Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)

"Pelléas et Mélisande" ("Pelléas and Mélisande") is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from the symbolist play of the same name by Maurice Maeterlinck. [Orledge, Robert, Review of "Claude Debussy: "Pelléas et Mélisande" by Roger Nichols and Richard Langham Smith (May 1990). "Music & Letters", 71 (2): pp. 271-272.] Debussy had first read the play in 1893. [Nichols, Roger, Review of "The Genesis of Debussy's "Pelléas et Mélisande" by David A. Grayson (November 1989). "Music & Letters", 70 (4): pp. 569-571.]

Debussy's only completed opera, it received its first performance at the Opéra Comique in Paris on April 30, 1902. Mélisande was sung by Mary Garden, who had been personally chosen by Debussy. Maeterlinck, however, had wanted his mistress Georgette Leblanc to sing the role, and she was originally scheduled to do so. When she was replaced by Garden, Maeterlinck first refused to attend the performance. [cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,932559,00.html?promoid=googlep |title=Maeterlinck Goes to the Opera |publisher=Times |date=1941-02-10]

The opera is unusual in that each of the main roles can be sung by a wide range of voice types. For instance, soprano Victoria de los Angeles and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade have both sung the role of Mélisande; and tenor Nicolai Gedda and baritone Rodney Gilfrey have both sung Pelléas.

Roles

*Golaud - baritone or bass-baritone
*Mélisande - soprano or high mezzo-soprano
*Pelléas - tenor or high baritone (baryton-martin)
*Geneviève - mezzo-soprano
*Arkël - bass
*Yniold - soprano or boy soprano
*Doctor - bass
*Shepherd - baritone
*Serving women - mute
*Three paupers - mute
*Offstage sailors - male chorus

Synopsis

Time: The Middle Ages.Place: The Kingdom of Allemonde.

Mélisande, forsaken by her friends, sits weeping in a forest. Prince Golaud finds her and tells her about his son and his family. He falls in love with her and brings her home as his bride. But she does not know love until she meets his brother, Pelléas. The two are very passionate about each other.

Despite the fact that they never consummate their love due to Mélisande’s resolve, Golaud is very jealous. He is livid when Mélisande loses her ring in a brook and sets the pair out to look for it. He catches Pelléas at Mélisande’s window, entwined in her hair, and he becomes violent with Mélisande, tying her hair around her.

Golaud has his son, Yniold, from his previous marriage follow the two. When the pair meets for a final goodbye, Golaud follows them and kills Pelléas. In the final act, Mélisande, who has given birth prematurely, is on her deathbed. She confesses that she was never unfaithful to Golaud. The Prince falls at the foot of her bed in remorse and grief and she dies.

Discography

References

External links

*, a contemporaneous analysis
* [http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/bfk2839/large/index.html Full Piano Score with notes]
*
* [http://metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=19 Synopsis]