En vain pour evitér
music by Georges Bizet, lyrics by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy

This is the famous "card aria" from the opera "Carmen", where Carmen herself tells her fortune from a pack 
of cards, and sees that both she and her (former) lover, Don José, will soon die, and there's nothing she 
can do about it.

This is the only one of Carmen's several arias where she is not in a good mood - she's not even angry,
(as she is in the last scene, where José kills her) but in a mix of despaire and resignation. This aria 
gives a depth and variation to her character, and certainly contributes to the greatness of this opera. 

The original key of the aria is F minor (written for a mezzo soprano); I have transposed it down to
D minor to give contraltos a chance at it, too.


Read more about this (and other) operas at the Aria Database:

   http://www.aria-database.com/index2.html