Opera: Dialogue of The Carmelites

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I am going to see an Opera this Friday in Austin, TX. It is called “Dialogue of the Carmelites”. I think this is a good one to see.

I wondered if anyone has seen the opear:

austinlyricopera.org
 
No, I haven’t seen it - but it sounds interesting.

:heaven: :harp:
 
withwind said:
I am going to see an Opera this Friday in Austin, TX. It is called “Dialogue of the Carmelites”. I think this is a good one to see.

I wondered if anyone has seen the opear:

austinlyricopera.org
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Yes!! I actually performed in it as my first role and my first opera. I had the little role of Mere Jeanne, and did it two weeks before my wedding. My pastor teased me about being a Carmelite one week and a wife the next.

Poulenc’s music is beautiful. The story is absolutely incredible and amazing - especially when you learn that it is based on true events. The characters are fictional, but what happened to these nuns were real. They were true martyrs, punished and guillotined for their faith. And it wasn’t until they were beheaded that many people stopped and thought, What the heck are we doing? Killing religious!!! Their deaths, really murders, helped prompt an end to Robespierre and his Reign of Terror.

Performing the role for many of the women in the opera was moving. It brought many of us to tears as we sang the Salve Regina and waited to ascend the scaffold, the voices becoming less and less until the last voice was cut off. Then Blanche sings her hymn. It was incredibly effective. For family members who never saw opera before, I was a little afraid they wouldn’t like it because the music is not like Puccini or Verdi, but they were even moved by the whole story and the music.
 
I read the book which I loved ❤️ and I watched the DVD (an opera) 🍿 and really, it’s so beautiful that I bought it.

I think you’ll really love it. The story is really sad, I think it was true. 😦 But it gives hope.

Really good work. 😃 (it’s French! Yeaaa) 😉
 
I am excited! This is my first time ever attending an opera. I think it would really love it. It is helpful that they have screen displaying text in English. 😃
 
I bought the opera on dvd and got the english, but i can’t understand a word of it. they might as well be singing in french or italian.

if you end up getting a copy on dvd get one with subtitles.
 
withwind said:
I am excited! This is my first time ever attending an opera. I think it would really love it. It is helpful that they have screen displaying text in English. 😃
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Do you know if they are doing it in English? Many times in the States, they will perform it in English.
 
Sarabande said:
Do you know if they are doing it in English? Many times in the States, they will perform it in English.
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I am not sure. But even if it is in English, I think I would not be able to understand what they sing. 🙂
 
Some years ago, PBS showed a performance of ‘Dialogues of the Carmelites’ [that’s with an ‘s’] from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. That performance was in English. I had that taped off the TV, but my VCR is not working now and I can’t see it.

A year or two ago, I heard a performance by the Chicago Opera on the classical music station I often listen to; it was on the Saturday closest to the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, which is the day before the nuns were martyred. That was in French. But I understood bits and pieces of the words that were sung, because of French being a Latin-based language. I nearly cried at the end, when I heard the ‘Salve Regina’ sung by the nuns as they died!

‘Blanche de la Force’ is a creation of Gertrude von le Fort, who wrote the book Francis Poulenc based the opera on-she never existed.

The best book on the ‘real story’ of the Compiegne martyrs is ‘To Quell the Terror’ by William Bush, an Eastern Orthodox [surprising] from Canada. He met Francis Poulenc’s widow and dedicated the book to her. It’s available from ICS Publications in Washington, DC. Get it-it’s a great book. It gives a detailed background on not only the Carmelite nuns themselves, but on the diabolical nature of the French Revolution.
 
There was also a documentary on the martyrs of Compiegne that aired occasionally on EWTN.
 
withwind said:
I am going to see an Opera this Friday in Austin, TX. It is called “Dialogue of the Carmelites”. I think this is a good one to see.

I wondered if anyone has seen the opear:

austinlyricopera.org
Click to expand...
I saw a performance of this opera a number of years ago in San Francisco; as it happens, my friend who attended with me soon entered a Discalced Carmelite monastery (nuns). 🙂
 
withwind said:
I am not sure. But even if it is in English, I think I would not be able to understand what they sing. 🙂
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This is true. I pretty much always need a “libretto” with any kind music (hymns, ballads, pop music, rock music, folk music, opera, art songs, etc.) sung in English - even though it’s my native language. haha! The only time I can understand it - and this is in any language - is when I know what the words are ahead of time. I rely more on the music and the musicians to convey the expressions and feeling rather than understanding the words. Although it does help when you have the words - especially with comedy.
 
FCEGM said:
I saw a performance of this opera a number of years ago in San Francisco; as it happens, my friend who attended with me soon entered a Discalced Carmelite monastery (nuns). 🙂
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That is very awesome! Thanks for sharing.
 
I really enjoyed the Opera. The nuns made the sign of the Cross throughout the show and there was a big crucifix at one point.

Only a few people left after act 1, but most stayed through and stood up clapping at the end of the show.
 
withwind said:
I really enjoyed the Opera. The nuns made the sign of the Cross throughout the show and there was a big crucifix at one point.

Only a few people left after act 1, but most stayed through and stood up clapping at the end of the show.
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That’s wonderful! I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂 Yup! It’s a very “Catholic” opera and the story is incredible. It’s not the kind of opera I’d recommend for someone’s first time and most first time opera goers wouldn’t even know about this opera unless it was suggested to them or coming to see friend/family member sing (like in my situation when I performed in it).

I would surmise that the reason why most of those few people left after the first act is because they weren’t happy with the production or with the singers. If they were die-hard opera fans, that could have been the case. What might look so great to some, if the die-hards have seen many different productions before or have a certain standard of the singers, they won’t want to stay and sit through something that doesn’t reach their standards. I recently was at the Met taking an older friend of mine to the opera for the first time. Since it was her very first time at an opera, the entire experience was magical for her. She loved every bit of it. For me, although the set and production was nice, I was very disappointed in the singers. They weren’t what I expected as Met quality. I could barely hear the soprano (which isn’t good at the Met) and the tenor, although good, was the cover for the guy everyone wanted to see. Because the cancellation of the main tenor was announced prior to the production, there were actually empty seats, when only a few weeks earlier was sold out because everyone was wanting to see the actual tenor. So, although it was the most wonderful experience for my dear friend, it was a flop for me. I do have different standards for various levels of opera houses though. The Met and any other A-level house I hold up to the highest standard.

Or sometimes they actually planned to leave early. I’ve left early a few times myself. It wasn’t worth it staying through the whole opera because the production wasn’t that great or the singers weren’t what I was expecting, and didn’t feel like taking a train home from Manhatten at midnight by the time the opera wouuld be over and I’d get to the station.
 
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