Les Huguenots

The plot of the opera culminates in the historical St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 in which thousands of French Huguenots (Protestants) were slaughtered by the Catholics in an effort to rid France of Protestant influence. Although the events of the massacre are depicted with relative accuracy in the opera, the rest of the plot, primarily concerning the love between the Catholic Valentine and the Protestant Raoul is wholly a creation of Scribe, the librettist.