Act 2
The square before Rheims Cathedral
Act 3
In a fort held by the English
This opera, which has for its subject the life and death of the Maid of Orleans, is one of Verdi's earliest: it was written in 1845, when he was thirty-two, and produced that year at La Scala, Milan. The libretto, by Solera, takes certain liberties with historical fact, representing Joan as in love with the Dauphin, and shirking the final conflagration by letting her die of wounds sustained in battle. The opera was a success at its first performince, but it has since disappeared from the repertoire. D. C.