WriteUp on Chorus of the Cigarette Girls

烟厂女工的合唱 Chorus of the Cigarette Girls

歌剧《卡门》完成于1874年秋，是比才 (1838-1875) 的最后一部歌剧，也是当今世界上上演率最高的一部歌剧。四幕歌剧《卡门》主要塑造了一个相貌美丽而性格倔强的吉卜赛姑娘——烟厂女工卡门。卡门与工友打架，军人班长唐豪塞奉命逮捕她。卡门于是使出浑身解数挑逗唐豪塞放走她。唐豪塞经不住诱惑堕入情网，并舍弃了他的农村情人 —— 温柔而善良的米卡爱拉。唐豪塞因为涉嫌放走了卡门而遭到追捕，后来就随卡门的一群走私贩朋友入山贩私。卡门逐渐厌弃唐豪塞而爱上了斗牛士埃斯卡米里奥。在卡门为埃斯卡米里奥斗牛胜利而欢呼时，她却死在了唐豪塞的剑下。

Carmen, the last opera by Georges Bizet (1838-1875) was completed in the fall of 1874. This 4-act opera tells the love story of Carmen, a beautiful and defiant gypsie girl who works in a tobacco factory. Carmen gets involved in a fight with some other factory girls and corporal Don Jose takes the order to detain her. Carmen taunts Don Jose with her flamboyant charms to let her go. Don Jose becomes mesmerized by Carmen. Under her spell, he gives up the gentle peasant girl Micaela. Later, Don Jose is almost arrested for having freed Carmen. He then joins the smuggling gang friends of Carmen. Carmen becomes tired of Don Jose and falls in love with the handsome matador Escamillo. As Escamillo trimphs in the bullring, Carmen is confronted by Don Jose in a nearby alley and dies.

《卡门》的首演并没有受到欢迎，主要是当时人们认为它的内容不健康。比才隔年即郁郁而终，死时不过37岁。可幸的是，当时的大师如圣桑，柴可夫斯基和德彪西等都一致推崇这部歌剧。
Carmen was not an immediate success, largely due to its 'immoral' flavour. Bizet became despondent over the perceived failure and died the next year at the age of 37. Nevertheless, praise came from such luminaries as Saint-Saons, Tchaikovsky, and Debussy, who recognized its greatness.

歌曲场景 / Choir Scene
(第一幕 / Act I)
是烟厂工人的午餐时间。男工人歌唱他们如何每天期待着要跟女人谈情说爱。女工们则歌唱吸烟的快乐，以烟圈的飘忽不定来比喻男人的用情不专。
As the factory workers enter on their noon break, the men sing about how they wait each day to make love to the women. The women sing of the joys of smoking, comparing the fleeting smoke rings with the fleeting attentions of the men.