Sep 90
ACT I
An apartment in the castle of the Comte de Nevers
A group of young Catholic noblemen is waiting to sit down to dinner when
Nevers, their host, announces the imminent arrival of a young Huguenot who
is to join them in accordance with the current policy of King Charles IX
of rapprochement between the warring Protestant and Catholic factions.
They receive the newcomer, Raoul de Nangis, condescendingly, though he
is flattered to be received in such company. The talk turns to love and
Nevers announces that he will have to give up love, being on the brink of
marriage. They decide to describe their exploits in love and elect Raoul
to begin.
He relates how he saved a beautiful girl, whose name he does not know,
from the rowdy attentions of some students, and fell in love with her at
sight. The gathering is disturbed by the arrival of Marcel, Raoul's old
retainer, who disapproves of finding his master among the Philistines. The
nobles only laugh at his vituperations and incite him to sing. He readily
obliges with a Huguenot battle song, by which they are greatly diverted.
Nevers' valet announces that an unknown young woman wishes to speak to
his master. The others spy on the meeting through a window and Raoul is
horrified to recognise his beloved apparently having a clandestine rendezvous.
While his friends applaud him for what they imagine is another conquest,
Nevers is privately disconcerted at having been asked to give up his marriage
plans.
The page Urbain brings a note to Raoul, instructing him to allow himself
to be led blindfolded to an unknown destination. Nevers and his friends,
realising that the note is from Marguérite de Valois, overwhelm the
puzzled Raoul with professions of friendship.
ACT II
The grounds of the castle of Chenonceaux
Marguérite and her ladies are desporting themselves by the river.
Valentine, one of the maids of honor, tells Marguérite that her errand
to Nevers has been successful - he has agreed to allow her to break off
their intended marriage - and Marguérite assures her that she is
working to bring about her marriage to Raoul.
As the ladies prepare to bathe, Marguérite dismisses Urbain, who
had hoped to remain undetected, but he returns at once with the news of
the arrival of a blindfolded man, who has aroused the curiosity of the neighbourhood.
Raoul is led in, the ladies leave and Marguérite orders him to
remove the blindfold. Not recognising her and struck by her beauty, he determines
to put his supposedly faithless beauty out of his mind, and addresses her
in terms of passionate admiration. She is flattered by his devotion, which
is suddenly checked when Urbain returns and he realises who she is.
As part of the policy of her brother the king and her mother, Catherine
de Medici, to unite Huguenots and Catholics, she explains, she has arranged
a marriage for Raoul with the daughter of his old enemy, the Comte de Saint-Bris,
who arrives with his friends. Both parties swear eternal friendship, to
the accompaniment of dissenting utterances from Marcel, who has turned up
uninvited here as well; but when Raoul realises that it is Valentine who
is his prospective bride, he rejects her (she is the unknown beloved whom
he now believes to be Nevers mistress), though refusing to say why.
Saint-Bris and his friends are furious and swear vengeance. Raoul is
ready to meet Saint-Bris in a duel, but Marguérite intervenes and
enforces a temporary state of peace.
ACT III
Paris, near the Seine
Evening approaches as the citizens relax, Huguenots (including a group
of soldiers celebrating the exploits of their leader Admiral Coligny) and
Catholics in separate taverns.
The wedding procession of Valentine and Nevers goes into a church. Hostility
between the opposing groups is defused by the singing, dancing and fortune-telling
of a party of gypsies. Nevers and Saint-Bris emerge from the church and
the former leaves, explaining to his father-in-law that Valentine wishes
to remain inside to pray and he will return later to fetch her.
Marcel delivers Raoul's challenge to Saint-Bris, who is easily persuaded
by his friend Maurevert that there are safer ways of disposing of an enemy
than risking one's life in a duel. They retire into the church to plot further.
An archer disperses the crowd with the announcement that it is time for
the curfew. Saint-Bris and Maurevert leave the church, followed by Valentine,
who has overheard their plots and is desperate to save Raoul's life. She
warns Marcel, who has come back to watch over his master's safety, and overcomes
his distrust of women by her obvious devotion to Raoul.
When Raoul arrives for the duel he rejects Marcel's warning, and the
duel is interrupted by the arrival of Maurevert with a band of assassins.
Marcel calls on the Huguenot soldiers from the tavern and only the arrival
of Marguérite stops a full-scale battle from developing.
Mutual accusations of treachery are capped by Marcel's explanation that
he had been warned by a veiled woman of the treacherous attack on his master,
pointing to Valentine as his witness. Puzzled by her concern for his life,
Raoul asks why she visited Nevers, and learns that she had gone to break
off their marriage; but as Saint-Bris points out firmly, that marriage has
now taken place. Nevers returns to claim his bride and the wedding party
moves off, leaving the warring factions muttering beligerently.
ACT IV
The Paris house of the Comte de Nevers
Valentine cannot forget Raoul, but is horrified when he suddenly appears
in her new home. Fearing for his life, she hides him as Saint-Bris, Nevers
and other Catholic nobles appear. Saint-Bris announces that the attempt
to make peace has been abandoned, and orders have now been given for the
murder of all Huguenots. Only Nevers dissents from the general enthusiasm,
declaring that his honor forbids him to join in a murder plot, though he
promises not to bertray his co-religionists.
Valentine is moved to admiration of her husband for the first time, but
Saint-Bris hands him over to a group of magistrates and citizens for safe-keeping.
Urged on by three monks, who say it is the will of heaven and bless their
weapons, the Catholics agree to the massacre.
Raoul wishes to warn his friends but Valentine tries to hold him back,
fearing for his safety. Her confession that she loves him detains him briefly,
but the bells to announce the massacre have begun to ring and he tears himself
away and jumps from the window as she faints.
ACT V*
A street in Paris
Raoul, Marcel, who is wounded, and Valentine find one another in the
confusion. Raoul refuses to save himself by putting on the badge of the
Catholics and accepting their religion.
Valentine tells them that Nevers has been killed by his own side, She
is now free to belong to Raoul, so she adopts his religion and they ask
Marcel to bless their union as Huguenots taking refuge in a nearby church
are murdered. A group of soldiers led by Saint-Bris orders them to recant,
but they refuse and are shot down. Saint-Bris recognises his daugther too
late. Marguérite goes by, unable to stop the slaughter.
* The Opera Australia version omits Scene 1, where Raoul bursts in on
the ball celebrating the marriage of Marguérite to Henry of Navarre
to announce the massacre, and combines scenes 2 and 3, which take place
in different parts of the city during the massacre.
|