The Complete Opera Book Part 90

Lucienne Breval as Salammbo]

PELLeAS ET MeLISANDE

Opera in five acts (12 scenes). Music by Debussy; text by Maurice Maeterlinck. Produced: Paris, April 30, 1902. New York, February 19, 1908.

CHARACTERS

ARKEL, King of Allemonde _Ba.s.s_ GENOVEVA, mother of Pelleas and Golo _Alto_ PELLeAS } King Arkel's { _Tenor_ GOLO } grandsons { _Baritone_ MeLISANDE _Soprano_ LITTLE YNIOLD, Golo's son by first marriage _A child's voice_ A PHYSICIAN _Ba.s.s_

Act I. Scene I. In a forest. _Golo_ while hunting has lost his way following a wild boar and come to a place unknown to him. There he sees a woman sitting by a spring. She acts like a figure in a fairy tale and behaves like a person stranger to and isolated from the world. Finally _Golo_ succeeds in inducing _Melisande_--she at last tells him her name after being urged--to follow him out of the dark woods.

Scene II. A room in the castle. _Genoveva_ is reading to the aged, almost blind _King Arkel_ a letter which _Golo_ has written to his half-brother _Pelleas_. From this letter we learn that _Golo_ has already been married six months to the mysterious _Melisande_. He has great love for his wife, about whom, however, he knows no more today than he did at first in the woods. So he fears that his grandfather, the _King_, may not forgive him for this union and asks _Pelleas_ to give him a sign in case the _King_ is ready "to honour the stranger as his daughter." Otherwise he will steer the keel of his s.h.i.+p to the most remote land. _King Arkel_ has arrived at that time of life when the wisdom of experience tends to make one forgiving toward everything that happens. So he pardons _Golo_ and commissions his grandson _Pelleas_ to give his brother the sign agreed upon.

Scene III. Before the castle. The old queen _Genoveva_ seeks to calm _Melisande's_ distress at the gloominess of the world into which she has wandered. _Pelleas_ too is there. He would like to go to see a distant friend who is ill but fate holds him here. Or rather have not chains been wound about the twain of which they yet have no antic.i.p.ation?

Act II. Scene IV. A fountain in the park. _Pelleas_ and _Melisande_ have arrived at this thickly shaded spot. Is _Melisande_ a Melusine-like creature? Water attracts her wonderfully. She bends over her reflection. Because she cannot reach it, she is tempted to play with the ring that _Golo_ sent her. It slips from her hand and sinks.

Scene V. There must have been some peculiar condition attached to the ring. At the same hour that it fell in the fountain _Golo's_ horse s.h.i.+ed while hunting so that he was hurt and now lies wounded in bed.

_Melisande_ is taking care of him. She tells _Golo_ that she did not feel well the day before. She is oppressed by a certain foreboding, she does not know what it is. _Golo_ seizes her hands to console her and sees that the ring is missing. Then he drives her out into the night to look for it. "Sooner would I give away everything I have, my fortune and goods, rather than have lost the precious ring." _Pelleas_ will help her.

Scene VI. Before a grotto in the rocks. _Melisande_ has deceived _Golo_ by telling him that the ring has slipped from her hand into the sea. So _Pelleas_ must now lead her to this grotto in order that she may know at least the place in which she can claim that she lost the ring. A dreadful place in which the shudder of death stalks.

Act III. Scene VII. A tower in the castle. At the window of the tower _Melisande_ is standing combing her hair that she has let down. Then _Pelleas_ comes along the road that winds around under her window.

_Pelleas_ is coming to say farewell. Early the next morning he is going away. So _Melisande_ will at least once more reach out her hand to him that he may press it to his lips. Love weaves a web about the twain with an ever thicker netting without their noticing it. Their hands do not touch but as _Melisande_ leans forward so far her long hair falls over _Pelleas's_ head and fills the youth with pa.s.sionate feelings. Their words become warmer--then _Golo_ comes near and reproves their "childishness."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Copyright photo by Davis & Sanford Co.

Mary Garden as Melisande in "Pelleas and Melisande"]

Scene VIII. In the vault under the castle. Like a gloomy menace _Golo_ leads _Pelleas_ into these underground rooms where the breeze of death blows. Seized with shuddering they go out. On the terrace at the entrance to the vault _Golo_ in earnest words warns _Pelleas_ to keep away from _Melisande_ and to refrain from confidential conversations with her.

