Applying a Mad Studies Framework to Opera: Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites

Abstract

Multiple readings of madness are examined in Poulenc’s opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1957) through the framework of mad studies. Several layers of madness can be found in this work: individual lived experiences of madness, the history of mental illness in France during and aHer the French Revolution, and the cultural metaphor of hysteria as social degeneration, as articulated by Micale. Close readings of two scenes Intersections 40/1 (2020) 25 with a discussion of their musical features are included: the :rst prioress’s death (act 1, scene 4) and the :nal scene at the guillotine (act 3, scene 4).