Poulenc's " Dialogues des Carmelites" Quiz

Answer: True

In 1794, sixteen members of the Carmelite order of Compiegne (including two lay members) were guillotined by order of the revolutionary authorities. All sixteen have been beatified by the Catholic church. The character of Blanche, however, is the invention of Gertrud von le Fort, who wrote the novel on which the libretto is based. Von le Fort, interestingly, is the German equivalent of Blanche's surname, de la Force; perhaps the author identified her own personality with that of the heroine.

Answer: The Last to the Scaffold

The libretto of the opera is by Georges Bernanos and is based on von le Fort's novel "Die Letzte am Schafott" ("The Last to the Scaffold"). The title refers to the central character Blanche who, after much soul-searching, finds the courage to join her companions at the scaffold.

Answer: At La Scala, Milan, in Italian

In 1953, the composer was invited by Ricordi to compose a ballet for La Scala, but the composer prefered to write an opera instead. The opera premiered in Italian at La Scala on January 26, 1957; it premiered at the Paris Opera on June 21 of the same year. The Covent Garden premiere followed, in 1958, with a young Joan Sutherland as Madame Lidoine.

Answer: The Marquise gave premature birth to Blanche and then died

The occasion was the wedding of the Dauphin, when everyone was watching the fireworks. A rocket exploded, causing a panic. The Marquise locked the door of the carriage, but it was overturned and a rock thrown through the window. A police officer rescued them and brought them to the house, but the Marquise died from shock later that night after giving birth to Blanche.

Answer: She wants to live a heroic life, but finds that the distractions of the world prevent her from doing so

Blanche is very highly strung and easily frightened. She finds the outside world to be a distraction and believes that she can acheive great things if she is sheltered from its noise and turmoil. During the course of the opera, she realizes that she must find tranquility and peace within herself.

Answer: Soeur Blanche of the Agony of Christ

The name refers to Christ's "agony" in the garden of Gethsemane, when he asked if he might be spared the cup of martyrdom, though only in accordance with the Father's will ("Yet, not my will, but thine be done.") Blanche draws comfort from the fact that Christ himself was human enough to fear death. (Soeur Constance de St. Denis, who befriends Blanche, has an eerily appropriate name as well; St. Denis, one of the patron saints of France, was beheaded!)

Answer: Sitting

The prioress considers being seated a luxury and an indulgence, but her illness and the insistence of her fellow nuns have constrained her to set aside her vow. She is seated for the interview.

Answer: That they will die together

Sr Constance is sorry that Mme de Croissy is so ill but feels that, at fifty-nine, isn't it rather high time that she died? She herself does not want to grow old and has prayed that she will not. She confides to Blanche that the first time that she looked into her eyes, she knew that her prayer had been answered and that they will die together. Sr Constance is a puzzlement and, at times, a source of irritation to Blanche, but she proves to be quite prophetic.

Answer: The expression on her face

Despite thirty years as a nun, contemplating the vanity of life and the transcendance of death, Mme de Croissy is still unprepared for her own death. Her pain and unconquerable fear are indelibly etched on her face; a face she does not want her spiritual daughters to see. She asks the doctor for more medication to decrease her pain.

Answer: Blood and straw on the floor

Straw was strewn on the floor of the scaffolds to absorb blood; the prioress is having a premonition of her surviving daughters' grisly fate.

Answer: Someone being given the wrong coat at a cloakroom

Blanche cannot get over her amazement that the Prioress should have had such difficulty in dying and makes the analogy about being given the wrong coat in a cloakroom. She says that Mme de Croissy's death was much too small for her, so small that the sleeves barely reached her elbows.

Answer: Mere Marie

Blanche and Sr Constance have become very close to the firm, but kind Mere Marie and hope that she will be chosen. However, the choice goes to the more reserved Madeleine Lidoine.

Answer: That she listen to the conversation

Mme Lidoine does not divulge the reason for this; probably, she wants Mere Marie to relay to her what Blanche had to say and what her state of mind was.

Answer: False

It is Mere Marie who, feeling that the world has become meaningless and defiled, becomes almost transcendant at the thought of dying a martyr's death with her fellow nuns. She tries at one point to interpret something that Mme Lidoine has said into an exhortation to martyrdom; an interpretation that the latter very firmly rejects.

Despite her outward reserve, Mme Lidoine feels very protective of her community and does not want to see them come to harm; this tenderness finally comes to the surface in her monologues after the nuns' arrest. Ironically, it is Mme Lidoine who, with great fortitude, will lead the nuns to the scaffold and Mere Marie who (though not by choice) will escape execution.

The crucial role of Mme Lidoine has been interpreted by many great sopranos, including Joan Sutherland, Regine Crespin, Leontyne Price, Jesse Norman, and Teresa Stratas.

Answer: A figure of the Christ child

In the final scene of Act II, the nuns have received an order of eviction from the convent and have been advised by the Commissioner to abandon their habits and disperse. Seeing that Blanche is terribly frightened, the kindly Mere Jeanne gives Blanche the small porcelain figure of the Christ child to hold in her hands, in the hopes that it will calm her nerves.

Hearing the revoutionaries shouting outside and singing the "Ca Ira", however, Blanche trembles so violently that she drops the figurine on the floor, shattering it. Looking down at the broken pieces, Blanche exclaims "The Little King is dead! And we have nothing left but...the Lamb of God."

Answer: All but one

All but Blanche vote to take the vow. Soeur Constance admits (untruthfully) that it was she who voted no, but acknowledges that she has changed her mind, making the vote unanimous. Blanche, terrified and feeling trapped, flees the convent.

Answer: Working as a servant

Blanche's father has been guillotined and her family home taken over by revolutionaries. Blanche now works as a servant in her former home and the new owners take great pleasure in treating her rougly when she fails to do her job to their satisfaction.

As she talks to Mere Marie, she is distressed to see that the stew she had been cooking has begun to burn; that will mean a severe beating. The resourceful Mere Marie transfers the stew to another pot so that the scorching will not be noticed. She gives Blanche an address to go to where she will be safe and protected and urges her to go there.

Answer: Her confessor orders her to stay where she is

Mere Marie is horrified when the Chaplain informs her of the death sentence and is about to leave to join her community when the chaplain, her confessor and spiritual authority, stops her, reminding her that she must answer only to God, not to her community (no doubt he wishes to do what he can to spare at least one of the nuns from this bloodbath). Reluctantly, she stays behind, envisioning the others going to their death without her. Ironically, the real-life Mere Marie was the only member of the community who had been born into the aristocracy, who were the main targets of the revolutionaries.

Answer: Mme Lidoine and Blanche

Mme Lidoine, the prioress, leads the nuns to the scaffold. Eventually, only Sr Constance is left; as she is about to ascend, Blanche appears. Smiling, Sr Constance ascends singing "O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo Maria" ("O clement, o loving, o sweet Virgin Mary"); the blade falls, chillingly, as she is singing the last word. Blanche follows her.

Answer: Veni, Creator Spiritus

The "Salve Regina" is a hymn of supplication to the Virgin Mary in time of distress ("To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears."). Blanche, having finally found the serenity and courage she so longed for, sings the doxology of the "Veni Creator Spiritus" (the hymn traditionally sung at the bedside of a dying nun) which speaks of life and rebirth; the doxology, moreover, recalls the Resurrection of Christ ("To God the Father be glory, and to His Son who died and was risen, and to the Spirit Paraclete forever and evermore").

She is in the midst of repeating the phrase "In saeculorum saecula" ("Forever and evermore") when the blade falls for the last time after "In saeculorum", silencing her voice.