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STÁTNÍ OPERA / DIALOGY KARMELITEK / Francis Poulenc
STATE OPERA / DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES / Francis Poulenc
Event by: Opera Národního divadla a Státní opera
Location: State Opera, Wilsonova 4, Praha 1
Tickets: Get tickets
Concerts, Theatre
About event
The second and clearly the most serious of the three operas by the French composer Francis Poulenc, which we will perform at the State Opera under the direction of Barbora Horáková Jola, is based on the original film script by Georges Bernanos. The story is based on a real event during the time of revolutionary terror during the French Revolution, when sixteen innocent nuns from a convent in Compiègne were unjustly arrested and sentenced to death.
The opera follows the fate of a fearful girl, Blanche de la Force, who takes refuge in a Carmelite convent to escape the burden of life, which she is afraid of. She thus paradoxically makes a decision that ultimately leads her to a martyr's death on the gallows.
To what extent do we have our lives in our own hands and what role does fear play in it? These are the main themes of Poulenc's opera, whose music is very accessible to listeners, stylistically close to impressionism, and gradually gradates from gentle lyrical positions to the famous final scene, in which the singing of the dying sisters mixes with the terrifying sound of the falling guillotine.
Premiers May 21 and 24, 2026 at the State Opera
The opera follows the fate of a fearful girl, Blanche de la Force, who takes refuge in a Carmelite convent to escape the burden of life, which she is afraid of. She thus paradoxically makes a decision that ultimately leads her to a martyr's death on the gallows.
To what extent do we have our lives in our own hands and what role does fear play in it? These are the main themes of Poulenc's opera, whose music is very accessible to listeners, stylistically close to impressionism, and gradually gradates from gentle lyrical positions to the famous final scene, in which the singing of the dying sisters mixes with the terrifying sound of the falling guillotine.
Premiers May 21 and 24, 2026 at the State Opera