Theatre & Opera / Musical

Screenwriters and plays
The figure of Jeanne d’Arc has fascinated play writers throughout the ages. The best known plays, offering widely differing interpretations of her life, were written by Shakespeare (Henry VI), Schiller (The Maid of Orleans), George Bernard Shaw (Saint Joan), Jean Anouilh (L’Alouette) and Bertolt Brecht (Saint Jeanne of the Stockyards).

* 1596: William Shakespeare, Henry VI
* 1801: Friedrich Schiller, Die Jungfrau von Orleans.
* 1923: George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan
* 1929: Bertolt Brecht’s, Saint Jeanne of the Stockyards
* 1952: Jean Anouilh: L’Alouette (The Lark)

Saint Joan of the Stockyards

Jeanne d’Arc is Joan Dark in Saint Joan of the Stockyards, Bertolt Brecht’s first major political drama for the commercial theater. A virtuous knight in a Christian army of salvation, she makes the stockyards her field of battle when she clashes with Pierpoint Mauler, meat king and philanthropist, over the heart of business and the soul of labor. See more

Lists of the plays, and other resources on the many dramas about Jeanne d’Arc.

Operas, oratorios, and vocal works

Date	Title	Composer	Genre	Notes
1789	Giovanna d’Arco	Gaetano Andreozzi	opera	Libretto by Antonio Simeone Sografi. Premiere given at the Teatro Nuovo Eretenio in Vicenza on 27 June 1789.
1790	Jeanne d’Arc à Orléans	Rodolphe Kreutzer	opéra comique	Libretto by Pierre Jean Baptiste Choudard Desforges. Premiere given at the Comédie-Italienne in Paris on 10 May 1790.
1821	Giovanna d’Arco	Salvatore Viganò	ballet	Plot influenced by Schiller. Premiered at La Scala on 3 March 1821.
1821	Jeanne d’Arc à Orléans	Michele Carafa	opéra comique	Libretto by Emmanuel Théaulon and Armand Dartois after Schiller. Premiere given at the Théâtre Feydeau on 10 March 1821.
1825	Giovanna d’Arco	Giuseppe Nicolini	opera	Libretto by Apostolo Zeno. Premiere given at the Teatro Regio di Torino on 22 January 1825.
1827	Giovanna d’Arco	Nicola Vaccai	opera	Libretto by Gaetano Rossi. Premiere given at La Fenice on 17 February 1827.
1830	Giovanna d’Arco	Giovanni Pacini	opera	Gaetano Barbieri after Schiller. Premiere given at La Scala on 14 March 1830.
1837	Joan of Arc	Michael William Balfe	opera	London, 1837
1845	Giovanna d’Arco	Giuseppe Verdi	opera	Libretto by Temistocle Solera after Schiller. Premiere given at La Scala on 15 February 1845.
1865	Jeanne d’Arc	Gilbert Duprez	opera	Libretto by Joseph Méry after Schiller. Premiere given in Paris on 24 October 1865.
1873–1877	Jeanne d’Arc	Text by Jules Barbier with music by Charles Gounod.	drama in 5 acts	(Incidental music for Barbier’s play)
1878	The Maid of Orleans	Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky	opera	Plot influenced by Schiller.
1913	Giovanna d’Arco, op.135	Marco Enrico Bossi	oratorio	Libretto by Luigi Orsini after Schiller.
1921	Giovanna d’Arco	Alberto Pestalozza	Marionette opera	Libretto by the composer after Schiller. Premiered in Turin on 17 September 1921
1939	Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher	Text by Paul Claudel with music by Arthur Honegger	dramatic oratorio	This deeply religious portrayal ends with the founder of the Inquisition accusing Joan’s judges of heresy. Performed by Marion Cotillard in 2005, 2012 and 2015.
1943	Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna	Music and libretto by Walter Braunfels	Opera	The libretto is based on the actual French and Latin documents of the trial of Joan of Arc in their German translation.
1950	The Triumph of St. Joan	An opera in 3 Acts by Norman Dello Joio	Opera	Later adapted by the composer into an opera for television (1956), a one-act opera (1959), and a symphony (1951).
1953	Ballade des Dames du temps jadis	Musical adaptation by Georges Brassens of a poem by François Villon	Art song	Though little known outside France, Brassens set a number of complex poems to music and often performed them himself.
1956	Le triomphe de Jeanne	Henri Tomasi	opera-oratorio	Libretto by the composer and Philippe Soupault after Schiller. Premiere given at the Théâtre-Cirque in Rouen on 23 June 1956.
1966	Choruses from The Lark, play by Jean Anouilh	music by Leonard Bernstein	set of choral pieces	Part of Bernstein’s incidental score for a production of the play in an adaptation by Lillian Hellman.
1971	The Survival of St. Joan	Text by James Lineberger; music by Hank Ruffin and Gary Ruffin	rock opera	Deals with a legend of Joan escaping burning and kept in the home of a shepherd.
1989	Mistero e processo di Giovanna d’Arco	Roberto De Simone	Melodrama	Libretto by the composer after Schiller. Premiered at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa on 26 October 1989.
1994	Voices of Light	Richard Einhorn	choral orchestral work	Inspired by the 1928 film The Passion of Joan of Arc, frequently performed during screenings of the film; uses sacred texts as well as texts by various medieval mystics, including Hildegard of Bingen.
1997	Jeanne, the Joan of Arc Musical	text by Vincent de Tourdonnet; music by Peter Sipos	musical theatre	Based on historical research. Translated into French by Antonine Maillet renamed “Jeanne la Pucelle”.