Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)

For other works with the same title, see Pelléas et Mélisande.

Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera by Claude Debussy. It received its first performance in Paris in 1902 and is part of the standard operatic repertoire. Numerous recordings of it exist and it is regularly performed, though opera-goers generally see it as one of the least immediately-accessible operas.

Pelléas et Mélisande is often called an Impressionist opera, though others believe this flies in the face of the explicit conducting instructions left by Debussy.

The current Metropolitan Opera production premiered on March 23, 1995. It was directed by Jonathan Miller, with production by John Conklin. Dwane Croft and Frederica von Stade sang the title roles. The production was conducted by James Levine. It was revived in the 1999–2000, 2000–2001 and 2004–2005 seasons.

The opera is based on a famous Symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck, Pelléas et Mélisande, about the forbidden, doomed love of the title characters.