Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MUSC 2416-299
May 3, 2017
Revised Term Paper
Pellas et Mlisande
An Overview of Claude Debussys Only Completed Opera
Claude Debussy, a renowned French late-Romantic era composer, gained his fame
through many genres of music. Within this span of genre, Debussy only completed one opera,
Pellas et Mlisande (1902). The opera falls in the era correlating with the fin-de-sicle style,
characterized by ambiguity in harmony, the washing out of tonality, and the use of symbolist
plots. This term paper will investigate the symbolism used in the opera, along with a providing a
brief reception history. It will also dive into the relationship that Debussy had with the librettist
for Pellas et Mlisande, Maurice Maeterlinck, the inspiration that Debussy gained, and more
To complete this analysis, I will use a variety of primary and secondary sources. My
primary sources will be useful for an accurate depiction of how the opera was received along
with providing insight from a letter written by Debussy on his thoughts and purpose for
background in music along with serving as the main source of harmonic and symbolic analysis.
Claude Debussy was born in a suburb of Paris to a middle-class family.1 When he was
ten, he began studying at the Paris Conservatoire as a pianist, then as a composer.2 Later in life,
Debussy won the Prix de Rome, a scholarship for talented arts students, in 1884, which led him
1 J. Peter Burkholder, A History of Western Music, 9th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014), p. 792.
2 Burkholder, A History of, p. 792.
3 Burkholder, 792.
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As a mature musician, Debussy began to compose and critique a lot of music.4 Debussy formed
a very unique and an internationally-amalgamated style. Debussy is credited with continuing the
French tradition for sensibility, taste, and restraint under the influence of his mentor, Emmanuel
Chabrier.5 He utilized Russian styles gleaned from Russian composers, Rimsky-Korsakov and
Mussorgsky. Debussy is also known for using medieval techniques, such as parallel organum,
and eastern music genres, such as Javanese gamelan music and Chinese and Japanese melodies.6
Typical of the fin-de-sicle (a brief era at the turn of the twentieth century) style of music,
Debussy used exotic scales; such as whole-tone, octatonic, and pentatonic scales; as a method to
wash out tonality.7 Also typical of this period was the use of the leitmotif. A more detailed
look will be provided later on how Debussy used the leitmotif in Pellas et Mlisande.
1893, and fell in love with the plot and the symbolism surrounding the characters that is buried
deep within the text.8 The libretto, itself, was published in May 1892. A revision was made in
1898, and yet another was published in Maeterlincks Thtre (1901-1902), a three-volume
collection of his plays.9 Debussy began composing utilizing all three of these revisions,10 with the
4 Ibid, p. 792.
5 Ibid, 791.
6 Ibid, 791.
7 Ibid, 791.
8 Victor Lederer, Debussy: The Quiet Revolutionary (New York: Amadeus Press, 2007), p. 43.
9 David Grayson, The Libretto of Debussys Pelleas et Melisande, Music & Letters 66, no. 1 (Jan 1985), p. 34.
10 Ibid, 34.
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first draft of this music-drama being completed in August 1895.11 However, Debussy continued
The plot of the opera resembles that of Wagners Tristan und Isolde. Prince Golaud is lost in a
forest, and comes across Mlisande, who is weeping beside a fountain. Although Golaud is
betrothed to another, he takes Mlisande to be his wife. Golauds half-brother, Pellas meets
Mlisande, and they become enamored with one another. Golaud, now envious, plots to send
Pellas away, but instead murders him and wounds Mlisande. In the conclusion, Mlisande
ultimately dies after giving birth to Golauds son.13 The plot is not so different from that of
nineteenth-century opera, but the symbolic undertones are that of a fin-de-sicle opera.
Debussy actively strived to not be overly influenced by the works of Wagner, and began finding
his own compositional style through experimenting with piano music compositions, Prelude to
The Afternoon of a Faun, and through this opera.14 Maeterlincks libretto presented itself as
all art forms.15 Because of this antithesis, Debussys choice to set the libretto to music inevitably
became a reaction to Wagners Tristan und Isolde.16 He once stated that I have tried to prove
[through this opera] that when people sing they can remain human and natural, without ever
having to look like fools or enigmas.17 Debussy also strived to prove that leitmotifs could be
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used in a more effective way, and successfully did so. More on this will be elaborated in a later
section.
Following the production of the opera, Debussy constantly defended the philosophy
behind his composition. In one instance he stated, My conception of dramatic art is different.
According to mine, music begins where speech fails.18 In another conversation, Debussy stated
that The drama of Pellas which, despite its atmosphere of dreams, contains much more
humanity than so-called real-life documents seemed to suit my intention admirably. It has an
evocative language whose sensitivity could find its extension in music and in orchestral
setting.19 Indeed, the language of his opera was evocative, most specifically evocative of
Debussy uses various techniques in Pellas et Mlisande to give a sense of atmosphere and
mood for the opera. Debussy often used modal harmonies and manipulated timbres to give a
specific color and mood to a scene.20 He also uses a very fluent recitative that was suitable and
flowed along with the French language.21 Above all, Debussy utilized the compositional
The Leitmotif
In the wake of Wagners music, the leitmotiv, a technique where a brief harmonic or melodic
motif indicates a person, a stigma, or other notion, became a popular composition technique, and
