poetic and pictorial ensemble which completely fascinates and enchains
the mind. The result would have been as inconceivable before Maeterlinck
undertook the writing of drama as, to-day, it is inimitable and
untouched.


ITS ACTION

Maeterlinck's play, as adapted by Debussy for musical setting, becomes a
"lyric drama in five acts and twelve tableaux." Certain portions have
been left out--as the scenes, at the beginning of Act I and Act V, in
which the servingwomen of the castle appear; the fourth scene of Act II,
in which Pelléas is persuaded by Arkël to postpone his journey to the
bedside of his dying friend Marcellus; the opening scene of Act III,
between Pelléas, Mélisande, and Yniold. Numerous passages that are
either not essential to the development of the action, or that do not
invite musical transmutation, have been curtailed or omitted, with the
result that the movement of the drama has been compressed and
accelerated throughout. In outlining very briefly the action of the
play (which should be read in the original by all who would know
Debussy's setting of it) I shall adhere to the slightly altered version
which forms the actual text of the opera.

The characters are these:

ARKËL, _King of Allemonde_
PELLÉAS & GOLAUD, _half-brothers, grandsons of_ ARKËL
MÉLISANDE, _an unknown princess; later the bride of_ GOLAUD
LITTLE YNIOLD, _Son of_ GOLAUD _by a former marriage_
GENEVIÈVE, _Mother of_ PELLÉAS _and_ GOLAUD