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''Dialogues des Carmélites'' (''Dialogues of the Carmelites'') is a 1956 French-language opera in twelve scenes and several orchestral interludes, grouped into three acts, by Francis Poulenc. It is the composer's second opera; he wrote the libretto after a scheme by novelist Georges Bernanos. Its première took place (in an Italian translation) in January 1957 at La Scala in Milan; premières in Paris, France in French and in the United States (in English translation) in San Francisco followed the same year. It tells a somewhat fictionalised 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. ==Development== Bernanos had been hired in 1947 to write a screenplay based on the novella ''Die Letzte am Schafott'' (''The Last on the Scaffold'' or ''Song at the Scaffold'') by Gertrud von Le Fort. The novella is based on historical events at the monastery of Carmelite nuns in Compiègne, northern France, in the wake of the French Revolution, specifically in 1794 at the time of state seizure of the monastery's assets. It traces a fictional path from 1789 up to these events, when nuns of the Carmelite Order were guillotined.〔Milnes R. Dialogues des Carmelites. ''3 (3 magazine )'', April 1983, p21-23.〕 When the screenplay was judged unsatisfactory for a film, Bernanos adapted it as a play, which was published posthumously in 1949. It was staged by Jacques Hébertot in May 1952 at the Théâtre Hébertot. Poulenc saw the play, but it was his publishing firm Ricordi that suggested adapting the subject as an opera. Some sources credit Emmet Lavery as librettist or co-librettist, but others say, "With the permission of Emmet Lavery."〔According to Benjamin Ivry (("Cries from the Scaffold" ), ''Commonweal'', 6 April 2001), Lavery owned the theatrical rights to the story, and following a legal judgement over the copyright, his name must be given in connection with all staged performances.〕 The libretto is unusually deep in its psychological study of the contrasting characters of Mother Marie de l'Incarnation and Blanche de la Force. Rodney Milnes describes Bernanos' text as "concise and clear" and that like "all good librettos it suggests far more than it states".〔 The genesis of the opera began in 1953. Margarita Wallmann took her husband, president of Ricordi, to see the Bernanos play in Vienna. She had asked Poulenc to write an oratorio for her; through the commission from Ricordi, he developed the work as the opera.〔 Wallman was the eventual producer of the La Scala première of Poulenc's opera, and she later supervised the 1983 revival at Covent Garden. About the same time, M. Valcarenghi had approached Poulenc with a commission for a ballet for La Scala in Milan. Poulenc composed the opera between 1953 and 1956. At this time, he had recommitted himself to spirituality and Roman Catholicism, although he was openly gay and the church officially opposed homosexuality. Opera critic Alan Rich believes that Poulenc's concerns for the travails of post-World War II France, as it tried to reconcile issues related to the Holocaust, German occupation and the Resistance, was a subtext within the opera. Wallmann worked closely with Poulenc during the composition process and in evolving the structure, as well as later when she re-staged the production in other theatres.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dialogues of the Carmelites」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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