The King Goes Forth to France

Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan (English: The King Goes Forth to France) is an opera in three acts by Aulis Sallinen, based on the novel of the same title by Paavo Haavikko, who also wrote the libretto. The English singing version is by Stephen Oliver.

Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan was first performed on July 7, 1984 by the Savonlinna Opera Festival, and revived at the festival in the three years that followed. Later performances have taken place at the Kiel Opera House (1986, in a cut version not approved by the composer), the Santa Fe Opera Festival (1986) and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1987). A concert performance of the opera in Helsinki in 2005 was recorded by Ondine.

In 1973 Paavo Haavikko wrote a play for radio and in 1977 rang Sallinen to ask whether, if the composer was considering writing another opera, this story could become the libretto? Sallinen's first opera The Horseman had a libretto by Haavikko but the composer was cautious about taking up the suggestion. Eventually, having read the play, Sallinen came to like the ambiguous blend of tragedy and irony, wit and cruelty; he began composing in the summer of 1980. The opera was jointly commissioned by the Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Royal Opera, London, and the BBC, and is set during a future ice age and in the time of the Hundred Years' War. Around the time of writing this, his third opera, Sallinen commented "It’s always worthwhile to write an opera. If it’s a success, I’m happy, if it isn’t, somebody else’s happy".

With Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan Sallinen moved away from the overtly Finnish subject matter of his previous operas, creating a universal allegory. John Allison noted (in relation to the recording) "this opera is notable for its lightness of texture. The composer has a witty way of evoking ceremonial moments... a wild arrangement of a Schubert Marche Militaire in D is put to dark dramatic use... there is sweep and pace – in short it shows Sallinen’s innate theatricality."

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