The famous La fleur que tu m'avais jetée,(Flower song) Don José's tenor aria from Carmen, set and translated. Recommended recordings and vocal scores.

Aria: La fleur que tu m’avais jetée (The flower song)

Opera: Carmen, Act II

Role: Don José

Voice Part: Tenor

Setting: In an inn/tavern near Seville, Spain

Synopsis: After being released from prison, Don José visits Carmen at the tavern. When he hears the bugle call for him to return to his regiment, Carmen mocks his loyalty. To prove his love for her, he reveals the dried and wilted flower that she had given him when they first had met. He tells her that the flower was what had kept his faith and hope of reuniting with her after his release.

Translation:

The flower that you threw to me

Remained with me while I was in prison.

Withered and dried, the flower

Always maintained its sweet scent.

And for hours,

My eyes, with eyelids closed,

I became intoxicated by this smell

And in the night I saw you!

I began to curse you,

I detested you, to saying to myself:

Why is it necessary for fate

To put herself there in my path?

Then I accused myself of blasphemy

And I felt only within myself

I felt but one desire

A single desire, a single hope

To see you again, oh Carmen,

To see you again!

For you had only to appear

Only to throw your glance at me

In order to take a hold of all my being

Oh my Carmen!

And I was owned by you.

Carmen, I love you!

Recordings:

Nicolai Gedda; The Very Best of Nicolai Gedda, EMI Classics, Catalog #85090

Placido Domingo, Nessun Dorma ~ 20 Great Tenor Arias, Decca, Catalog #B000007OTX

Scores:

Complete opera score available from G. Schirmer and Alkor-Edition Kassel

Aria available in:

Opera Arias for Tenor – G. Schirmer

Operatic Anthology (Tenor) - G. Schirmer

French Operatic Arias for Tenor - C.F. Peters

Celebrated Opera Arias (Spicker) - Petelsons