"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.