# I love Pelleas et Mesillande



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

It is my favorite Opera that I have heard. It is so mellow, serene and has a beautiful libretto; I like that it doesn't have a happy ending! The music is so vivid and image provoking, I just love it!


What other Operas do you think I'd like based on this? Are there other romantic/impressionistic Operas I may enjoy?


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

Me too, can't get enough of this opera. This is probably the only opera that I have been seriously collecting different performances.

I can only think of one opera that is pretty similar to Pelleas, that is Montemezzi's_ L'amore dei tre re_. It has been called the Italian Tristan, or the Italian Pelleas by some critics. As in Pelleas, the story also revolves around a love triangle, there are many symbolist elements, and the characters are pretty "impersonal." But as in Tristan, there are moments of volcanic eruption of emotions. There is an impressive recording with Moffo and Domingo in their prime.

But seriously, there is nothing in the history of opera like _Pelleas et Melisande_.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

silentio said:


> Me too, can't get enough of this opera. This is probably the only opera that I have been seriously collecting different performances.
> 
> I can only think of one opera that is pretty similar to Pelleas, that is Montemezzi's_ L'amore dei tre re_. It has been called the Italian Tristan, or the Italian Pelleas by some critics. As in Pelleas, the story also revolves around a love triangle, there are many symbolist elements, and the characters are pretty "impersonal." But as in Tristan, there are also moments of volcanic eruption of emotions. There is an impressive recording with Moffo and Domingo in their prime.
> 
> But seriously, there is nothing in the history of opera like _Pelleas et Melisande_.


I wish Debussy wrote more Operas! What a talent he was.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

BTW, sorry for the misspelling of Melisande.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Szymanowski's King Roger - check it out when you feel saturated with French works.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Sakuntala by Franco Alfano. I saw it performed in Sicily last year.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Bulldog said:


> Szymanowski's King Roger - check it out when you feel saturated with French works.


Excellent alternative.


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## Guest (Jul 15, 2018)

What I love about this opera is how utterly bizarre and inexplicable some of the moments in the libretto are, setting up questions that are left unanswered in quite a surreal way and complemented by some of Debussy's best music.

King Roger is fantastic, yeah, but there's something about it which is a little more concrete in terms of how we understand it.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I wish Debussy wrote more Operas! What a talent he was.


He started work on three more, but abandoned them:

Here's _La chute de la maison Usher_





_Le diable dans le beffroi_





_Rodrigue et Chimène_ (with accent grave)


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

If you're interested in more on those lines, I'd suggest

- Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-bleue
- Magnard's Guercoeur; Bérénice
- Fauré's Pénélope
- Séverac's Le coeur du moulin
- Ropartz's Le pays
- Cras's Polyphème

You might also want to check out Rabaud's _Mârouf, savetier du Caire _(opéra comique, but with some Debussyian elements), and Dupont's _Antar_.

I'd suggest Bruneau, if any of his operas were recorded.


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## alan davis (Oct 16, 2013)

Might I add Robert Schumann's "Genoveva" to the list above.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

alan davis said:


> Might I add Robert Schumann's "Genoveva" to the list above.


How is _Genoveva_ similar to _Pelleas?_


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> How is _Genoveva_ similar to _Pelleas?_


I was thinking the same thing, but I haven't heard *Genoveva*. Maybe Schumann was further ahead of his time than I thought. :lol:


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

NickFuller said:


> If you're interested in more on those lines, I'd suggest
> 
> - Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-bleue
> - Magnard's Guercoeur; Bérénice
> ...


I know the Dukas and Fauré operas; they would be first on my list of suggestions.

So now I want to check out the others!

Perhaps a bit further out, but also related would be operas by Franz Schreker. _Der ferne Klang_ and _Die Gezeichneten_ both show significant influences from Debussy (though there also influences from Strauss and Wagner).


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## InferiorTromboner (Jun 6, 2018)

Just saw this amazing work tonight at the BBC proms. Was a semi-staged version of the Glyndebourne production. The music and singing was absolutely gorgeous, really did one of my favourite pieces justice and then some but I massively disliked the staging of it, really left me and my and my dad pondering what the hell was going on at some points but it did nothing to take away from such a sublime performance.

I find Pelleas... reminiscient of Bartok's Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Martinu's Julietta, not in any real musical sense (those are three quite different operas from quite different composers) but these works to me all have a similar 'vibe' (if that makes sense). They're all stories that revolve around love but are filled with darkness and they all have sets and settings that are dreamlike vague and almost indeterminate (and even irrelevant in some stagings) to the opera's real action which is all to the with the emotions or feelings of the characters. (And if you can't tell they're three of my favourites too)


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## Robert Thomas (Dec 3, 2015)

Pelleas has been my favourite opera for many years. In a way I’m glad Debussy only finished one. It has made it unique (like Duke Bluebeard castle).We can treasure it without making comparisons.


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