# The Snobbiest Letter By An Opera Composer?



## Xavier (Jun 7, 2012)

Here is an interesting opera fact:

Just as Debussy was beginning to compose _Pelleas et Melisande_ he wrote the following in a letter to his friend and senior colleague Ernest Chausson:



> *Music really ought to have been a hermetical science, enshrined in texts so difficult and laborious as to discourage the herd of people who treat it as casually as they do a handkerchief! I would go further and, instead of spreading music among the populace, I propose the foundation of a Society of Musical Esotericism.
> 
> [....]
> 
> My original plan for 'Pelleas et Melisande' involves not the opera houses of Paris, but a small avant-garde theater or private performances in the mansion of Robert de Montesquiou, the Pavillon des Muses, in Neuilly*



For a long time I never knew of Debussy's desire for an exclusive audience of elite "initiates" for _P&M_ or how serious he was about it.

Now of course philistinophobia is a common malady among some composers. And any composer that doesn't want everyone to hear what he has written either is a fool (which Debussy clearly wasn't) or perhaps writing out of fear that no one would like his work. Except for a minority, including me, he got his wish. There is no opera in the repertoire sadly that causes as many people to leave the theater before it concludes. This was true in 1902 and in every year since. Even as recently as 2008 an opera critic wrote: _"Pelleas et Melisande apparently remains caviar for the gourmand, rather than bread and butter for the masses"_

What do you make of his letter?


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

Xavier said:


> There is no opera in the repertoire sadly that causes as many people to leave the theater before it concludes. This was true in 1902 and in every year since. Even as recently as 2008 an opera critic wrote: _"Pelleas et Melisande apparently remains caviar for the gourmand, rather than bread and butter for the masses"_


You seem to be making Debussy's point for him. Wagner went to the extreme of building his version the ideal theater for his works to be presented. So Debussy's comments on his intended venue don't seem that out of line. They are even more understandable in the context of his unproductive foray into traditional French grand opera (thank you Wiki).


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

hmm ... seems clear he was aware most people wouldn't like it. Not sure I'd call that "philistinophobia." I'd take his more general statements as mere fun fantasy, probably seen as such by him.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

"Music really ought to have been a hermetical science, enshrined in texts so difficult and laborious as to discourage the herd of people who treat it as casually as they do a handkerchief!"

Lucky Mr. D isn't around today. What would he have thought of people casually buying 14 hours of Bach for 99 cents?


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## suteetat (Feb 25, 2013)

KenOC said:


> "Music really ought to have been a hermetical science, enshrined in texts so difficult and laborious as to discourage the herd of people who treat it as casually as they do a handkerchief!"


I would say mission accomplished


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Did the Society of Musical Esotericism, ever get of the ground.

Edgard, I think did much better with the the International Composers' Guild- thanks goodness.

With its manifesto: "The International Composers' Guild refuses to admit any limitations, either of volition or of action. The International Composers' Guild disapproves of all 'isms'; denies the existence of schools; recognizes only the individual."


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