SYNOPSIS

LES HUGUENOTS

ACT I A group of Catholic noblemen are feasting over the graves of murdered Huguenots. The Count of Nevers entreats them to accept a Huguenot into their circle, as the Queen Mother Catherine de’ Medici and her son Charles IX have ordered a reconciliation of the estranged religious denominations. The young Huguenot Raoul arrives in the company of Marcel, an old man with a child-like soul, who conjures up the horrors of the wars of religion in the recent past.

A veiled lady arrives incognito, asking to speak with Nevers, the host of the festivities. She is his bride-to-be, Valentine de Saint-Bris, a Catholic and wishes to be released from her engagement to marry him. This tête-à-tête is observed by the guests, who take it to be an amorous tryst of Nevers’ with a lover. Raoul cannot help but recognize in her the unknown woman, with whom he recently fell madly in love. He too misunderstands the scene and believes that his love is unrequited.

Urbain, sent by Marguerite of Valois, the daughter of Catherine de’ Medici, brings Raoul an assignation to a secret rendez-vous and suddenly the underdog Raoul, newly chosen as the favourite of Marguerite, is surrounded and congratulated by the entire company. ACT II Marguerite of Valois is preparing a great feast of reconciliation, of which the centrepiece will be the mixed marriage between Valentine, the Catholic, and Raoul, the Huguenot. Raoul, who Marguerite has invited for the preparations, begins to flirt heavily with her, as he has decided to take revenge for what he still believes an unrequited love. Without hesitation, Raoul gives Marguerite his consent to marry a Catholic. But when the Count of Saint-Bris brings his daughter Valentine to him as his future bride, he recognizes the unknown lady he assumes to have so grievously betrayed his love and a scandal ensues.

ACT III A group of Catholics have come together to celebrate a holiday. They rejoice at the idea of murdering the powerful leader of the Protestants, Admiral Coligny, and become giddy with pleasure over their own power. But they cannot completely suppress the voices and faces of their victims. Valentine is ordered by her father to reconsider the original marriage plans with Nevers. After the wedding, she not only overhears Marcel bringing Saint-Bris a summons to a duel with Raoul, but also how her father, on the advice of the informer Maurevert, is persuaded not to take any risks and, rather than face Raoul in a duel, lure him instead into a deadly ambush.

Valentine tries to warn Raoul of this through Marcel. Their common concern for Raoul brings Valentine and Marcel closer together.

Marcel sounds the alarm and a tumult ensues. Marguerite then steps in and demands an explanation. Raoul and Saint-Bris accuse each other. Marcel brings forth a witness to testify to Raoul’s innocence and the murderous plotting of the Catholics, in which Saint-Bris recognizes his own daughter. Only now does Raoul understand that Valentine is innocent but it is too late: Nevers triumphantly carries off his new bride Valentine. ACT IV Valentine and Raoul cannot forget each other. Both of them are surprised to learn of the makings of a conspiracy, which they secretly overhear. Saint-Bris dedicates his men to accomplish the massacre ordered by Catherine de’ Medici that very night. As for his son-in-law Nevers, the only one to refuse to take part in this crime, Saint-Bris has him arrested. The daggers, which will surprise and murder the Huguenots in their sleep, are blessed with the words “God wills it!”

Raoul tries to warn his fellow Protestants but Valentine holds him back: she fears for his life. This first avowal of their love makes Raoul forget their present predicament: he dreams aloud of a better world at Valentine’s side. The beginning of the massacre tears him from his amorous musings.

ACT V Raoul interrupts the marriage festivities of Marguerite and King Henry of Navarre with the terrible news and calls the Protestants to arms.

Raoul, Marcel and Valentine find themselves in a Protestant churchyard. Marcel is wounded and would already be dead, had Nevers not defended him, losing his own life in the attempt. Raoul refuses to convert to Catholicism, although it would save his life, and Valentine declares herself ready to embrace the Protestant faith and die at Raoul’s side. Valentine and Raoul receive their nuptial blessing from Marcel.

Saint-Bris, leading a death squad, orders his men to fire at will. He realizes too late that his daughter is among the victims.