# 20th Century Operatic Masterpieces: Part Four - Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

20th Century Operatic Masterpieces: Part Four - Debussy's _Pelléas et Mélisande_




























Claude Debussy's sole completed opera, Pelléas et Mélisande (he worked, to little avail, on several during his younger days), is based on the Maurice Maeterlinck play that also inspired works by both Schoenberg and Jean Sibelius. Debussy began the first sketches of the opera as early as 1889, though the work did not take its final form until shortly before its Paris premiere in 1902. It was the composer's intention to produce a kind of opera in which the music served the subtleties of text far better (he felt) than the dominant opera style of his day (i.e., the work of Wagner and his immediate successors) did. Thus, while the techniques of Pelléas are frequently Wagnerian in origin, they serve so radically different a purpose as to render the resemblance barely recognizable.

Debussy exploits the utter simplicity of Maeterlinck's allegorical plot and allows the music to assume a texture of thoroughgoing delicacy. It is this fragility, sustained with consummate skill throughout the five-act opera, that, more than any other single feature, draws the most powerful response from both audiences and musicians involved in productions of the work. Subtle musical suggestion is the key to Debussy's magic in Pelléas. Wagner's celebrated leitmotif techniques are modified to make them less of a "visiting card technique," as Debussy himself once described the German composer's method, and more of a way to draw vague musical shapes that represent characters' psychological conditions. Maeterlinck's pessimistic denial of free will finds expression in the uncertain, intentionally non-directional nature of much of Debussy's music (many of the musical motifs themselves seem to have trouble deciding which direction to turn next, so to speak, and undergo a certain amount of internal repetition before finally shooting off in a new direction). Debussy's setting of French texts was never less than superb, and in Pelléas he achieves wonders -- the instrumental/vocal balance is such that few listeners will ever be aware of just how dense the orchestration is, while the psychological nature of the play (and its lack of stage action) allows the relationship between music and text to unfold in a spacious way that affords each character plenty of time to explore the depths of his or her individual experience. Although it is safe to say that few twentieth century operas could feasibly exist in their present forms had Debussy not found time to complete Pelléas et Mélisande, the work has never achieved the public adulation bestowed upon many of its "dependents." Perhaps it is the very qualities that make the work so uniquely powerful -- its emotional vagueness, the way its apparently simple plot and undramatic (in a Wagnerian sense) music disguise a wealth of textual and musical complexities -- that are to blame for its general neglect. In many ways, however, Pelléas is a profoundly intimate work, and one wonders whether it is not better kept so.

[Article taken from All Music Guide]

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I'm not going to say much here other than I believe _Pelléas et Mélisande_ to be the greatest opera of the 20th Century. It influenced and inspired so many composers during its time and it feels like a work that could've been composed the other day. My favorite performance is Abbado on DG, but I also enjoy Baudo (RCA) and Haitink (Naïve). What do you guys think of this work?


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

I've got Abbado's recording on DG too, but I confess I haven't listened to this Debussy's opera yet; the first thing that comes to my mind about _Pelleas et Melisande_ is Schönberg's symphonic poem. 😔 Maybe this can be the time to finally listen to it......


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## Monsalvat (11 mo ago)

This is one of the few French operas I've really tried and enjoyed. I've mostly avoided Meyerbeer, Massenet, Gounod, and the like, with exceptions including _Pelléas et Mélisande_, _Carmen_, and _Le damnation de Faust_ when it comes to French opera; this isn't really by design, and I've been meaning to explore this part of the operatic repertoire. I find this opera fascinating; I think the music works really well with the text, and it is so different from any other opera I can think of. I like Abbado, but my preferred recording is Karajan (EMI, 1978) with Frederica von Stade. I know Pierre Boulez recorded it at least once, but I don't think I've heard it. Maybe worth checking out... My tastes in opera are more heavily Austro-Germanic, so I don't know if I would also choose this to be the greatest opera of the 20th century in favor of Strauss, Berg, Britten, or even Puccini, but it is certainly _among_ my favorite 20th century operas, at the very least.

Listening to Rattle’s 2016 recording now, and it’s enjoyable. The singing is good but the beautiful orchestral playing seems to be the highlight of this recording. So colorful and pictorial.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Lisztianwagner said:


> I've got Abbado's recording on DG too, but I confess I haven't listened to this Debussy's opera yet; the first thing that comes to my mind about _Pelleas et Melisande_ is Schönberg's symphonic poem. 😔 Maybe this can be the time to finally listen to it......


Wow...I'm shocked! I can't believe you've never listened to this opera, @Lisztianwagner! You must hear it at once! It's Wagnerian duration should pose no problem to you.


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

Neo Romanza said:


> Wow...I'm shocked! I can't believe you've never listened to this opera, @Lisztianwagner! You must hear it at once! It's Wagnerian duration should pose no problem to you.




