The libretto is based on excerpts from a variety of ancient writings, most of it from medieval female mystics.
While sifting through the archives of the Museum of Modern Art, he found a still from the movie The Passion of Joan of Arc.
According to a 2017 interview with the Criterion channel, Richard Einhorn visited the church where she prayed which is still standing, located near her home.
[2] The piece premiered in February 1994 as live accompaniment to the Dreyer film at the Academy of Music in Northampton, Massachusetts, performed by the Arcadia Players and the Da Camera Singers under the direction of Margaret Irwin-Brandon.
An album was released in 1995 which featured the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Choir, the former conducted by Steven Mercurio, the vocals of Anonymous 4, Susan Narucki, Corrie Pronk, Frank Hameleers and Henk van Heijnsbergen.