Pelléas et Mélisande: the first performance

The public dress rehearsal of Pelléas et Mélisande at the Opéra-Comique on 28 April 1902 must have been a painful experience for Debussy – who had waited seven years to see his opera staged and had been working with the company nearly every day since the middle of January. Perhaps the worst moment was the reaction to Mélisande’s confession to Golaud, “Je ne suis pas heureuse ici” (I am not happy here) in Act II Scene 2: “Nous non plus!” (Nor are we!) was the reply from the audience. As well as that, they were to be irritated by Yniold’s constant appeals to his “Petite père” in Act III Scene 4 and disturbed by Golaud’s bullying of the little boy into spying on Pelléas and Mélisande in the same scene. By the fourth act, however, the signs were more favourable and the fifth went particularly well.

Although the censor had insisted on a small cut in that scene with Golaud and Yniold, Debussy could be happy with the success of the official first night two days later. Messager departed for London after conducting only the first three nights but, thanks not least to Mary Garden’s magical Mélisande, the box office registered a profit on most of the initial run of 14 performances – all of which were conscientiously attended by Ravel and like-minded progressive companions eager to outnumber those who jeered at the work and could find “no music” in it. Saint-Saëns, who represented an older generation, cancelled his holiday so that he could stay in Paris and boo Debussy’s opera. But neither he nor those of a similar opinion could prevent a revival of Pelléas in October nor, indeed, its presentation in nearly every season at the Opéra-Comique from 1902 to 1914, by which time it had achieved more than 100 performances.

Gerald Larner © 2008