I'm making amends now....


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Which is the more profound and probing exploration of human inner life, Tristan or Pelléas? I must say, I think the answer is Pelléas.

In the theatre it’s always a fabulous experience for me, except for one scene - the one with the doc.


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## REP (Dec 8, 2011)

Lisztianwagner said:


> I've got Abbado's recording on DG too, but I confess I haven't listened to this Debussy's opera yet; the first thing that comes to my mind about _Pelleas et Melisande_ is Schönberg's symphonic poem. 😔 Maybe this can be the time to finally listen to it......


Debussy was under Wagner's spell when he first started composing _Pelleas_. Later in the compositional process he had to go back and remove "old Klingsor's" influence, but you can still hear it in places, most notably in the transitional music between the first two scenes, which is little more than the Transformation Music from Parsifal as seen through an impressionistic veil. And later, when Golaud is fuming over the missing ring -- well, you can figure that one out for yourself.

_Pelleas_ is a great opera, in my opinion. I return to it again and again, even when I think I've wrung all potential meaning and enjoyment out of it. I was just listening to it last month, in fact, and playing through the vocal score; my project this month is to study the full score.

By the way, Messiaen adored _Pelleas_ and studied it intensively at a young age. He would have probably agreed with NeoRomanza that it was the greatest opera of the 20th century.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

REP said:


> Debussy was under Wagner's spell when he first started composing _Pelleas_. Later in the compositional process he had to go back and remove "old Klingsor's" influence, but you can still hear it in places, most notably in the transitional music between the first two scenes, which is little more than the Transformation Music from Parsifal as seen through an impressionistic veil. And later, when Golaud is fuming over the missing ring -- well, you can figure that one out for yourself.
> 
> _Pelleas_ is a great opera, in my opinion. I return to it again and again, even when I think I've wrung all potential meaning and enjoyment out of it. I was just listening to it last month, in fact, and playing through the vocal score; my project this month is to study the full score.
> 
> By the way, Messiaen adored _Pelleas_ and studied it intensively at a young age. He would have probably agreed with NeoRomanza that it was the greatest opera of the 20th century.


I'm quite in agreement with Messiaen about _Pelléas_, but where our opinions diverge is when he said everything that Debussy composed _after_ this opera was unimportant. For me, this is utter nonsense.


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

After listening to it, a splendid opera, very beautiful, I must really say it. Debussy has his peculiar style in the colourful orchestration, the timbric richness and the fine use of suspended chords, which creates a dreamy, indefinite atmosphere, very mysterious and poetical, with sinuous and floating melodies; the text is made of concise phrases, silences and reticences, but the vibrant sonorities of the music gives great expressive facet to the characters and vividly depict their deep emotions. The structure and the motivic weaving show a wagnerian influence, but clearly without the overwhelming chromaticism and the epic power of the great German composer (it's not a critic, Debussy was certainly trying to overcome Wagner and the Romanticism). I also liked very much how the themes in some passages reminded of Wagner's operas, I recognized echoes from Parsifal and Siegfried's Forest Murmurs, how enchanting. 😁


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

We owe the idea for this opera to Erik Satie. It was Satie who first mentioned to Debussy that he was thinking about composing an opera based on Maeterlinck's Symbolist play, Pelléas et Mélisande. Evidently, Debussy thought it was very good idea because he went ahead and secured the rights to the play and then composed his opera over a nine-year stretch (1893-1902), while Satie was still talking about it. My guess is that Debussy knew Satie would never get past the 'idea' stage, or if he did, that Satie's version would be so radically different from his own, that essentially it didn't matter he'd stolen the idea from Satie. Besides, Satie had been an important influence on Debussy up to that point, & I can't imagine that Debussy wasn't aware of that.

It was also during this period that Satie made his anti-German 'battle cry' to French composers to stop being influenced by Wagner & to instead compose operas that were more distinctly French in character. While there is an undeniable Wagner influence on Debussy's opera--as others have pointed out, I don't hear it as the predominant influence at all. To my ears, there is a stronger, more wildly exotic influence that comes from Indonesian gamelan music: which by that time had radically changed Debussy's musical aesthetic forever, pulling him away from his earlier admiration for Wagner. In other words, in some ways Pelléas et Mélisande represents a bold, new rejection of Wagner's aesthetic beliefs (and the romantic ideal of the Liszt tone poem).

In Pelléas, I find the gamelan influence to be most apparent in the unusual non-western rhythms found in the exchanges between characters in the sung dialogue, as well as in the more non-traditional harmonies & rhythms used in some of the more sublime orchestral passages & textures (such at the beginning of the opera): which at times can be very far from Wagnerian in the hands of the right conductor. So yes, I think Debussy definitely heeded Satie's 'battle cry' against the German influence of Wagner's operas, & had it on his mind while he composed Pelléas.

