Love!

CARMEN
Let's see - let me have a try.
(She starts to turn up the cards.)
Diamond, spade...Death!
I read it clearly...me first.
Then him...for both of us, Death!
In vain to avoid bitter replies,
in vain will you shuffle;
that achieves nothing, the cards
are truthful and will not lie!
If your page in the book
up above is a happy one
shuffle and cut without fear,
the card under your fingers will turn up nicely,
foretelling good luck.
But if you are to die,
if the terrible word

has been written by Destiny,
begin twenty times - the pitiless card
will repeat: Death!
(turning up the cards)
Again! Always Death!

FRASQUITA and MERCÉDÈS
Speak again, my lovelies, speak! etc.

CARMEN
Again! Despair!
Always Death!
(Le Dancaïre and Le Remendado enter.)

Recitative

CARMEN
All right?

LE DANCAÏRE
All right! We'll try to get through,
and we shall get through!
You wait up there, José; guard the stuff.

FRASQUITA
Is the way open?

LE DANCAÏRE
Yes, but watch out for surprises!
I saw three customs men on the pass
we must go through:
we must get rid of them.

CARMEN
Take up the packs and let's go;
we must get through, we shall get through!

No. 20 Ensemble

CARMEN, MERCÉDÈS and FRASQUITA
As for the customs man, he's our affair;
just like the next man he loves to please,
he loves to play the gallant;
ah! leave us to go on ahead!

ALL THE GIRLS
As for the customs man, he's our affair, etc.

EVERYONE
He loves to please!

MERCÉDÈS
The customs man will be easy on us!

ALL
He is gallant!

CARMEN
The customs man will be charming!

ALL
He loves to please!

FRASQUITA
The customs man will be gallant!

MERCÉDÈS
Yes, the customs man will even be forward!

ALL
Yes, the customs man is our/their affair;

just like the next man he loves to please,
he loves to play the gallant;
let them leave us go on ahead!

CARMEN, MERCÉDÈS and FRASQUITA
It's no longer a question of battle;
no, it's simply a question
of letting ourselves be taken by the waist
and listening to a compliment.
If it's necessary to go as far as a smile,
what of it? - we'll smile!

ALL THE WOMEN
And here and now I can say
the stuff will get though!
Forward! On our way! Let's go!

ALL
Yes, the customs man is our/their affair, etc.
(Everyone leaves. José brings up the rear,
examining the priming of his carbine; just before he
disappears, a man is seen moving behind a rock. It
is Micaëla's guide. The guide advances cautiously,
then signals to Micaëla that the coast is clear.)

Recitative

MICAËLA (looking about her)
This is the smugglers' usual haunt.
He is here, I shall see him...
and the duty his mother laid on me
I'll carry out without trembling.

No. 21 Air

MICAËLA
I say that nothing frightens me,
I say, alas, that I have only myself to depend on;
but I have tried in vain to be brave,
at heart I'm dying of fright!
Alone in this wild place,
all alone, I'm afraid,
but I do wrong to be afraid;
you will give me courage,
you will protect me, Lord.
I shall get a close look at this woman
whose evil wiles
have finished by making a criminal
of the man I once loved:
she is dangerous, she is beautiful,
but I won't be afraid,
I shall speak out in front of her.
Ah! Lord,
you will protect me!
Ah! I say that nothing will frighten me, etc.
...protect me, O Lord!
protect me, Lord!

Recitative

I'm not mistaken...it's he on that rock.
This way, José! José!
I can't come any nearer.
(terrified)
But what's he doing? He's aiming...firing...
(A shot is heard.)
Ah, my God! I overestimated my strength!
(She disappears behind the rocks. At the same
moment Escamillo comes in, holding his hat in his hand.)

No. 22 Duet

ESCAMILLO (examining his hat)
A little bit lower
and that would have been that.

JOSÉ (his knife in his hand)
Your name, answer!

ESCAMILLO
Hey! gently, friend!
I'm Escamillo, the Granada matador!

JOSÉ
Escamillo!

ESCAMILLO
That's me!

JOSÉ (returning his knife to its sheath)
I know your name.
You're welcome; but truly, comrade,
that could have been the end of you.

ESCAMILLO
I'm not denying it,
but, my friend, I am madly in love,
and he would be a wretched fellow
who wouldn't risk his life to see his ladylove!

JOSÉ
The girl you love is here?

ESCAMILLO
Exactly.
She's a gypsy girl, my friend.

JOSÉ
Her name?

ESCAMILLO
Carmen.

JOSÉ
Carmen!

ESCAMILLO
Carmen! yes, my friend. She had as a lover
a soldier who once deserted on her account.
They adored each other, but it's over, I think.
Carmen's affairs don't last six months.

JOSÉ
Yet you love her!

ESCAMILLO
I love her!
Yes, my friend, I love her to distraction!

