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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 to a French libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck that almost exactly follows his famous symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande. It received its first performance at the Opéra Comique in Paris in 1902.
Pelléas et Mélisande is often called an Impressionist opera, though others believe this flies in the face of the explicit conducting instructions left by Debussy. It concerns the forbidden, doomed love of the title characters. It is part of the standard operatic repertoire. Numerous recordings of it exist, and it is regularly performed, though opera-goers generally see it as one of the least immediately-accessible operas.
Characters
- Principal roles
- 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
Setting
- Time: The Middle Ages.
- Place: The Kingdom of Allemande.de:Pelléas et Mélisande
es:Pelléas et Mélisande (ópera) it:Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)