Pelléas et Mélisande

Th e Symbolist Maurice Maeterlinck’s texts had a significant impact on the art scene at the turn of the 20th century: For instance, within a few years of each other, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg and Jean Sibelius all produced musical settings of Pelléas et Mélisande. In 1904, Sibelius composed incidental music for the play, focusing on the forbidden love between Pelléas and the already married Mélisande. The Finnish premiere of the production featuring Sibelius’s music was given on 17 March 1905 with the composer conducting, and was considered the theatre event of the year. Sibelius’s incidental music consists of seven intermezzos, two melodramas and a song. Unlike other musical settings of the play, Sibelius does not produce dramatic portraits of the principal characters, instead focusing on a more general framework for the subsequent action. Only the elegiac voice of the cor anglais can be clearly associated with Mélisande. The orchestral suite Pelléas et Mélisande is a compilation of the instrumental sections of Sibelius’s incidental music without the vocal part. The poignant final movement Mélisande’s death is a popular encore piece in concert performances.