JOSÉ
But to take our gypsy girls away from us
you know that you have to pay?

ESCAMILLO
All right! I'll pay.

JOSÉ
And that the price is paid with the knife!

ESCAMILLO
With the knife!

JOSÉ
You understand?

ESCAMILLO
You put it very clearly.
This deserter, this fine soldier she loves,
or rather, used to love -
is you, then?

JOSÉ
Yes, myself!

ESCAMILLO
I'm delighted, my friend,
and the wheel comes full circle!
(Both draw their knives and wrap their left arm in
their cloaks.)

JOSÉ
At last my rage
has found an outlet!
Blood, I hope,
will soon flow,

ESCAMILLO
What a predicament,
I could laugh at it really!
To look for the mistress
and find the lover!

TOGETHER
Put up your guard,
and look out for yourself!
So much the worse for the one
who's slow at parrying!
On guard! come on! look out for yourself!
(They fight. The matador slips and falls. Enter
Carmen and Le Dancaïre; she rushes forward and
stays José's hand. The matador gets to his feet;
Le Remendado, Mercédès, Frasquita and the
smugglers have meanwhile come upon the scene.)

No. 23 Finale

CARMEN
Stop, stop, José!

ESCAMILLO
Really, I'm overjoyed
that it should be you, Carmen, who saved my life!
(to Don José)
As for you, my fine soldier,
I'll take my revenge,
and we'll play for two out of three
whenever you wish to renew the fight!

LE DANCAÏRE
Enough, enough, no more quarrelling!
We must get going.
(to Escamillo)
And you, my friend, good night!

ESCAMILLO
Allow me at least, before I say goodbye,

to invite you all to the bullfights at Seville.
I expect to be at my most brilliant there,
and who loves me will come!
(to José, who makes a threatening gesture)
Friend, keep calm,
I've had my say, and I've nothing more
to do here but make my farewells!
(Leisurely exit of Escamillo. Don José tries to
attack him but is held back by Le Dancaïre and Le
Remendado.)

JOSÉ (to Carmen)
Take care, Carmen, I'm weary of suffering!
(Carmen answers him with a slight shrug of her
shoulders and walks off.)

LE DANCAÏRE
Let's get going! We must be off!

ALL
Let's get going! We must be off!

LE REMENDADO
Stop! there's someone there trying to hide!
(He brings in Micaëla.)

CARMEN
A woman!

LE DANCAÏRE
Lord, a pleasant surprise!

JOSÉ
Micaëla!

MICAËLA
Don José!

JOSÉ
Poor girl!
What are you doing here!

MICAËLA
I've come looking for you.
Down there is the cottage
where, praying unceasingly,
a mother, your mother,
weeps, alas, for her son.
She weeps and calls you,
she weeps and holds out her arms to you;
you will take pity on her,
José, ah José, you will come with me!

CARMEN
Go on! Go on! You'll do well to go;
our business means nothing to you!

JOSÉ
You're telling me to go with her?

CARMEN
Yes, you ought to go!

JOSÉ
You're telling me to go with her
so that you can run after
your new lover!
No! Not likely!
Though it should cost me my life,
no, Carmen, I shall not go away,

and the bond which unites us
shall unite us till death!
Though it should cost me my life, etc.

MICAËLA
Listen to me, I implore you,
your mother holds out her arms to you,
that bond which unites you,
José, you will break it!

FRASQUITA, MERCÉDÈS, LE REMENDADO,

LE DANCAÏRE and CHORUS
It will cost you your life,
José, if you don't go,
and the bond which unites you
will be broken by your death.

JOSÉ (to Micaëla)
Leave me!

MICAËLA
Alas, José!

JOSÉ
For I am doomed!

FRASQUITA, MERCÉDÈS, LE REMENDADO

LE DANCAÏRE and CHORUS
José take care!

JOSÉ (to Carmen)
Ah! I've got you, accursed girl,
I've got you, and I shall compel you
to bow to the destiny
that links your fate with mine!

Though it should cost me my life,
no, no, no, I shall not go!

CHORUS
Ah! Take care, take care, Don José!

MICAËLA
One word more, this will be the last.
Alas! José, your mother is dying, and she
doesn't want to die without having forgiven you.

JOSÉ
My mother! she's dying?

MICAËLA
Yes. Don José

JOSÉ
Let's go, ah, let's go!
(to Carmen)
Be satisfied! I'm going, but we shall meet
again!
(He hurries off with Micaëla.)

ESCAMILLO (in the distance)
Toreador, on guard! etc.
(José stops at the back, on the rocks. He
hesitates, but, after a moment, goes on his way
with Micaëla. Carmen rushes in the direction of the
voice. The gypsies take up their bales and prepare
to leave.)

Entr'acte

libretto by Alan Gregory, 1964

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Act Four