French Pieces’ Names – Pelléas et Mélisande
Yesterday, somebody Googled Pelleas et Melisande Pronunciation and landed on I Care if You Listen. I felt so bad that the audio file was not yet available that I immediately prepared this post, the second exception to the French Composers’s Names series…
The MP3 below features the only pronunciation of the title of Debussy’s opera I’ve ever heard—and always used—although after a brief search on the interwebs, it seems that people sometimes pronounce Melisande with a Z sound instead of an S.
Stéphane Degout (Pelléas) et Elena Tsallagova (Mélisande) – Photo by Charles Duprat
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Link to MP3 – ICIYL – Pelléas et Mélisande
Funny anecdote about Debussy and Pelleas, recalled by Jean Cocteau in 1921 and quoted in Robert Orledge’s Satie the Composer:
One evening Debussy and Satie found themselves seated at the same table. They found each other pleasant. Satie asked Debussy what he was preparing. Debussy, like everyone, was composing a Wagnerie, with Catulle Mendes. Satie made a grimace. ‘Believe me’, he murmured, ‘we have enough of Wagner. Quite beautiful; but not of our stock. We should … (Here I ask the greatest attention. I have cited a phrase of Satie which was told to me by Debussy, and which decided the aesthetic of Pelleas) … We should see to it’, he said, ‘that the orchestra does not grimace when characters enter on the scene. Look here: do the trees of the scenery grimace? We should make a musical scenery, create a musical climate where the personages move and speak – not in couplets, not in leit-motifs: but by the use of a certain atmosphere of Puvis de Chavannes.’
Think of the time [of] which I am speaking. Puvis de Chavannes was one of the audacious mocked by the Right.
‘And you Satie’, asked Debussy. ‘What are you preparing?’
‘I’, said Satie, ‘I am thinking of the Princesse Maleine; but I do not know how to obtain the authorization of Maeterlinck.’
Some days afterwards, Debussy, having obtained the authorization of Maeterlinck, commenced Pelleas et Melisande.
Oh, Erik. You were as badass as your final K.
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April 20th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
I seem once again to be very far behind in my reading here! I am so pleased you do this from time to time. I remember when I was to have a conversation with a composer I was meeting for the first time, and one of the topics was Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps. I searched and search for audio pronunciation–I’m not sure where I found it–then practiced to make sure I didn’t goof up. So, you see, I have a real investment in this sort of thing! Now, this one, I think isn’t too hard, but I’d love to hear your pronunciation: Germaine Tailleferre. And for that matter, the name of the group of which she was a part: Les Six.
April 20th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
Thank you so much Susan! And thanks for the suggestion! I’ve already covered one of Les Six (Poulenc) but it’s a good idea to finish the series! I will start with Germaine Tailleferre.
Thanks again for your support!