Dialogues des Carmélites Is Jan. 28, 2023, Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: Dialogues des Carmélites is the Jan. 28, 2023, Saturday matinee broadcast, airing as seventh of the 2022-2023 season's 24 Saturday radio broadcasts.

In the 2022-2023 season, Ailyn Pérez adds to her Met Opera portfolio the role of Blanche de la Force, who escapes from fearful French Revolution mobs by entering a Carmelite convent as Sister Blanche: AILYN PÉREZ @ailynperezsop, via Twitter Jan. 3, 2023

Dialogues des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc is the Jan. 28, 2023, Saturday matinee broadcast, airing at 1:00 p.m., Eastern Time, as the seventh of the 2022-2023 Met Opera season's lineup of 24 Saturday matinee opera broadcasts.

French composer and pianist Francis Poulenc (Jan. 7, 1899-Jan. 30, 1963) wrote the French libretto and composed the musical score for the second of his three operas, Dialogues des Carmélites. He based his libretto upon the dialogue written by French writer Louis Émile Clément Georges Bernanos (Feb. 20, 1888-July 5, 1948), known as Georges Bernanos, for a same-named, film screenplay. Bernanos derived his screenplay dialogues from Die Letzte am Schafott ("The Last at the Scaffold"), a novella published in 1931 by German writer Gertrud von Le Fort (Oct. 11, 1876-Nov. 1, 1971). Le Fort’s novella depicts the Thursday, July 17, 1794, execution of 16 members of the Carmelite order of Compiègne, Oise department, northern France. The nuns, who were guillotined during the French Revolution's suppression of convents and monasteries, were known subsequently as the martyrs of Compiègne.

Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites premiered Saturday, Jan. 26, 1957, at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Lombardy region, north central Italy. The world premiere's Italian libretto had been translated from the opera's original French libretto by Italian composer and musicologist Flavio Testi (Jan. 4, 1923-Jan. 14, 2014).

The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Dialogues des Carmélites took place Saturday, Feb. 5, 1977. The premiere was sung in English, from a libretto translated by Latvian-born musicologist and translator Joseph Machlis (Aug. 11, 1906-Oct. 17, 1998). Dialogues des Carmélites received seven performances in the 1976-1977 season.

The 2022-2023 Met Opera season's performances of Dialogues des Carmélites mark the opera company's ninth revival of the new production that John Dexter created for the opera's Metropolitan Opera premiere in the 1976-1977 season. The American theater director had made his Met Opera debut Thursday, Jan. 31, 1974, in the Metropolitan Opera Stage Premiere of I Vespri Siciliani by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

Dialogues des Carmélites receives five performances in the 2022-2023 Met Opera season. The Dexter production's ninth revival opens Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. The month's four additional performances are scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 18, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 21, at 8:00 p.m.; Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m.; and fifth, closing, Saturday matinee broadcast, Jan. 28, at 1:00 p.m.

Bertrand de Billy conducts all five performances, including the Jan. 28 Saturday matinee broadcast. The French conductor had made his Met Opera debut Monday, March 16, 1998, in the opera company’s 294th performance of Roméo et Juliette by French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893).

Ailyn Pérez sings Blanche de la Force, who escapes from fearful French Revolution mobs by entering a Carmelite convent as Sister Blanche, overcomes thanatophobia (Ancient Greek: θάνατος, thánatos, “death” + φόβος, phóbos, “fear”) and fulfills young novice Constance's vision of their shared, young deaths on the same date by joining her on the scaffold. The American operatic soprano had made her Metropolitan Opera debut Friday, Feb. 6, 2015, as Micaëla in the opera company’s 994th performance of Carmen by French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875).

Christine Goerke sings Madame Lidoine, who, as Mother Marie of St. Augustine, becomes the Carmelite convent’s new prioress. Christine Goerke's Madame Lidoine marks her first reprisal of the role, which she had added to her Met Opera portfolio in the opera's sixth revival, during the 2002-2003 season. The American dramatic soprano made her Met Opera debut Monday, April 3, 1995, in the ensemble role of Woman with Baby in the opera company’s eighth performance of The Ghosts of Versailles by American classical composer John Corigliano (born Feb. 16, 1938).

Sabine Devieilhe sings Constance, a young novice who does not fear death and who has a vision of shared young deaths on the same date with Sister Blanche. The French operatic coloratura soprano makes her Met Opera debut Sunday, Jan. 15, as Constance in the ninth revival's opening night, which numbers as the opera company's 60th performance of Dialogues des Carmélites.

Jamie Barton sings Mère Marie, whose suggestion of vows of martyrdom terrifies Sister Blanche into escaping but whose finding of Blanche leads to Blanche’s brave reunion with Constance on the scaffold. The American mezzo-soprano had made her Met Opera debut Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2009, as the second of three ladies in the opera company’s 393rd performance of Die Zauberflöte by Classical Era composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791).

Alice Coote sings Madame de Croissy, the ailing prioress who accepts Blanche as the convent's newest member and who, upon her deathbed, commends Blanche to the care of Mère Marie. The British lyric mezzo-soprano debuted April 12, 2006, in the trouser role of Cherubino in the opera company’s 425th performance of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.

