ACT I: Micaëla, a peasant girl from Navarre asks Moralès if he knows Don José, and is told that he is a corporal in another platoon expected shortly to relieve the
present guard (2). A trumpet call heralds the approach not
only of the relief guard but also of a gang of street urchins
imitating their drill (3). As the guards are changed, Moralès tells José
that a girl is looking for him (4). Zuniga, the lieutenant in command of
the new guard, questions Corporal José about the tobacco factory. The factory bell rings and the men of Seville gather round the female workers as they return after their lunch break (5). The gypsy Carmen is awaited with anticipation. When the men gather round her, she tells them love obeys no known laws (6). Only one man pays no attention to her - Don José. Carmen throws a flower at him (8). The women go back into the factory and the crowd disperses. Micaëla returns, bringing news of José's mother. She has sent Micaëla, who lives with her, to give him a letter. Micaëla runs off in embarrassment since it suggests that he marry her (9). At the moment that he decides to obey, a fight is heard from within the factory (11). It is certain that Carmen and one of her fellow workers quarreled and that the other girl was wounded (12). Carmen, led out by José, refuses to
answer any of Zuniga's questions. José is ordered to tie her up and
take her to prison. Carmen entices him to go dancing at Lillas
Pastia's tavern outside the walls of Seville (13). Mesmerized, José agrees to help her escape. He unties the rope and, as they leave for prison, Carmen slips away.
Don José is arrested (14).
ACT II: Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercédès entertain
Zuniga and other officers (16). Zuniga tells Carmen that José has been released this very day (17). A torchlight procession in honor of the bullfighter Escamillo is
heard, and the officers invite him in. He describes the excitements
of his profession. Escamillo then propositions Carmen, but she replies that she is engaged for the moment (19). Carmen refuses to leave with
Zuniga, who threatens to return later (20). When the company has departed, the smugglers Dancaïre and Remendado enter. Frasquita and Mercédès are game, but Carmen refuses to leave Seville: she is in love (21). José's song is heard in the distance. The smugglers withdraw (23). Carmen tells José that she has been dancing for his officers. When he reacts jealously, she agrees to entertain him alone (25). Bugles are heard sounding the retreat. José says that he must return to barracks. She replies that he doesn't love her. As he leaves, Zuniga bursts in. In jealous rage José attacks him. José now has no choice but to desert
and join the smugglers (28).
ACT III: The gang enters with contraband and pauses for a brief rest
while Dancaïre and Remendado go on a reconnaissance mission (1). Carmen
and José quarrel, and José gazes regretfully down to the valley
where his mother is living (2). The women turn the cards to tell their fortunes: Frasquita and Mercédès foresee rich and gallant lovers, but Carmen's cards spell death, for her and for José (3). Remendado and Dancaïre return announcing that customs officers are guarding the pass: Carmen, Frasquita, and Mercédès know how to deal with them (5). All depart. Micaëla appears. She says that she fears nothing so much as meeting the woman who has turned the man she once loved into a criminal (6). But she hurries away in fear when a shot rings out. It is José firing at an intruder, who turns out to be Escamillo, transporting bulls to Seville (7). When he refers to the soldier whom Carmen once loved, José reveals himself and they
fight. Carmen and the smugglers return and separate them (8). Escamillo
invites everyone, especially Carmen, to be his guests at the next
bullfight in Seville. Micaëla begs José to go with her to his mother. José promises Carmen that they will meet again. As José and Micaëla leave, Escamillo is heard
singing in the distance (9).
Among the excited crowd cheering the bullfighters (11) are Frasquita and Mercédès that warn Carmen that José has been seen in the crowd (12). José implores her to forget the past and start a new life with him. She tells him calmly that everything between them is over (13). Carmen finally loses her temper, takes from her finger the ring that José once gave her, and throws it at his feet. José stabs her, and then confesses to the murder of the woman he loved (14).
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