Dialogues of the Carmelites
Music by Francis Poulenc · libretto by Georges Bernanos · premiered 1957 · at La Scala
Dialogues des Carmélites (French pronunciation: [djalɔɡ de kaʁmelit], Dialogues of the Carmelites), FP 159, is an opera in three acts, divided into twelve scenes with linking orchestral interludes, with music and libretto by Francis Poulenc, completed in 1956. Poulenc wrote the libretto for his second opera after the work of the same name by Georges Bernanos, itself based on The Song at the Scaffold by Gertrud von Le Fort. This is a fictionalized version of the story of the Martyrs of Compiègne, Carmelite nuns who, in 1794 during the closing days of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, were guillotined in Paris for refusing to renounce their vocation. The world première of the opera occurred (in Italian translation) on 26 January 1957 at La Scala in Milan.
The première of the French-language version took place in Paris on 21 June 1957.
The United States première, in English, followed in San Francisco in September 1957.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Dialogues of the Carmelites", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (French: [fʁɑ̃sis ʒɑ̃ maʁsɛl pulɛ̃k]; 7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-known are the piano suite Trois mouvements perpétuels (1919), the ballet Les biches (1923), the Concert champêtre (1928) for harpsichord and orchestra, the Organ Concerto (1938), the opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1957), and the Gloria (1959) for soprano, choir, and orchestra. As the only son of a prosperous manufacturer, Poulenc was expected to follow his father into the family firm, and he was not allowed to enrol…
Text from the Wikipedia article "Francis Poulenc", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by Francis Poulenc
- Les Mamelles de Tirésias (1945)
- La Voix humaine (1958)