We’re used to tragic opera endings, where the heroine doesn’t get the prince charming and things don’t go so well.
And then there’s Francis Poulenc’s 1956 drama “Dialogues of the Carmelites.” We won’t give it away the ending, but suffice it to say, heads will roll.
UA Opera Theater this weekend is tackling Poulenc’s dark opera, based on the true story of the Carmelite nuns who refused to renounce their vocation during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. (Hint: it ends badly for the nuns.)
“There’s a great sense of this female sensitivity with these nuns and their devotion to God and the community,” said conductor Thomas Cockrell, the UA’s director of orchestral activities.
But that calm is quickly and violently shattered by the male-dominated outside world, forcefully reflected in Poulenc’s music.
“It’s a beautiful score. Of course Poulenc is known mainly for his lighter music ... colorful harmonies that one might associate with a type of jazz,” said Cockrell, making his “Dialogues” debut. “But here his musical language … provides a lovely backdrop for this drama, as well, but the real powerful, tragic moments (come through in) very vivid, brutal orchestration.”
“Dialogues of the Carmelites” clocks in at around three hours, roughly double the time Cockrell’s 60-piece Arizona Symphony Orchestra performs a normal symphony concert. But Cockrell said the student ensemble has proven up to the challenge of adjusting to the ebb and flow of Poulenc’s text and drama.
Mary Duncan, a critically acclaimed stage director who has worked with the Kennedy Center Mozart Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Berkshire Opera, Sarasota Opera andThe Aspen Music Festival, directed the production.
