Opera title: | Carmen |
Composer: | Georges Bizet |
Language: | French |
Synopsis: | Carmen Synopsis |
Libretto: | Carmen Libretto |
Translation(s): | English Deutsch |
Also known as: | Flower Song |
Type: | aria |
Role(s): | Don José / Carmen |
Voice(s): | Tenor |
Act: | 2.09 |
Previous scene: | Attends un peu, Carmen |
Next scene: | Hola! Carmen! |
Jonas Kaufmann as Don José sings the Flower Song 'La fleur que tu m'avais jetée' with Anna Caterina Antonacci as Carmen in Act II of Francesca Zambello's production of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, The Royal Opera, 2006.
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Carmen was based on a popular novella of the same name by Prosper Mérimée, which enticed French readers with exotic tales of Spain. Its heady combination of passion, sensuality and violence initially proved too much for the stage and Georges Bizet’s opera was a critical failure on its premiere in 1875. Bizet died shortly after, never learning of the spectacular success Carmen would achieve – it has been staged over 500 times at Covent Garden alone.
Carmen contains many well-loved numbers, such as Carmen’s seductive Habanera and Escamillo’s rousing Toreador’s song, in which he celebrates the thrill of the bullfight. Richly coloured designs capture the sultry heat of the Spanish sun, while ranks of soldiers, crowds of peasants, gypsies and bullfighters bring 19th-century Seville alive. This combination of memorable music, vivid setting and dramatic story have made Carmen one of the most popular operas in the world.
JOSÉ
La fleur que tu m'avais jetée,
Dans ma prison m'était restée,
Flétrie et sèche, cette fleur
Gardait toujours sa douce odeur;
Et pendant des heures entières,
Sur mes yeux fermant mes paupières
De cette odeur je m'enivrais
Et dans la nuit je te voyais.
Je me prenais à te maudire
À te détester, à me dire:
Pourquoi faut-il que le destin
L'ait mise là sur mon chemin?
Puis je m'accusais de blasphème
Et je ne sentais en moi-même
Qu'un seul désir, un seul espoir,
Te revoir, ô Carmen, oui te revoir! …
Car tu n'avais eu qu'à paraître,
Qu'à jeter un regard sur moi
Pour t'emparer de tout mon être,
Ô ma Carmen.
Et j'étais une chose à toi.
Carmen, je t'aime!
JOSÉ
The flower you had thrown at me
In my prison I had stayed,
Withered and dry, this flower
Always kept its sweet smell;
And for hours,
On my eyes closing my eyelids
From this smell I would get drunk
And in the night I saw you.
I began to curse you
To hate you, to tell me:
Why must destiny
Put it there on my way?
Then I blamed myself for blasphemy
And I did not feel in myself
Only one desire, one hope,
To see you again, O Carmen, yes, see you again! ...
Because you had only to appear,
What to take a look at me
To take hold of all my being,
O my Carmen.
And I was a thing of you.
Carmen, I love you!
Sheetmusic for aria | ![]() |
Sheetmusic for opera | ![]() |
MP3's for this aria | on Amazon.com |
DVD/CD's for this opera | on Amazon.com |