The Devils of Loudun (opera) - Libretto

Libretto

The libretto, written by the composer, is based on Erich Fried’s German translation of John Whiting’s dramatization of Aldous Huxley’s essay The Devils of Loudun. The employment of existing literature as the basis for the librettos was not exclusive to The Devils of Loudun; instead, it became the invariant among Penderecki’s four operas; namely Paradise Lost, Ubu Rex, and Die schwarze Maske. The libretto is written in German (although both Polish and English adaptations exist) and it is fashioned into a series of thirty two scenes, which proceed, from one to another, quasi cinematically.

The libretto to The Devils of Loudun refers to the mid-17th-century events in Loudun, France, concerning the demonical possession of the Ursulinie nuns and their abbess, Mother Jeanne. A parish priest, Father Grandier, was accused of the alleged possessions and indicted for conspiracy with Satan. Consequently, in August 1634, Father Grandier was sentenced to burn at the stake. Nevertheless, it is claimed that the underlying cause of Grandier’s fall was a political one, for the priest had secret alliances against the powerful Cardinal Richelieu, who planned to deprive Loudun of independence. The possessions continued for a number of years, yet Penderecki’s libretto comes to a closure with Grandier’s death for an obvious reason — Grandier is the main character of the opera, so with his death the opera ends.

The Loudun episode attracted the attention of composers, writers, historians, psychologists and the sort. The capacity of the events for generating a multiplicity of interpretations and intertwining religious elements with political ones granted the possibility of new plots, new compositions, and new answers. In addition to Penderecki, the theme of Loudun appealed to other Polish artists, including Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, and Romuald Twardowski.

Even though the libretto for The Devils of Loudun is based on Whiting’s play Demons, the two stories are fundamentally different. The libretto shortens, omits, and reorders some of the scenes of Whiting’s play. Most significant is the emotional and ideological dissimilarities of Penderecki’s and Whiting’s protagonist Grandier. Indeed, the Whiting’s Grandier and Penderecki’s Grandier are two different characters.

Whiting portrays Grandier as an existentialist, striving for self-destruction. His enemies and the political circumstances surrounding him are just tools helping him achieve his goal. Thus, the tragic fate of Whiting’s Grandier is not the doing of the society, but the result of his own actions. Furthermore, Edward Boniecki remarks that “Whiting’s protagonist is a living-dead.”

Penderecki’s libretto transforms Whiting’s existentialist Grandier into a hero and symbol of struggle against obscurantism. It does so by placing the priest’s actions into a different context, enabling a different interpretation of the events. From this perspective, Grandier’s obsession for self-destruction is reinterpreted as a desire for a martyr death. In fact, it is argued that Grandier represents a Christ-like figure, for both were unjustly accused, accepted their death, and forgave their torturers. Similarly, the fate of Penderecki’s Grandier is seen to be dominated by the context rather than by the individual. Penderecki’s Grandier is, in this sense, a victim of political conspiracy and of religious-political fanatics.