to her chambers; after they leave, the Marquise confesses the truth to Sulpice: Marie is her own illegitimate daughter. Under the circumstances, Sulpice promises that Marie will agree to her mother's wishes. The Duchess of Crakenthorp, her son the groom-to-be, and the wedding entourage arrive at the Marquise's castle. Marie enters with Sulpice, who has told her that the Marquise is her mother. Marie embraces her and decides she must obey. But at the last minute the soldiers of the Regiment storm in (chorus: soldiers, then Tonio: Au secours de notre fille / "Our daughter needs our help") and reveal that Marie was a canteen girl. The wedding guests are offended by that, but then impressed when Marie sings of her debt to the soldiers (aria, Marie: Quand le destin, au milieu de la guerre / "When fate, in the confusion of war, threw me, a baby, into their arms"). The Marquise is deeply moved, admits she is Marie's mother, and gives her consent to Marie and Tonio's marriage, amid universal rejoicing (final chorus: Salut à la France! / "Hurrah for France! For happy times!"). Recordings References Notes Cited sources Ashbrook, William (1982). Donizetti and His Operas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kobbé, Gustav (1919). The Complete Opera Book, first English edition. London & New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. View at the Internet Archive. Lawrence, Vera Brodsky (1988). Strong on Music: The New York Music Scene in the Days of George Templeton Strong, 1836–1875. Volume I: Resonances 1836–1850. New York: Oxford University Press. Loewenberg, Alfred (1978). Annals of Opera 1597–1940 (third edition, revised). Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield. . Osborne, Charles (1994). The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press. Warrack, John; West, Ewan (1992). The Oxford Dictionary of Opera. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . Other sources Allitt, John Stewart (1991). Donizetti: in the light of Romanticism and the teaching of Johann Simon Mayr, Shaftesbury: Element Books, Ltd; Rockport, MA: Element, Inc. Ashbrook, William; Hibberd, Sarah (2001). "Gaetano Donizetti", pp. 224–247 in The New Penguin Opera Guide, edited by Amanda Holden. New York: Penguin Putnam. . Black, John (1982). Donizetti's Operas in Naples, 1822–1848. London: The Donizetti Society. Lawrence, Vera Brodsky (1995). Strong on Music: The New York Music Scene in the Days of George Templeton Strong. Volume II. Reverberations, 1850–1856. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. . Melitz, Leo (2015) [1921]. The Opera Goer's Complete