Habanera is the popular name for "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" ("Love is a rebellious bird"), one of the most famous arias from Georges Bizet's 1875 opera Carmen. It is the entrance aria of the title character, a mezzo-soprano role, in scene 5 of the first act. It is based on a descending chromatic scale followed by variants of the same phrase in first the minor and then the major key, corresponding to the vicissitudes of love expressed in the lyrics.[not verified in body] The vocal range covers D4 to F♯5 with a tessitura from D4 to D5.
The score of this aria was adapted from the habanera "El Arreglito", originally composed by the Spanish musician Sebastián Yradier. Bizet thought it to be a folk song; when others told him he had used something that had been written by a composer who had died only ten years earlier, he had to add a note to the vocal score of Carmen, acknowledging its source.
Lyrics:
When will I love you?
Good Lord, I don't know,
Maybe never, maybe tomorrow.
But not today, that's for sure.
[sung]
Love is a rebellious bird
That none can tame,
And it is well in vain that one calls it
If it suits him to refuse
Nothing to be done, threat or prayer.
The one talks well, the other is silent;
And it's the other that I prefer
He says nothing but he pleases me.
(Love is a rebellious bird) Love...
(that none can tame,) Love...
(and you can call him, although it is, quite in vain,) Love...
(because it suits him not to come) Love...
Love is a gypsy's child,
It has never, never known the law;
If you do not love me, I love you;
If I love you, take guard yourself (Take guard yourself!)
If you do not love me,
If you do not love me, I love you (Take guard yourself!)
But if I love you, if I love you
Take guard yourself!
(Love is a gypsy's child,)
(It has never, never known the law;)
(If you do not love me, I love you;)
(If I love you, take guard yourself) (Take guard yourself!)
If you do not love me,
If you do not love me, I love you (Take guard yourself!)
But if I love you, if I love you
Take guard yourself! (Take guard yourself!)
The bird you hoped to catch
Beat its wings and flew away ...
Love is far, you can wait for it
You no longer await it, there it is
All around you, swift, swift,
It comes, goes, then it returns ...
You think to hold it fast, it flees you
You think to flee it, it holds you
(All around you, swift,) Love...
(It comes, goes, then it returns) Love...
(You think to hold it fast, it flees you) Love...
(You think to flee it, it holds you) Love...
Love is a gypsy's child,
it has never, never known the law;
if you love me not, then I love you;
if I love you, take guard yourself (Take guard yourself!)
if you love me not,
if you love me not, then I love you (Take guard yourself!)
but if I love you, if I love you
take guard yourself!
(Love is a gypsy's child,)
(it has never known the law;)
(if you love me not, then I love you;)
(if I love you, take guard yourself) (Take guard yourself!)
if you love me not,
if you love me not, then I love you (Take guard yourself!)
but if I love you, if I love you
take guard yourself (Take guard yourself)
******
"Habanera" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
