Carmen

Carmen: L'amour est enfant de Bohème,

il n'a jamais, jamais connu de loi;

si tu ne m'aimes pas, je t'aime

si je t'aime, prends garde à toi! (Prends garde à toi!)

Carmen: Love is a gypsy's child,

it has never, ever, recognized the law;

if you love me not, then I love you;

if I love you, you'd best beware! (You'd best beware!)

I was lucky enough to be offered a ticket to the Opera in Dun Laoghaire on Friday. It was my first opera, and I was worried that I might not be able to hack it. How wrong I was; it was exhilarating. Despite being sung in French (of which I don't have a word) and being sung over four acts, I was glued to it.

A lot of the music was familiar enough to be, as Bizet's Carmen is probably the most popular opera in the world, but I would have been a goner if it wasn't for the subtitles. Mon Dieu, it was amazing. Here's the Habenera aria, just to give you an idea. Carmen is traveller woman and she is singing about love, and describes it as "a gypsy child, who knows no law" - it's a phrase that I haven't been able to get out of my head since.