Piotr Buszewski sings the Chevalier de la Force, Blanche's brother, who, prior to his flight, visits the convent to urge his sister to return to their father. The Polish tenor makes his Met Opera debut Sunday, Jan. 15, as the chevalier in the ninth revival's opening night, which numbers as the opera company's 60th performance of Dialogues des Carmélites.

Laurent Naouri sings the Marquis de la Force, Blanche's father, who is sent to the guillotine. The French bass-baritone had made his MetOpera debut Friday, Feb. 17, 2012, as Sharpless in the opera company’s 838th performance of Madama Butterfly by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

The 2022-2023 Met Opera season's lineup of Saturday matinee broadcasts continues with the Feb. 4, 2023, airing of Verdi's Macbeth. The replay of the opera company's Saturday, Feb. 3, 1973, performance is scheduled as the eighth of the season's 24 Saturday matinee opera broadcasts.

1950s stained glass of Martyrs of Compiegne, designed by Margaret Agnes Rope (June 20, 1882-Dec. 6, 1953), who became Carmelite nun Sister Margaret of the Mother of God on Sep. 14, 1923, and made by her cousin Margaret Edith "Tor" Rope (July 29, 1891-March 9, 1988); east side of nave, Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Carmelite Monastery Quidenham, Norfolk, East Anglia, East of England; Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008: John Salmon / Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Quidenham, Norfolk -- Windows, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

In the 2022-2023 season, Ailyn Pérez adds to her Met Opera portfolio the role of Blanche de la Force, who escapes from fearful French Revolution mobs by entering a Carmelite convent as Sister Blanche: AILYN PÉREZ @ailynperezsop, via Twitter Jan. 3, 2023, @ https://twitter.com/ailynperezsop/status/1610339871708839936

1950s stained glass of Martyrs of Compiegne, designed by Margaret Agnes Rope (June 20, 1882-Dec. 6, 1953), who became Carmelite nun Sister Margaret of the Mother of God on Sep. 14, 1923, and made by her cousin Margaret Edith "Tor" Rope (July 29, 1891-March 9, 1988); east side of nave, Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Carmelite Monastery Quidenham, Norfolk, East Anglia, East of England; Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008: John Salmon / Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Quidenham, Norfolk -- Windows, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Our_Lady_of_Mount_Carmel_Church,_Quidenham,_Norfolk_-_Windows_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1084822.jpg; CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Geograph Britain and Ireland @ https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1084822

For further information:

AILYN PÉREZ @ailynperezsop. "We have our sitzprobe for 'Dialogues des Carmélites' at @MetOpera today! I am so excited to make my role debut as Blanche de la Force in this incredible work, alongside such fantastic colleagues and friends. (1/5)." Twitter. Jan. 3, 2023.
Available via Twitter @ https://twitter.com/ailynperezsop/status/1610339871708839936

Bernanos, Georges. Dialogues des Carmélites. Neuchâtel, Switzerland: La Baconnière; Paris, France: Éditions du Seuil, 1949.

Carmelite Monastery Quidenham. "The Margaret Rope Windows. Carmelite Monastery Quidenham > About Us > Prayer.
Available @ https://quidenhamcarmel.org.uk/about-us/prayer/the-margaret-rope-windows/

"Debut: Alice Coote.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351491 Le Nozze di Figaro {425} Metropolitan Opera House: 04/12/2006.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351491

“Debuts: Ailyn Pérez, Gábor Bretz.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355797 Carmen {994} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/06/2015.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355797

“Debuts: Alfred Walker, Bertrand de Billy.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 330528 Roméo et Juliette {294} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/16/1998.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=330528

“Debuts: Bernard Labadie, Matthias Klink, Jamie Barton, Georg Zeppenfeld.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353076 Die Zauberflöte {393} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/23/2009.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353076

"Debuts: Hector Vásquez, Peter Van Derick, Nathan Gunn, Christine Goerke, Carol Meyer, Kemal Khan." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 319890 The Ghosts of Versailles {8} Metropolitan Opera House: 04/3/1995.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=319890

"Debuts: John Dexter, Jan Skalicky, William Badolato (Choreographer)." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 236380 Metropolitan Opera Stage Premiere / New Production I Vespri Siciliani {2} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/31/1974. (Metropolitan Opera Stage Premiere) (Debuts: John Dexter, Jan Skalicky, William Badolato (Choreographer)) Metropolitan Opera House January 31, 1974. Benefit sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera Guild for the production funds. Metropolitan Opera Stage Premiere In Italian. New production.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=236380

Le Fort, Gertrud von. Die Letzte am Schafott: Novelle. München (Munich), Germany: Josef Kösel and Friedrich Pustet, 1931.

Marriner, Derdriu. "Dialogues des Carmélites Is the May 11, 2019, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast." Earth and Space News. Monday, May 6, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/05/dialogues-des-carmelites-is-may-11-2019.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Met Opera's 2022-2023 Season Has 24 Saturday Matinee Opera Broadcasts." Earth and Space News. Monday, Nov. 28, 2022.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/11/met-operas-2022-2023-season-has-24.html