(Bizet)
Performed by THE COVENT GARDEN OPERA
COMPANY
Relayed from
THE PRINCE OF WALES THEATRE,
BERMINGHAM
Act II: the Inn of Lillas Pastia
Cast in order of appearance :
Conductor, ROBERT AINSWORTH
THE inn is on the outskirts of Seville, a haunt of the smugglers to whose band
Carmen belongs. It isevening. and revelry is the mood of all there—soldiers, gipsies, and townsfolk. Soon they are joined by Escamillo, bull fighter and idol of Seville; they toast him, and in response ho sings his Toreador song. He and Carmen are obviously fascinated by one another. The inn is closed for the night, but Carmen still expects Jose, the handsome soldier whom she had beguiled into freeing her a month before ; she was under arrest in his charge, for having stabbed a follow cigarette maker. His voice is heard, and she admits him, dancing for him as she had promised she would do if he came to seek her there. Tiumpettones, blending with the music of her dance, sound his recall to barracks, and Carmen taunts him with his devotion to duty rather than to her. His reply is the Flower Song. Taking from his breast the bloom which once she threw him, he tells her how he languished in prison for her sake—his punishment for letting her escape— dreaming always of her witchery. A knocking on the gate breaks in on the end of his song, and his officer enters ; he, too, is enslaved by Carmen's charm. He orders Jose off, and in a moment of mad jealousy the soldier draws his sword ; the clash of weapons brings tho smugglers in a rush, to disarm and make captives of them both, officer and trooper.