Although if you listen to Karajan's recording, you probably won't entirely agree with what I've just said, since Karajan arguably conducts Debussy's opera in a more lush Wagnerian vein. Granted, it is a well conducted performance, but Karajan largely misses the exotic gamelan influence.

Two conductors that don't miss this gamelan influence are Roger Désormière, who brings out many subtle orchestral textures & rhythms in Debussy's score that no other conductor I've heard finds--not even Cluytens, & secondly, believe it or not, Charles Dutoit, whose recording is often criticized for being too cool & aloof. (Though I've yet to hear the recording by Debussy's friend, the conductor Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht.)

My 8 favorite recordings of this opera are as follows (& yes, I'm a Debussy nut):

1. Roger Désormière, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris, 1941:





2. André Cluytens, Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, 1956:





3. Serge Baudo, Orchestre de Lyon, 1978:





4. Charles Dutoit, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, digital era:





5. Pierre Boulez, Welsh National Opera Orchestra: I prefer Boulez's 2nd 1992 digital recording on DVD to his earlier analogue CBS recording:





6. Claudio Abbado, Wiener Philharmoniker, digital era:
Claudio Abbado "Pelléas et Mélisande" Debussy

7. Ernest Ansermet, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, 1964:
Debussy - Pelléas et Mélisande - OSR / Ansermet 1964

8. Jean Fournet, Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux, 1953:
Debussy - Pelléas et Mélisande / Remastered (Camille Maurane - Century's recording: Jean Fournet)

On the horizon, I'd like to hear the 2022 'period' recording from François-Xavier Roth & Les Siècles,

Pelléas et Mélisande, L. 88, Acte 1 scène 1: Je ne pourrai plus sortir de cette forêt (Golaud)

as well as to finally hear Inghelbrecht's historical recording, which I'd imagine is one of the best:

Pelléas et Mélisande, L. 88, Act I, Scene 1: Une forêt (Golaud, Mélisande)

In addition, I'd very much like to hear a possible recording by Ravel's pupil, Manuel Rosenthal???, who conducted Pelléas et Mélisande in many live performances during the 1970s &1980s, including the 1st performance ever in Russia. However, I don't know if any such recording exists--radio or otherwise--to document this important conductor's view of Debussy's score. I hope so, & that a recording will one day surface ...

P.S. Here's a link to Ernest Chausson's heavily Wagner influenced opera, Le Roi Arthus, in order to hear the kind of opera that Satie was apparently reacting against (even though it was staged a year after Pelléas in 1903, it was similarly composed between 1888-95):

Chausson Le Roi Arthus


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Josquin13 said:


> We owe the idea for this opera to Erik Satie. It was Satie who first mentioned to Debussy that he was thinking about composing an opera based on Maeterlinck's Symbolist play, Pelléas et Mélisande. Evidently, Debussy thought it was very good idea because he went ahead and secured the rights to the play and then composed his opera over a nine-year stretch (1893-1902), while Satie was still talking about it. My guess is that Debussy knew Satie would never get past the 'idea' stage, or if he did, that Satie's version would be so radically different from his own, that essentially it didn't matter he'd stolen the idea from Satie. Besides, Satie had been an important influence on Debussy up to that point, & I can't imagine that Debussy wasn't aware of that.
> 
> It was also during this period that Satie made his anti-German 'battle cry' to French composers to stop being influenced by Wagner & to instead compose operas that were more distinctly French in character. While there is an undeniable Wagner influence on Debussy's opera--as others have pointed out, I don't hear it as the predominant influence at all. To my ears, there is a stronger, more wildly exotic influence that comes from Indonesian gamelan music: which by that time had radically changed Debussy's musical aesthetic forever, pulling him away from his earlier admiration for Wagner. In other words, in some ways Pelléas et Mélisande represents a bold, new rejection of Wagner's aesthetic beliefs (and the romantic ideal of the Liszt tone poem).
> 
> ...


I don't really hear a Wagnerian influence either only in that _Pelléas_ was his way out of this type of sound-world. I think Karajan's recording is one of the worst and sorry to those who love it, but it's densely textured and Debussy should be more airy and transparent --- shimming if you will. I also can't stand the Dutoit performance you praise --- it's limpid and lacks forward momentum. Urgency is something that this opera needs to be successful, IMHO. As for the Satie influence, oh yes, he definitely got the ball rolling for Debussy and what Debussy did with the idea is something that Satie could never have done (for the record, I always liked the music philosophy of Satie, but never it's actual execution, so he's a bit like Cage for me in this regard). The Gamelan influence is certainly something to think about since he had heard Javanese music at the turn of the century in Paris at that exposition (several other composers heard this music, too, I recall Ravel being quite taken with this Javanese music as well).


