Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)

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For other works with the same title, see Pelléas et Mélisande.

Pelléas et Mélisande (Pelléas and Mélisande) is an opera in five acts by Claude Debussy. The French libretto is adapted from a famous symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck (Pelléas et Mélisande) and follows it almost exactly. It received its first performance at the Opéra Comique in Paris in April 30, 1902.

Pelléas et Mélisande is often called an impressionist opera, though others believe this flies in the face of explicit conducting instructions left by Debussy. It concerns the forbidden, doomed love of the title characters. Numerous recordings of it exist, and it is regularly performed, though some opera-goers see it as one of the less immediately-accessible operas.

Contents 1 Characters 2 Setting 3 Discography 4 External links

[edit] Characters

• Principal roles
  • Golaud - Baritone
  • Mélisande - Soprano
  • Pelléas - Tenor or Baritone
• Minor roles
  • Geneviève - Mezzo-soprano
  • Arkël - Bass
  • Yniold - Mezzo-soprano
  • Doctor - Bass
• Other
  • Shepherd - Baritone
  • Serving women - Mute
  • Three paupers - Mute
  • Off stage sailors - Chorus

[edit] Setting

Time: The Middle Ages.

Place: The Kingdom of Allemonde.

[edit] Discography

Main article: Pelléas et Mélisande discography

[edit] External links

• Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande: A Guide to the Opera with Musical Examples from the Score, available at Project Gutenberg., a contemporaneous analysis
• Full Piano Score with notes