Psychological Slow Burn: Debussy's 'Pelléas and Mélisande'

WOO-1232-Pelleas-300-When the word "operatic" is used to describe something other than opera, it's usually not something that could also be called subtle -- and that's hardly surprising.


And that's not to mention the emotional content of opera, which is also famous for excess, portraying extremes of passion, vengeance and pure hatred. The list goes on and on. Take Verdi's Rigoletto, who pays an assassin who inadvertently kills Rigoletto's own daughter, then dumps the corpse at her father's feet in a burlap sack. Then there's Puccini's Tosca. She stabs the bad guy, then watches the results with increasing satisfaction, all the while urging him to choke on his own blood. It's no wonder that at least one dictionary defines the term "operatic" as "histrionic or implausible."



In Pelleas, Debussy defied opera's conventions -- or at least its stereotypes. The drama is murky, played out in a moody world of muted colors and subtle tension. There's very little that's extreme. But when it comes to intensity, Debussy had that covered from beginning to end. The whole opera is a sort of psychological, slow burn.

On World of Opera, Lisa Simeone presents Pelléas and Mélisande, Debussy's only completed opera, from one of music's premiere events, the 2012 Proms Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Soprano Karen Vourc'h and baritone Phillip Addis star in the title roles and the production also features the Revolutionary and Romantic Orchestra, with conductor John Eliot Gardiner.