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

In my own "Top 69 Operas" list I called it a "hypnotically enigmatic work" and that remains true no matter how many times I see/hear it. The opera strikes me as a mystery with no solution, a riddle with no answer, and I'm not even sure what the question is that needs answering. It seems to exist in a kind of liminal dream state, with the plot being so typical as to be a cliche (at its heart is a basic love triangle); but the music paints it in this impressionistic, amorphous haze as if there's a greater significance behind everything. Materlinck himself is associated with the symbolist movement, so while that would make sense I confess that I don't find any symbolic meaning that unlocks this Chinese puzzle box of an opera. I'm also perfectly content in not really understanding it, in just being able to live inside the dream world that Debussy conjures with his harmonies and orchestral shading. 

As for the Wagnerian influence, I think it mostly just exists in the advanced harmonies, but Debussy's approach seems more free-floating than Wagner; in Wagner, tonality still matters as the chromaticisms, tensions, and ambiguities are still there to create the desire for resolution (which in a piece like Tristan wait the entire opera to resolve); while in Debussy they seem to exist merely to echo the mystery and ambiguity of the work itself, and there's less tension and drama than there is mood and atmosphere. I think it's largely in Debussy's (and Satie's and Ravel's) movement from drama to mood that marks the key difference between Wagner's and their usage of Wagner's harmonic advancements. Wagner also tends to be lusher than Debussy.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Monsalvat said:


> ... I find this opera fascinating; I think the music works really well with the text, and it is so different from any other opera I can think of. ...


Is it indeed ? I was wondering, if I knew more operas from that time, maybe there would be more similar to this one. However, when they played it in my theater, I was fascinated and went 3 times.


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

Eva Yojimbo said:


> As for the Wagnerian influence, I think it mostly just exists in the advanced harmonies, but Debussy's approach seems more free-floating than Wagner; in Wagner, tonality still matters as the chromaticisms, tensions, and ambiguities are still there to create the desire for resolution (which in a piece like Tristan wait the entire opera to resolve); while in Debussy they seem to exist merely to echo the mystery and ambiguity of the work itself, and there's less tension and drama than there is mood and atmosphere. I think it's largely in Debussy's (and Satie's and Ravel's) movement from drama to mood that marks the key difference between Wagner's and their usage of Wagner's harmonic advancements. Wagner also tends to be lusher than Debussy.


Great description. I agree about Wagner's influence; it can be perceived in the bold harmonic textures and the presence of a fluid waving, a way of always rippling vertical lines, so as to remove any chordal static from them. But Debussy loses that tension toward the absolute which can't be satisfied and exasperates itself in overwhelming chromatic whirlwinds (in Tristan und Isolde for example, beautifully expressed by the Tristan chord of the desire motive, which remains unresolved till the finale), that philosophical conception reflecting through the music and that idea of the sacrality of the drama, which always create a sense of an introspective, profound dimension, more solemn; on the contrary the dreamy sound nuances, the suspended, floating melodies, so softened by the search of the timbric colour, give an impression of transparency, lightness and of a mysterious, indefinite atmosphere that is out of time.


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## Monsalvat (11 mo ago)

BBSVK said:


> Is it indeed ? I was wondering, if I knew more operas from that time, maybe there would be more similar to this one. However, when they played it in my theater, I was fascinated and went 3 times.


French opera is _not_ my area of expertise at all! This is one of the few French operas I have any familiarity with. Part of the appeal for me is the libretto, also, which is so different from the Austrian/Germanic libretti that I'm used to (Wagner, Hoffmansthal, Da Ponte were not Symbolists). So I may be reflecting my own shortcomings in this area.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Lisztianwagner said:


> Great description. I agree about Wagner's influence; it can be perceived in the bold harmonic textures and the presence of a fluid waving, a way of always rippling vertical lines, so as to remove any chordal static from them. But Debussy loses that tension toward the absolute which can't be satisfied and exasperates itself in overwhelming chromatic whirlwinds (in Tristan und Isolde for example, beautifully expressed by the Tristan chord of the desire motive, which remains unresolved till the finale), that philosophical conception reflecting through the music and that idea of the sacrality of the drama, which always create a sense of an introspective, profound dimension, more solemn; on the contrary the dreamy sound nuances, the suspended, floating melodies, so softened by the search of the timbric colour, give an impression of transparency, lightness and of a mysterious, indefinite atmosphere that is out of time.


Esa-Pekka Salonen had some interesting things to say about _Pelléas_:


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

Neo Romanza said:


> Esa-Pekka Salonen had some interesting things to say about _Pelléas_:


Thank you very much; I'm still new to _Pelléas et Melisande_, but I would like to improve my knowledge of this opera, as it is extremely interesting.


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