18 Bernard Williams, On Opera (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), p. 14.
19 Roger Nichols, Claude Debussy: Pellas et Mlisande (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989), p. 32.
20 Burkholder, A History of, p. 796.
21 Ibid, p. 796.
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Debussy used it grudgingly. In Pellas et Mlisande, two examples of such technique can be
found in the opening act. Debussy introduces a forest theme, using a pentatonic scale, and a
fate theme, which uses the whole-tone scale.22 Moreover, the main characters of the drama;
Debussy strongly opposes using leitmotifs in the way that Wagner did, most commonly referring
to his music drama Tristan und Isolde. Debussy stated that in Pellas et Mlisande, characters
are not subjected to the slavery of the leitmotif, as a blind man is the slave of his poodle or of
his clarinet!...24 Debussy argues that, in contrast with Wagner, the motifs that he utilizes never
change. For instance, the leitmotif used for Mlisande remains the same throughout the entire
opera.25 In the way Debussy modified the leitmotif, the technique served the purpose of setting
the mood rather than as announcements or foreshadowing that one would expect every time its
Pellas et Mlisande comes from the peak years of symbolist poetry.27 In symbolist poetry,
symbols are objects that represent something else, typically concepts. For instance, water is
often used to represent death, or sometimes life to signify a new beginning or a refreshing. This
example was used frequently by both Maeterlinck and Debussy in Pellas et Mlisande.28
Golaud was a prime source of symbolism in the opera. This is apparent from his first words, I
22 Elliot Antokoletz, Musical Symbolism in the Operas of Debussy and Bartk (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2004), p. 62.
23 Carl Dahlhaus, Nineteenth-Century Music (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), p. 350.
24 Piero Weiss, Opera: A History in Documents (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 264.
25 Weiss, Opera, p. 264.
26 Lederer, Debussy, p. 45.
27 Lederer, Debussy, p. 44.
28 Ibid, p. 44.
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shall never get out of this forest, which symbolized mankind.29 Golauds character is symbolic
of wealthy and powerful men whose power is merely superficial.30 For example, in a scene with
Golaud and Mlisande, Mlisande threatens suicide by drowning while Golaud offers to retrieve
her crown from the pond, exclaiming Yet it would be very easy to get it out.31
According to Elliot Antokoletz, this opera is based on the struggle between human desire and
fate. Debussy uses his exotic scales to be symbolic of such things. Diatonicism is used to
represent the sphere of human desire, whereas the whole-tone scale is used to symbolize the
fatalistic sphere.32 Also, Debussy utilizes silence frequently throughout this opera. Dahlhaus
states, Language is nothing but a thin veil covering the silence that reigns between the
charactersThe key moments in the drama are those of a sudden hush, when we sense the abyss
Debussy played an active role in the production of his opera, specifically when it came to
casting. Casting was a troublesome task and ultimately played a role in the reception history of
the opera. Maeterlinck hoped to have his mistress cast as Mlisande.34 However, when the role
went to Scottish soprano Mary Garden, Maeterlinck threatened Debussy, renounced the opera,
and began a lifetime of bitter complaints about Debussy and the opera.35 Debussy had lost the
29 Ibid, p. 45.
30 Antokoletz, Musical Symbolism, p. 60.
31 Ibid, 60.
32 Ibid, 70.
33 Dahlhaus, Nineteenth-Century Music, p. 350.
34 Lederer, Debussy, p. 43.
35 Ibid, 44.
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Pellas et Mlisande was first performed on the evening of April 30, 1902. The public reaction
was generally one of disappointment.36 Many stated that the work was too thin, shapeless, and
incomprehensible, the orchestra lacked body and firmness of texture, [and] the whole was
monotonous.38 During the Rome performance in March 1909, the audience talked loudly and
exchanged sarcastic remarks so much that it became impossible to hear the music.39 The
orchestra counter-demonstrated their acts by wilding cheering the conductor at the conclusion of
the opera.40
Conclusion
Debussys Pellas et Mlisande proved to be nothing more than mediocre. After Pellas et
Mlisande, Debussy worked on several other operas including plots from Edgar Allan Poe stories
and a reactionary opera to Glucks Orfeo ed Euridice.41 He even thought of recomposing Tristan
Though the opera was performed internationally around the turn of the century, the opera
was not well received. However, the innovative harmonic choices and the modification of
Wagners leitmotif makes for a unique composition. Debussy emphasized the importance of
sound itself as an element of music, found throughout the opera in its utilization of manipulated
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timbre and use of silence. This concept would influence later composers such as Varse, Cage,
Debussys aim for Pellas et Mlisande as a reactionary opera to Wagner was well developed
and quite evident. Under heavy criticism, Debussy always retaliated with his philosophy on
musicMusic is intended to convey the inexpressible.44 The symbolism found in the opera
Like Beethovens Fidelio, Debussys opera made its way into the opera repertory as the only of
its composer. The importance of the philosophy of music is perhaps the most vital aspect of the
drama.
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Works Cited
Antokoletz, Elliot. Musical Symbolism in the Operas of Debussy and Bartk. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2004.
Burkholder, J. Peter. A History of Western Music, 9th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
2014.
Goehr, Lydia. Radical Modernism and the Failure of Style: Philosophical Reflections on
Maeterlinck-Debussys Pellas et Mlisande, Representations, Vol. 74, No. 1 (2001):
55-82.
Grayson, David. The Libretto of Debussys Pelleas et Melisande, Music & Letters Vol. 66,
No. 1 (Jan., 1985): 34-50.
Lederer, Victor. Debussy: The Quiet Revolutionary. New York: Amadeus Press, 2007.
Nichols, Roger. Claude Debussy: Pellas et Mlisande. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1989.
Weiss, Piero. Opera: A History in Documents. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.