Scene IX. Before the castle. In vain _Golo_ has sought to quiet himself by saying that it was all only childishness. Jealousy devours his heart. So now he seeks with hypocritical calm his little son _Yniold_, offspring of his first marriage, to inquire about the intimacy of _Pelleas_ and _Melisande_. The child cannot tell him of anything improper yet _Golo_ feels how it is with the couple. And he feels that he himself is old, much older than _Pelleas_ and _Melisande_.

Act IV. Scene X. In a room in the castle _Pelleas_ and _Melisande_ meet. This evening he must see her. She promises to go in the park to the old fountain where she formerly lost the ring. It will be their last meeting. Yet _Melisande_ does not understand what is driving the youth away. The old _King Arkel_ enters the room. The aged man has taken _Melisande_ to his heart. He feels that the young wife is unhappy. Now _Golo_ also enters. He can scarcely remain master of his inner commotion. The sight of his wife, who appears the picture of innocence, irritates him so much that he finally in a mad rage throws her on her knees and drags her across the room by her hair.

Scene XI. By the old spring in the park. There is an oppressive feeling of disaster in the air. Only little _Yniold_ does not suffer this gripping burden. It is already growing dark when _Melisande_ goes to _Pelleas_. And yet in their farewell, perhaps also on account of _Golo's_ outburst of anger, the couple clearly see what has caused their condition. And there comes over them something like the affirmation of death and the joy of dying. How fate shuts the gates upon them; like a fate they see _Golo_ coming. They rejoice in the idea of death. _Pelleas_ falls by _Golo's_ sword, _Melisande_ flees from her husband's pursuit into the night.

Act V. Scene XII. A room in the castle. _Melisande_ lies stretched out in bed. _Arkel_, _Golo_, and the physician are conversing softly in the room. No; _Melisande_ is not dying from the insignificant wound _Golo_ has given her. Perhaps her life will be saved. She awakes as if from dreaming. Everything that has happened is like a dream to her.

Desperately _Golo_ rushes to her couch, begs her pardon, and asks her for the truth. He is willing to die too but before his death he wants to know whether she had betrayed him with _Pelleas_. She denies it.

_Golo_ presses her so forcibly and makes her suffer so that she is near death. Then earthly things fall away from her as if her soul were already free. It is not possible to bring her back now. The aged _Arkel_ offers the last services for the dying woman, to make the way free for her soul escaping from earthly pain and the burden of the tears of persons left behind.

APHRODITE

A lyric drama in five acts and seven scenes after the story by Pierre Lous. Adapted by Louis de Gramont. Music by Camille Erlanger. First given at the Opera Comique, Paris, March 23, 1906, with Mary Garden as _Chrysis_, Leon Beyle as _Demetrios_, Gustave Huberdeau as the _Jailor_, Mmes.

Mathieu-Lutz and Demellin as _Myrto_ and _Rhodis_, and Claire Friche as _Bacchis_.

CHARACTERS

DeMeTRIOS _Tenor_ TIMON _Baritone_ PHILODeME _Tenor_ LE GRAND PReTRE _Ba.s.s_ CALLIDeS _Ba.s.s_ LE GEoLIER _Ba.s.s_ CHRYSIS _Soprano_ BACCHIS _Mezzo-Soprano_ MYRTO _Soprano_ RHODIS _Mezzo-Soprano_ CHIMARIS _Mezzo-Soprano_ SeSO _Soprano_

Act I. The wharf at Alexandria. Act II. The temple of Aphrodite. Act III. At the house of _Bacchis_. Act IV. The studio of _Demetrios_. Act V. Scene I. The lighthouse; Scene II. The prison; Scene III. The garden of Hermanubis.

Act I. The throng moves back and forth on the crowded wharf. There are young people, courtesans, philosophers, sailors, beggars, fruit-sellers. _Rhodis_ and _Myrto_ play on their flutes while _Theano_ dances. _Demetrios_ the sculptor approaches and leans on the parapet overlooking the sea. The Jewess _Chimaris_, a fortune-teller, reads his hand. She tells him that she sees past happiness and love in the future, but that this love will be drowned first in the blood of one woman, then in that of a second, and finally in his own.

