Act IV
Outside the corrida in Sevilla.
Peddlers hawk their wares as the crowd waits for the bullfight to begin. A group of children rush in to announce that the procession of matadors is on its way (“Les voici! Voici la quadrille!”). Bringing up the rear is Escamillo, with a richly dressed Carmen on his arm. They declare their love for each other. Escamillo enters the stadium. Carmen is about to follow him, but Frasquita and Mercédès warn her that José is hiding in the crowd. She sees him and says she will wait and speak to him. Her friends urge her to be careful and follow the crowd into the stadium.
Carmen calmly faces José and tells him that she is not afraid of him. He replies that he is there not to threaten her but to beg her to come away with him. She tells him that it is all over between them. José desperately pleads with her, but she refuses, even knowing that he will kill her. He still cannot believe that she does not love him anymore; he offers to become an outlaw again and do anything she wants if she will only stay with him. She refuses to leave with him, stating that she was born free and will die free. When she hears the crowd inside cheering Escamillo, she tries to enter the stadium, but José stops her and, in a rage, asks her if she loves Escamillo. Defiantly, she declares that she does and frees herself. José stops her again and asks, for the last time, if she will come with him. Once again she refuses, throwing away the ring he had given her. As the crowd again cheers Escamillo, she turns to go into the stadium, and José stabs her. He falls to his knees beside her body, and, as the crowd files out of the stadium, he admits to killing her and despairingly calls out to her corpse.
Linda Cantoni