The Flower Song – Fateful or Faithful?

                            

An aria is the chosen vehicle of opera composers for presenting the singer’s vocal prowess to the audience.  Logic would suggest that the composer intentionally places it strategically in the opera, to call attention to an important event that significantly influences the outcome of the drama. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to understand its meaning relative to its placement in the work. In his opera Carmen, Bizet wrote the beautiful Flower Song for Don Josè to sing in Act II.  Carmen accuses Josè of not loving her.  Josè, as a disciplined soldier, says that he must return to barracks at the sound of the ‘retreat’. Carmen makes him feel guilty for preferring duty to her. At this point, Josè pulls out a withered flower from his tunic and sings of how it lifted his spirits during his imprisonment for having allowed Carmen to escape. He avers his undying love for Carmen.  This is the famous Flower Song. From this point on, the relationship between Josè and Carmen deteriorates; it ends in Carmen’s death by José’s hand at the conclusion of the opera.  Why? What is the significance of the flower, and why does Josè sing the aria at all?  The flower’s importance has its origin in Act I.  Carmen has sung her famous Habanera; she then turns her attention to Don José – the only male who has not clamored for Carmen’s attention.  It is at this point in the score that Bizet introduces the Fate Theme for the first time https://youtu.be/SaypJ4kmYCE (24:08). It appears again as an introduction to the Flower Song in Act II (1:14:29).  Coincidence? Hardly! The appearance of the same theme in two or more places in the score connects them psychologically.   We must address this occurrence in order to understand its employment by the composer; it relates to the unfolding drama.  In Act I Carmen throws a flower at Don José. When he picks it up, she tells José that he can throw it away because it has already made its effect. When José produces the withered flower in Act II, he has, disregarded Carmen’s specific instruction to him in the previous Act and thereby, he violated an unspoken pact between them. According to Carmen love is freely given. José’s hanging on to the flower suggests possession or possessiveness. Carmen interprets this act as proof that José does not love her. Indeed, they are at opposite sides of the spectrum; they are simply unsuited for each other.  José of course, for reasons of his own, does not understand this.  The flower serves each protagonist’s personal needs and in opposite directions. For Carmen, it is an expression of temporal desire. “I am attracted to you. I want you now because Fate has so decreed.” For José, it is a matter of devotion, a sign of being faithful, of belonging. “Fate has determined that we be together.” Bizet’s use of the Fate Theme represents this dichotomy. The Flower Song is the pivot of the entire opera.  In the scene that follows, José seals his fate when he draws his sword on Zuniga, an officer; there is no way for him to recoup. He becomes an outlaw.

26 September 2017

Israel