Salve Regina

Poulenc was commissioned to write a new work for La Scala Milan and composed Les Dialogues des Carmelites to a French text by Georges Bernanos.

The World Premiere was to be sung in Italian and Poulenc personally chose Virginia Zeani to play the leading role of Blanche de la Force, having heard her in Paris as Violetta,

Blanche de la Force is a nervous young noblewoman, so terrified by the events of the French Revolution that she cries in terror at the sight of a passing shadow. Composing herself, she calmly tells her father that the only way she can find safety and peace of mind is to enter a convent.

In the final scene the nuns have been arrested by the revolutionary guard. Blanche, who had fled to avoid capture, is not with them as they are taken to the guillotine. As they approach the scaffold they sing together a bold "Salve Regina" and are executed one by one.

The last nun is young Sister Constance, Blanche's nearest friend. Sister Constance turns and looks for Blanche in the crowd. They see each other, and Blanche, at last no longer afraid, calmly follows Sister Constance to execution.