_Chrysis_, a beautiful courtesan, appears on the wharf. _Demetrios_ wishes to follow her, but she declines his advances. To possess her he must bring her three gifts, the silver mirror of _Bacchis_, the courtesan, the ivory comb of _Touni_, wife of the High Priest, and the pearl necklace clasped around the neck of the statue of the G.o.ddess Aphrodite in the temple. _Demetrios_ is appalled but swears to fulfil her wishes. She embraces him and disappears.

In Act II the temple guards and eunuchs perform their sacred offices.

_Demetrios_ enters the temple. He has committed two of the three crimes. He has stolen the mirror from _Bacchis_ and stabbed Touni to take her comb. The celebration of the first day of the Aphrodisiacs begins. Courtesans bring offerings to the G.o.ddess. _Rhodis_ and _Myrto_ bring a caged dove. _Chrysis_ hands the High Priest her bronze mirror, her copper comb, and her emerald necklace, as offerings. When the crowd leaves the temple, _Demetrios_ s.n.a.t.c.hes the necklace from the statue and disappears.

Act III shows the feast and the baccha.n.a.le at the house of _Bacchis_.

The theft of the mirror is discovered. _Corinna_, a slave, is accused and crucified. _Chrysis_ is inwardly exultant that her wish has been obeyed.

In Act IV _Chrysis_ goes to _Demetrios_ to receive the gifts and to bestow the reward. _Demetrios_, mad with pa.s.sion, clasps her in his embrace. The clamour without reminds him of his misdeed. In a fit of disgust he demands that the beautiful woman shall not h.o.a.rd her treasures in secret, but appear in public decked with them, as an atonement. He sends her away.

On the island of the lighthouse of Alexandria the crowds discuss the theft of the mirror and the crucifixion of _Corinna_. _Timon_ announces the slaying of Touni and the stealing of her comb. _Chrysis_ appears wrapped in a long mantle. The sacred courtesans and the temple guards announce the theft of the jewels from the temple. Suddenly _Chrysis_ appears on the highest balcony of the lighthouse, the stolen comb in her hair, the mirror in her hand, and the necklace about her throat. Disclosed in a flash of lightning the crowds think it is the G.o.ddess in person. Soon they realize the truth and _Chrysis_ is seized and taken to prison.

The _Jailor_ brings a poisoned goblet to her cell. She drinks--_Demetrios_ arrives too late, to find her dead.

Her friends, _Myrto_ and _Rhodis_, bury her body in the Garden of Hermanubis.

L'ATTAQUE DU MOULIN

THE ATTACK ON THE MILL

This is a four-act music-drama by Alfred Bruneau, the libretto by Louis Gallet, based on a story from Zola's "Soirees de Medan." It was produced at the Opera Comique, Paris, November 23, 1893, and in this country in 1908.

The tale is an episode of the Franco-Prussian War. In the first act we see the betrothal of _Francoise_, daughter of the miller, _Merlier_, to _Dominique_. The _Town Crier_ announces the declaration of war.

In the second act the mill is attacked and captured by the Germans.

_Dominique_ is made a prisoner and locked in the mill. _Francoise_ gets a knife to him. While (in the third act) the girl engages the attention of the sentinel, _Dominique_ makes his way out of the mill, kills the sentinel, and escapes. In the fourth act the French, guided by _Dominique_, return. But just as they enter, with _Dominique_ at their head, the Germans shoot _Merlier_ before his daughter's eyes.

In writing about his theories of the lyric drama, Bruneau, who was regarded as a promising follower of Wagner, used these words: "It is music uniting itself intimately to the poetry ... the orchestra comments upon the inward thoughts of the different characters."

Wagnerian--but also requiring the genius of a Wagner.

ARIANE ET BARBE-BLEUE

ARIADNE AND BLUE-BEARD

Opera in three acts, by Paul Dukas; text by Maurice Maeterlinck. Produced in New York, March 3, 1911.

CHARACTERS

BLUE-BEARD _Ba.s.s_ ARIANE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Soprano_ THE NURSE _Contralto_ SeLYSETTE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Mezzo-Soprano_ YGRAINE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Soprano_ MeLISANDE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Soprano_ BELLANGeRE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Soprano_ ALLAINE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Acting Role_ AN OLD PEASANT _Ba.s.s_