Dialogues des Carmelites: The opera that lifts the lid on female martyrdom

The devastatingly powerful opera is a testament to human courage and, distinctly, female martyrdom. It also points to Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on the cross, says George Pitcher

I’d been warned to steel myself for the climax of Dialogues des Carmelites at Glyndebourne last weekend. So we had a stiff drink – well, Chablis, but plenty of it – during the 90-minute interval.

The denouement of “one of the most devastatingly powerful operas in [their] repertoire” features the historical martyrdom of 16 Carmelite nuns towards the end of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. The nuns sing the ‘Salve Regina’ as they are taken, one by one, to the guillotine, until Sister Constance is singing a solo. Actually, she’s joined at the end by one more sister, but we’ll come to that.