| Dialogues des Carmélites | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Francis Poulenc | |
 Elin Rombo as Sister Blanche in a 2011 production at the Royal Swedish Opera | |
| Translation | Dialogues of the Carmelites |
| Librettist | Poulenc |
| Language | French |
| Based on | Dialogues des Carmélites by Georges Bernanos |
| Premiere | 26 January 1957 La Scala, Milan (in Italian) |
Dialogues des Carmélites (Dialogues of the Carmelites), FP 159, is an opera in three acts, divided into twelve scenes with linking orchestral interludes, with music and libretto by Francis Poulenc, completed in 1956. Poulenc wrote the libretto for his second opera after the work of the same name by Georges Bernanos, itself based on The Song at the Scaffold by Gertrud von Le Fort. This is a fictionalized 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.
The world première of the opera occurred (in Italian translation) on 26 January 1957 at La Scala in Milan. The première of the French-language version took place in Paris on 21 June 1957. The United States première, in English, followed in San Francisco in September 1957.[1]
- ^ Taubman, Howard (23 September 1957). "Opera: Poulenc Work; 'Carmelites' Has U.S. Premiere on Coast". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 July 2016.