Jeanne d’Arc

Jeanne d’Arc was billed as an opera in four acts and six tableaux with words and music by Auguste Mermet. It had its world premiere at the National Academy of Music on 5 April 1876. The opera opens in the village square of Domrémy with a chorus of young girls singing beneath an ancient oak. Their song deals with the legend surrounding the tree (I, 1), and Jacques d’Arc reproaches them for their inappropriate behavior in time of war. Gaston de Metz informs his soldiers and the inhabitants of Arc…