Dialogues des Carmélites

by Francis Poulenc Opera in three acts and twelve scenes Libretto by the composer after the drama of the same name by Georges Bernanos, based on the novella Die Letzte am Schafott by Gertrud von Le Fort in French with surtitles in German and English

"No man dies for himself alone. One dies for the others. Perhaps some die instead of others. Who knows?" (Sœur Constance in "Dialogues des Carmélites") Few operas focus on the confrontation with one's own mortality as much as Francis Poulenc's opera about an order of Carmelite nuns in the turmoil of the French Revolution, which premiered in 1957. The story revolves around the young Blanche, who - plagued by severe anxiety since birth - finds shelter in a convent. But the time of security ends abruptly when the Revolutionary Committee breaks up the convent and forbids the community from practicing its rites. The sisters swear themselves to martyrdom, but Blanche's fear of death drives her to flee. Eventually she manages to overcome herself: As she follows her sisters to the scaffold, her fear is extinguished in the face of death. In her production of this hybrid of thriller, discourse opera and holy mass, director Ewelina Marciniak, who is known for her feminist readings, focuses on the dynamics of a community of women struggling to communicate and be human in the midst of terror. And even if the supernatural "Salve Regina" of the Carmelite nuns on the scaffold leaves no doubt that this opera is a fervent profession of faith by the Catholic Poulenc, the nuns' willingness to make sacrifices raises questions: where are the boundaries between solidarity, faith and fundamentalism? How lonely is it to die in our secularized contemporary world? Under the musical direction of Cornelius Meister, Poulenc's powerful music becomes an event.