Washington University Opera to perform Poulenc's Dialogue of the Carmelites

By Liam Otten

"It is not your strength God desires to test," says Mother Henriette, the prioress of the Carmelite monastery in Francis Poulenc's great dramatic opera The Dialogues of the Carmelites, "but your weakness."

A profound thought that resonates all the stronger in the wake of Sept. 11. But The Dialogue of the Carmelites has its own, tragically true tale to tell, the story of 16 Carmelite nuns who rebelled against the Terror of the French Revolution and dared the threat of Robespierre's infamous guillotine.

Photo by Joe Angeles

Master's candidate Allison Hoppe as Sister Constance in the Washington University Opera production of Francis Poulenc's The Dialogues of the Carmelites, in Graham Chapel March 15-16.

The Washington University Opera will revisit this amazing historical episode with performances at 8 p.m. March 15-16 in Graham Chapel.

Poulenc, one of France's most popular composers in the second half of the 20th century, wrote The Dialogue of the Carmelites in 1955, basing it on a film scenario by Georges Bernanos, which in turn was based on Gertrude von Le Fort's novelization of the memoir by Mother Marie of the Incarnation of God. Marie was the only surviving member of the Carmelite monastery at Compi¸gne, which, in keeping with the anti-Catholic fervor of the First Republic, was ordered to disband under threat of death. Horrifically, on July 17, 1794, the threat was carried out.

"I think that, especially now, we need to know about heroic people, about how they behaved in other ages when blood was shed," said director Jolly Stewart, who founded the Washington University Opera in 1991 with her husband, John Stewart, director of vocal activities. "The nuns were told to disperse, to stop wearing their habits and stop practicing their faith. Instead, they took a vow of martyrdom in the hopes that the guillotine, which was being used to murder so many people each day, would be abolished."

Poulenc's retelling focuses on the (fictional) character Sister Blanche, a high-strung young woman who joins the Carmelites in search of personal stability, and it is through Blanche that Poulenc addresses his twin themes -- the psychology of fear and the salvation of divine grace.

Stewart prepared for the production through extensive historical reading and even paid a visit to the Carmelite monastery in St. Louis. She reported that, despite the often carnival-like atmosphere surrounding the revolution's executions, by all accounts, "on the day the nuns went, there was complete silence. The nuns began chanting from the Latin Mass, then the sound of the guillotine, the chop and the sound of the heads falling."

The role of Blanche is sung by Kendra Ford, a 2001 graduate in Arts & Sciences now living in New York, with Kendall Gladen, a senior music major from St. Louis, as the first prioress. (Gladen, who performed earlier this year on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., recently placed second at the regional Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in Kansas City, Mo.)

Other lead performers include master's candidates Allison Hoppe and Elizabeth Hendricks as Sister Constance and the second prioress, respectively.

Tickets are $6 for faculty, staff and students, $12 for others and are available through the Edison Theatre box office, at 935-6543, and at the door.

The performance is sponsored by the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences. For more information, call 935-4841.