"Que se passe-t-il donc là-bas?" scene from Bizet's Carmen.
* I read once that this refers to a punishment in which the offender was publicly paraded through town on a donkey with two officials beating her.
EDITED to make a minor correction, 10/4/10.
Zuniga: | Zuniga: |
Que se passe-t-il donc là-bas? | What on earth is going on over there? |
Sopranos: | Sopranos: |
Au secours! au secours! n'entendez-vous pas? | Help! Help! Don't you hear? |
Altos: | Altos: |
Au secours! au secours! messieurs les soldats! | Help! Help! Master soldiers! |
Sopranos: | Sopranos: |
C'est la Carmencita! | It's Carmencita! |
Altos: | Altos: |
Non, non, ce n'est pas elle! | No, no, it's not her! |
Sopranos: | Sopranos: |
C'est elle! | It's her! |
Altos: | Altos: |
Pas du tout! | Not at all! |
Sopranos: | Sopranos: |
Si fait, si fait, c'est elle! Elle a porté les premiers coups! | She did it, it's her! She struck the first blows! |
Sopranos, Altos: | Sopranos, Altos (variously, to Zuniga): |
Ne les écoutez pas! Monsieur, écoutez-nous! | Don't listen to them! Sir, listen to us! |
Altos: | Altos: |
La Manuelita disait et répétait à voix haute, | Manuelita said, and repeated in a loud voice, |
qu'elle achèterait sans faute un âne qui lui plaisait. | that she would without fail buy a donkey that she liked. |
Sopranos: | Sopranos: |
Alors la Carmencita, railleuse à son ordinaire, | Then Carmencita, mocking in her usual way, |
dit: 'Un âne, pourquoi faire? Un balai te suffira.' | said: 'Why get a donkey? A broom will be enough for you.' |
Altos: | Altos: |
Manuelita riposta et dit à sa camarade: | Manuelita retorted and said to her companion: |
'Pour certaine promenade, mon âne te servira! | 'For a certain procession, my donkey will be useful to you! |
Sopranos: | Sopranos: |
'Et ce jour-là tu pourras à bon droit faire la fière: | 'And that day you can play the proud woman with good right: |
Deux laquais suivront derrière, t'émouchant à tour de bras.” | two lackeys will follow behind, brushing the flies off you with all their might.' [*] |
Sopranos, Altos: | Sopranos, Altos: |
Là-dessus, toutes les deux se sont prises aux cheveux! | At that point, both of them grabbed each other's hair! |
Zuniga: | Zuniga: |
Au diable tout ce bavardage! | To the devil with all this chatter! |
Prenez, José, deux hommes avec vous et voyez là dedans qui cause ce tapage. | José, take two men with you and see what inside there is causing this uproar. |
Sopranos: | Sopranos: |
C'est la Carmencita! | It's Carmencita! |
Altos: | Altos: |
Non, non, ce n'est pas elle! | No, no, it's not her! |
Sopranos: | Sopranos: |
Si fait, si fait, c'est elle! | She did it, she did it, it's her! |
Altos: | Altos: |
Pas du tout! | Not at all! |
Sopranos: | Sopranos: |
Elle a porté les premiers coups! | She struck the first blows! |
Zuniga: | Zuniga: |
Holà! Éloignez-moi toutes ces femmes-là! | Guards! Get all these women here away from me! |
Sopranos, Altos: | Sopranos, Altos (variously, to Zuniga): |
Monsieur! Monsieur! Ne les écoutez pas! | Sir! Sir! Don't listen to them! |
Monsieur, écoutez-nous! | Sir, listen to us! |
-- C'est la Carmencita qui porta les premiers coups! | --It's Carmencita who struck the first blows! |
-- C'est la Manuelita qui porta les premiers coups! | --It's Manuelita who struck the first blows! |
-- La Carmencita! -- La Manuelita! | -- Carmencita! -- Manuelita! |
-- La Carmencita! -- La Manuelita! | -- Carmencita! -- Manuelita! |
-- Si! -- Non! -- Si! -- Non! | -- Yes! -- No! -- Yes! -- No! |
-- Elle a porté les premiers coups! | -- She struck the first blows! |
-- C'est la Carmencita! -- C'est la Manuelita! | -- It's Carmencita! -- It's Manuelita! |
-- Carmencita! -- Manuelita! | -- Carmencita! -- Manuelita! |
* I read once that this refers to a punishment in which the offender was publicly paraded through town on a donkey with two officials beating her.
EDITED to make a minor correction, 10/4/10.