The Triumph of St. Joan

The composer had been contemplating writing an opera for a number of years already but had not found a subject matter that inspired him until attending the 1948 film Joan of Arc with his friend Joseph Machlis, a writer, musician, and Queens College, City University of New York, faculty member.

The two men both agreed that an opera focusing on the "inner motivations and spiritual life of Joan" could be derived effectively and movingly and that it would make a good project for SLC.

The school's theatre majors specializing in the technical aspects of the stage designed and built the sets, lights, and costumes.

Conductor Hugh Ross directed the chorus and all told a total of 85 SLC students were involved in putting the opera together.

Gisela Weber created the title role with Jerome Swinford as Pierre Cauchon and John Druary as the Dauphin of France/Charles VII of France.

Awaiting her death alone, her memories of past events come to life on stage with intermittent periods returning her to her present moment of solitude.

Flashbacks include her meeting with the Dauphin the day before the Siege of Orléans, his coronation at Rheims, the breach in the relationship between Charles and Joan, and Cauchon's condemning of her at her trial.

[5] Dello Joio commented on this process: The Trial at Rouen is not a version of my first opera, but is a completely new statement, both musically and dramatically; though the temptation to use the old material was great...

My conclusion is that the Joan story recounts the ageless conflict between the individual of excessive imagination and those who hold to the status quo.

[9] Music critic Howard Taubman was overall positive about the work, stating that "The NBC Television opera gave The Trial at Rouen a brilliant production, one of the best in a growing line of video presentations.

He said the following in his review in The New York Times: The Trial at Rouen is a high-minded attempt to come to grips with the subject of the martyrdom of Saint Joan.

He readily accepted and the work was premiered by the NYCO on April 16, 1959, in a double bill with Gian Carlo Menotti's The Medium.

Herbert Grossman conducted the opera which was staged by José Quintero and included sets by David Hays and costumes by Ruth Morely.

He also remarked that the opera now had a much more effective climax with the scene where Joan is lashed to the stake "taking on a fearful and piteous realism".