This book recounts the dramatic true story of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Compiègne, martyred during the French Revolution's "Great Terror," and known to the world through their fictional representation in Gertrud von Le Fort's Song at the Scaffold and Francis Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites. At the height of the French Revolution's "Great Terror," a community of sixteen Carmelite nuns from Compiègne offered their lives to restore peace to the church and to France. Ten days after their deaths by the guillotine, Robespierre fell, and with his execution on the same scaffold the Reign of Terror effectively ended. Had God thus accepted and used the Carmelites' generous self-gift? Through Gertrud von Le Fort's modern novella, Song at the Scaffold, and Francis Poulenc's famed opera, Dialogues of the Carmelites, (with its libretto by Georges Bernanos), modern audiences around the world have become captivated by the mysterious destiny of these Compiègne martyrs, Blessed Teresa of St. Augustine and her companions. Now, for the first time in English, William Bush explores at length the facts behind the fictional representations, and reflects on their spiritual significance. Based on years of research, this book recounts in lively detail virtually all that is known of the life and background of each of the martyrs, as well as the troubled times in which they lived. The Compiègne Carmelites, sustained by their remarkable prioress, emerge as distinct individuals, struggling as Christians to understand and respond to an awesome calling, relying not on their own strength but on the mercy of God and the guiding hand of Providence. The book includes an index and 15 photos.

The Song at the Scaffold is a novelette set in the time of the French Revolution, an epoch that vividly demonstrated man's capacity for both heroism and brutality. It is a very intense story dealing primarily with the Carmelite Convent at Compiegne but also encompassing the Paris mob, the Reign of Terror, Women Revolutionists, etc., climaxing in the martyrdom of sixteen Carmelite nuns. Excellent reading for both students and adults!

Father Lee is internationally known for his commentaries on opera. This book gathers his best commentaries and articles on 23 works for the musical stage, from the pioneering Orpheus of Monteverdi to the forward-looking Ariadne of Richard Strauss.

In this classic Catholic novel, Bernanos movingly recounts the life of a young French country priest who grows to understand his provincial parish while learning spiritual humility himself. Awarded the Grand Prix for Literature by the Academie Fran?aise, The Diary of a Country Priest was adapted into an acclaimed film by Robert Bresson. A book of the utmost sensitiveness and compassion? it is a work of deep, subtle and singularly encompassing art.? ? New York Times Book Review

Georges Bernanos was the author of the modern literary and religious classic, Diary of a Country Priest, in which he explored the Christian mystery of redemption through love. According to Hans Urs von Balthasar, Bernanos is a key figure for our times in the relationship between theology and literature. In this selection of Bernanos' most significant works — Joan: Heretic and Saint, Sermon of an Agnostic on the Feast of St Thérèse, and Dialogues of the Carmelites — we find theological and psychological insight interwoven with a profound sense of historical drama: a masterly exploration of heroic innocence in a group of extraordinary Christian women.

"When the world comes to an end," Viennese writer Karl Kraus lamented in 1908, "all the big city orchestras will still be playing The Merry Widow." Viennese operettas like Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow were preeminent cultural texts during the Austro-Hungarian Empire's final years. Alternately hopeful and nihilistic, operetta staged contemporary debates about gender, nationality, and labor. The Operetta Empire delves into this vibrant theatrical culture, whose creators simultaneously sought the respectability of high art and the popularity of low entertainment. Case studies examine works by Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán, Oscar Straus, and Leo Fall in light of current musicological conversations about hybridity and middlebrow culture. Demonstrating a thorough mastery of the complex early twentieth‐century Viennese cultural scene, and a sympathetic and redemptive critique of a neglected popular genre, Micaela Baranello establishes operetta as an important element of Viennese cultural life—one whose transgressions helped define the musical hierarchies of its day.

"This collection of essays provides vivid new insights into Poulenc?s world, his particular rapport with painters, writers and fellow musicians, and with the social ?te who promoted his music through their salons. Contributions from international Poulenc scholars include the influence of various artists on his music, the nature of his affinity for Eluard?s poetry, his response to texts by Cocteau and Bernanos, and his constant search for suitable libretti. New light is thrown on two friendships, the first with his childhood friend Raymonde Linossier who introduced him to the world of books, the second to his teacher Charles Koechlin who greatly influenced his choral style. A detailed study is also provided of Poulenc?s four choral works with orchestra. Finally, the reader is allowed a rare view of Poulenc at the microphone, not as interviewee but as radio presenter, in his 1947-1949 series of programmes ?A bâtons rompus?."--Provided by publisher.

The work of Poulenc in the context of his colourful personal life.

Defining a composer's style and artistic development is an imposing task. A composer's style is what makes his music his. A definition of that style would determine all the features common to individual works, separating those specific to the composer from those common to his contemporaries. An account of his artistic development would add to the definition of his style the sources and changing nature of that style. This is the central concern of this book, the first complete survey of the music of Poulenc. Considering both the diversity of sources for Poulenc's style and the size and diversity of his output, the author set himself a sizable undertaking. While the resulting study does not reach any great depth in dealing with individual works or with Poulenc's style as a whole, the book is a good introduction to the composer's life and works. The author's method of analysis and discussion raises some questions about our assumptions in dealing with the music of a 20th-century composer who is viewed as basically conservative and traditional. The author has raised many issues worthy of further investigation.