ABSTRACT
Francis Poulenc's opera, Dialogues des Carmelites, occupies a unique place in modern lyric theatre, both by the mysticism of its religious subject and by the series of literary and spiritual conjunctions responsible for its creation. At the beginning of the Revolution in 1789, the community consisted of twenty-one sisters: three lay sisters, two extems, and sixteen choir sisters. Still the Carmelites met in secret in one or the other of their refuges for common prayer throughout 1793 and during the first part of 1794. Certain other great Bemanosian themes, more negative in nature, such as sin, solitude and the 'dead parish', though present in certain aspects and in certain situations, have been overcome in this work where profound peace, serenity and joy are supreme. Following the performances at La Scala and at the Paris Opera, Dialogues des Carmelites was launched on a brilliant international career.
