November 8, 10(m), 13 & 16, 2024, 2024
Winspear Opera House
Dallas, Texas – USA
Claude DEBUSSY: Pelléas and Mélisande
Ludovic Morlot, conductor; Jetske Mijnssen, original director; Kathleen Smith Belcher, revival director. Claude Debussy, composer; of Maurice Maeterlinck, librettist. Cast: Edward Nelson (Pelleas), Lauren Snouffer (Melisande), Nicolas Courjal (Golaud), Sir Willard White (Arkel), Katharine Goeldner (Genevieve), Benjamin Bjorklund (Yniold), Brian Post (A Shepherd), Ben Brady (A Physician). Creative: Ben Baur, costume designer; Bernd Purkrabek, lighting designer; Andrew May, revival lighting director; Dustin Klein, choreographer; Paolo Bressan, chorus director; David Zimmerman, wig and make-up designer.
Gregory Sullivan Isaacs | 11 NOV 2024
On Friday night at the Winspear Opera House, Debussy’s amorphous opera, Pelléas and Mélisande, received its Dallas premiere after a century-plus wait. That is an inexcusably long wait for a major American opera house to present what is universally considered a seminal masterpiece in music history.
However, it is rarely produced, even in its birth country of France. Recently, some productions have popped up in major venues, such as Santa Fe, and some outliers, like the Des Moines Metro Opera. In fact, that conveniently recent Iowa staging supplied Dallas with two last-minute replacement cast members: baritone Edward Nelson as Pelléas and boy soprano Benjamin Bjorklund as Yniold.
The opera is based on a play by the symbolist writer Maurice Maeterlinck. He was part of an artistic movement in the late 1890s that only inferred actual events by the use of representative symbols. Thus, the text is purposely vague and less interested in what is actually happening than in its effect on the characters. That said, at its core, the plot is a familiar retelling of the traditional love triangle that dates back to the beginnings of the theater – a jealous husband, an ignored wife, and an illicit lover.
Before discussing the staging, let me unconditionally state that musically, this is a superb production of an astonishing masterpiece. The Dallas Opera’s orchestra was sensational throughout. Guest conductor Ludovic Morlot displayed a rare mastery of Debussy’s elusive score. The singers were equally outstanding.
As Pelléas, Nelson is as handsome physically as he is vocally. It is no wonder that Lauren Snouffer’s delicate and fragile Mélisande prefers him to Nicolas Courjal’s brutal portrayal of Golaund, his gruff, sadistic, and explosive half-brother. I should mention that it was Golaund who found Mélisande wandering aimlessly by a pond, which is missing in this production, with no memory of how she got there. He promptly married her.
The rest of the cast was also superior. However, both Willard White’s Arkel and Benjamin Bjorklund’s Yniold were hard to hear. Not so with Ben Brady’s rich, creamy portrayal of the physician. Katharine Goeldner brought pathos to her role as Geneviève. The briefly heard off-stage chorus, under the direction of Paolo Bressan, added some additional mystery.
However…
Both the play and opera are purposely vague and hard to follow, even more so in this bizarre presentation. It was imported from a recent production in Munich’s Bavarian State Opera, originally directed by Jetske Mijnssen, with minimal sets and lush costumes by Ben Baur. Here, the action moves the opera from its nature-based settings, such as forests and ponds, to a stiff, vacant, black and white, 1920’s bourgeoisie. Water, which is ever present in the play, appears as a trough in the front of the stage (invisible to the audience seated in the orchestra level until some of the characters splashed around in it).
In general, the production left the audience, even those familiar with the opera, bewildered from start to finish. Even if you forgave the stark black-and-white interior stage settings, framed like paintings, some other details of the plot were ignored.
For example, the important settings of forests and ponds were missing and the action was moved indoors. Even though Golaud kills Pelléas, he remains alive to the end, holding Mélisande’s premature baby. Her death, supposedly from childbirth, was barely noticed. Other peripheral characters were missing.
Debussy’s opera is hailed as the complete opposite of Wagner’s immense musical dramas, which are crammed with overly complex scores and a profusion of details. However, adding just a few more details in the current staging might have helped us better understand the proceedings. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- The Dallas Opera: dallasopera.org
- Ludovic Morlot: owlartistmanagement.co.uk/talents/yaritzaveliz
- Edward Nelson: edwardnelsonmusic.com
- Lauren Snouffer: etudearts.com/artists/lauren-snouffer
- Nicolas Courjal: do-opera.com/artists/nicolas-courjal
Read more by Gregory Sullivan Isaacs.
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