to know whether she was unfaithful go unanswered as her life ebbs away.
Music and Background
One of the greatest and most beautiful of 20th-century operas, Pelléas et Mélisande can also be one of the most maddening, in that it sets Maeterlinck’s story in such muted, enigmatic and elusive terms. As the short, often inconclusive scenes waft delicately by, you feel you want to shake the characters into livelier reactions and the music into more obvious climaxes. But then, this is symbolist drama: a thing of dream-like nuance rather than emphatic statement. With motifs tied to specific characters and orchestral interludes (not always played) between the scenes, it owes a debt to Wagner, whose influence Debussy tried and failed to resist. Tristan und Isolde is a clear point of reference. But the Wagnerism in Pelléas et Mélisande is purified, its opulence refined down to more modest, simple terms and a kind of unadorned word-setting, halfway between speech and chant, with one note per syllable. The role of Pelléas requires a peculiarly light, high-lying baritone to bring it off stylistically.
Highlights
With no arias and such general restraint, it would be misleading to call anything here a ‘highlight’, but the loss of the ring in Act II and Golaud’s use of the child Yniold to spy on Mélisande are, in different ways, disturbing moments.
Did You Know?
Recommended Recording
Francois Le Roux, Maria Ewing, José van Dam, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Claudio Abbado. DG 435 344-2. The best all-round cast, the best orchestral sound, and conducting of clear, focused elegance.
(1836–91)
Lakmé (1883)
Brought up in Paris, Delibes studied at the Conservatoire there and felt the lure of the theatre early on as a boy chorister at the Paris Opéra. But it was as a composer for the ballet that he made a lasting reputation, with works like Coppélia (1870) and Sylvia (1876), which remain classics of the genre. His vocal style was formed in operetta, writing for Offenbach’s theatre the Bouffes-Parisiens, and its hallmarks remained lightweight elegance and wit. Only one serious opera survives in repertory.
FORM: Opera in three acts; in French
COMPOSER: Léo Delibes (1836–91)
LIBRETTO: Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille; after Loti’s novel
FIRST PERFORMANCE: Paris, 14 April 1883
Principal Characters
Lakmé
Mallika, her slave
Hadji, her servant
Nilakantha, Lakmé’s father, a Brahmin priest
Gérald, a British officer
Frédéric, a British officer
Synopsis of the Plot
Setting: Imperial India; 19th century
ACT I Gérald, his fiancée and other friends, are wandering near Nilakantha’s home when they come across the temple, breaking down a bamboo fence to gain access. Gérald is left behind, sketching, as the others move on and is seen by Lakmé and Mallika. Gérald is instantly entranced by the beautiful Lakmé, who responds to his fervour, although her main concern is his safety; her father harbours an implacable hatred for the British occupiers of India. Gérald disappears through the broken fence as they hear Nilakantha returning. Nilakantha notices the damage and swears vengeance on those who had dared to profane his sacred ground.
ACT II While visiting the market Gérald hears Lakmé singing – a trap devised by her father to catch the man who desecrated his garden, attracted there, he believes, by Lakmé’s beauty. When Lakmé sees Gérald she faints and he rushes to her side. Nilakantha stabs him.
ACT III Helped by Hadji, Lakmé has taken Gérald to a secret hideaway. But Frédéric has followed the wounded officer and, when Lakmé goes to fetch water from the sacred spring, he appeals to Gérald to leave with the regiment that night. Gérald agrees. When she returns, bringing the water that, when drunk by lovers, assures them of everlasting love, Lakmé senses his change of heart. She takes a leaf from the poisonous datura tree and bites it, before they drink the water together. Gérald is broken-hearted when she dies, but her father, knowing that his beloved daughter will have eternal life, accepts her death with equanimity.
Music and Background
While Lakmé’s plot has the sort of exotic setting fashionable at that time, the music is uncommonly well-written and fresh-sounding for a score that doesn’t attempt anything particularly radical. The models are Massenet and Bizet, and its decorous melodies sing out in strictly formal, self-contained numbers as though Wagner had never existed. But no matter. With appealingly restrained touches of oriental colour and enchanting lyricism it remains a winner with audiences and singers alike. Most of the great sopranos with a claim to coloratura – the ability to negotiate highly decorative vocal lines – have been drawn to the title role.
Highlights
The famous Act I ‘Flower Duet’ for Lakmé and Mallika is a celebration of the female voice, spinning embroidered skeins of song in long, unbroken, creamily seductive measures. Lakmé’s Act II ‘Bell Song’ is a showpiece aria.
Did You Know?
Recommended Recording
Joan Sutherland, Alain Vanzo, Monte Carlo Opera/Richard Bonynge. Decca 425 485-2. Sutherland in glorious form, even if you don’t get the consonants.
(1797–1848)