Poulenc wrote the libretto for his second opera after the work of the same name by Georges Bernanos, itself based on The Song at the Scaffold by Gertrud von Le Fort.

This is a fictionalized version of the story of the Martyrs of Compiègne, Carmelite nuns who, in 1794 during the closing days of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, were guillotined in Paris for refusing to renounce their vocation.

[1] Bernanos had been hired in 1947 to write the dialogue for a film screenplay, through Raymond Léopold Bruckberger and the scenario writer Philippe Agostini, based on the novella Die Letzte am Schafott (literal translation, The Last on the Scaffold, or Song at the Scaffold, the published title of the English translation) by Gertrud von Le Fort.

To assist Bernanos' surviving family, Béguin sought to have the work published, and requested permission from von Le Fort for publication.

In January 1949, she agreed, and donated her portion of the royalties due to her, as creator of the original story, over to Bernanos' widow and children.

[2] Wallman was the eventual producer of the La Scala première of Poulenc's opera, and she later supervised the 1983 revival at Covent Garden.

The two-year literary rights dispute between Béguin and Lavery reached arbitration by a jury from La Societé des Auteurs in Paris.

Following the July 1954 decision, separate negotiations occurred between Béguin and Lavery, via his agent Marie Schebeko, on rights and royalties to allow Poulenc to write his opera.

The formal agreement was dated 30 March 1955, and acknowledged Bernanos, Lavery, von Le Fort, Bruckberger, and Agostini.

[6] At this time, Poulenc had recommitted himself to spirituality and Roman Catholicism, although he was openly gay[7] and the church officially opposed homosexuality.

[11][12][13] Thus the opera was first performed in an Italian translation at La Scala on 26 January 1957, with Romanian soprano Virginia Zeani in the role of Blanche.

[2] The opera opens with Marquis and Chevalier de la Force talking about the general unrest in France and their worries about Blanche, at a time when crowds stop carriages in the street and aristocrats are attacked.

The pathologically timid Blanche de la Force decides to retreat from the world and enter a Carmelite convent.

A police officer arrives and announces to the community that the Legislative Assembly has nationalized the convent and its property, and the nuns must give up their religious habits.

Upon receiving the news, the chaplain tells Mother Marie, when they meet again, that since God has chosen to spare her, she cannot voluntarily become a martyr by joining the others in prison.

At the place of execution, one nun after another stands and slowly processes toward the guillotine, as all sing the "Salve Regina" ("Hail, Holy Queen").

Having seen all the other nuns executed, as she mounts the scaffold, Blanche sings the final stanza of the "Veni Creator Spiritus," "Deo Patri sit gloria...", the Catholic hymn traditionally used when taking vows in a religious community and offering one's life to God.