Its composer requested that it be performed in the native language of the country of performance, and thus it was first performed in Italian at La Scala five months before it premiered in the original French at the Theatre National.
Its composer requested that it be performed in the native language of the country of performance, and thus it was first performed in Italian at La Scala five months before it premiered in the original French at the Theatre National. Much of it is recitative, but the flowing melody line is interrupted in places for a capella prayers, such as the Ave Maria  in Act II. Blanche, the daughter of a marquis, runs away and meets characters like Constance, a young novice, and Mother Marie, who is regarded as Blanche's opposite. In the final scene, the nuns fall dead on the stage to the sound of a guillotine as they sing Salve Regina. Blanche is the last, after Sister Constance, and changes the prayer to Deo patri sit gloria. For 10 points, name this opera with libretto by Georges Bernanos, based off the novella The Last To The Scaffold  by Francis Poulenc.
Its composer requested that it be performed in the native language of the country of performance, and thus it was first performed in Italian at La Scala five months before it premiered in the original French at the Theatre National.
The Dialogues of the Carmelites