Pelléas et Mélisande (Sibelius)
Encyclopedia
Pelléas et Mélisande, is incidental music
in ten parts written in 1905 by Jean Sibelius
, for Maurice Maeterlinck
's 1892 drama Pelléas et Mélisande
. Sibelius later on slightly rearranged the music into an nine movement suite
, published as Op. 46, which became one of his most popular works for the theater.
The opening movement of the suite for orchestra is called "At the Castle Gate." The strings introduce an atmospheric, brief theme, which is then restated with help from the woodwind. This introduction is closed by austere chords. This section is familiar to British television viewers as the theme of the BBC
's long-running monthly astronomy programme The Sky At Night
, presented by Patrick Moore
.
Then the character Mélisande is introduced with characteristically strong material presented by a cor anglais
solo. This is succeeded by a brief intermezzo, "At the Seashore," which Sibelius regarded as dispensable in concert performances.
The strings present the dense sonorities of the melodic material of "A Spring in the Park," which is followed by the "Three Blind Sisters," in which another cor anglais solo is answered by monolithic orchestral harmonies.
The sixth movement, "Pastorale," is scored for woodwind and string instruments and exhibits the subtlety of chamber music.
The seventh, "Mélisande at the Spinning Wheel," presents the largest and most dramatic image heard so far, which is followed by an Entracte. This immense movement could serve as a symphonic finale in its own right but the pace of the drama demands an epilogue. With the moving "The Death of Mélisande," the tragic story of the doomed love affair reaches its conclusion.
Sibelius later made a transcription of the suite for solo piano, excluding the 'At the Seashore' movement.
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
in ten parts written in 1905 by Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
, for Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
's 1892 drama Pelléas et Mélisande
Pelléas and Mélisande
Pelléas and Mélisande is a Symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck about the forbidden, doomed love of the title characters. It was first performed in 1893....
. Sibelius later on slightly rearranged the music into an nine movement suite
Suite
In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
, published as Op. 46, which became one of his most popular works for the theater.
Movements of the Suite
- At the Castle Gate
- Mélisande
- At the Seashore
- A Spring in the Park
- The Three Blind Sisters
- Pastorale
- Mélisande at the Spinning Wheel
- Entr'acte
- The Death of Mélisande
The opening movement of the suite for orchestra is called "At the Castle Gate." The strings introduce an atmospheric, brief theme, which is then restated with help from the woodwind. This introduction is closed by austere chords. This section is familiar to British television viewers as the theme of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's long-running monthly astronomy programme The Sky At Night
The Sky at Night
The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show has had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first airing on 24 April 1957, making it the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history.The...
, presented by Patrick Moore
Patrick Moore
Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...
.
Then the character Mélisande is introduced with characteristically strong material presented by a cor anglais
Cor anglais
The cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....
solo. This is succeeded by a brief intermezzo, "At the Seashore," which Sibelius regarded as dispensable in concert performances.
The strings present the dense sonorities of the melodic material of "A Spring in the Park," which is followed by the "Three Blind Sisters," in which another cor anglais solo is answered by monolithic orchestral harmonies.
The sixth movement, "Pastorale," is scored for woodwind and string instruments and exhibits the subtlety of chamber music.
The seventh, "Mélisande at the Spinning Wheel," presents the largest and most dramatic image heard so far, which is followed by an Entracte. This immense movement could serve as a symphonic finale in its own right but the pace of the drama demands an epilogue. With the moving "The Death of Mélisande," the tragic story of the doomed love affair reaches its conclusion.
Sibelius later made a transcription of the suite for solo piano, excluding the 'At the Seashore' movement.