Pelleas und Melisande (Schoenberg)

Instrumentation#

The symphonic poem is scored for a large orchestra with the following instruments. Woodwinds : piccolo : : : English horn : E clarinet : : bass clarinet : 3 bassoons : contrabassoon Brass : 8 horns in F : 4 trumpets in E and F : alto trombone : 4 tenor-bass trombones : tuba Percussion : timpani (2 players) : triangle : cymbals : tam-tam : large tenor drum : bass drum : glockenspiel Strings : 4 harps : violins I : violins II : violas : cellos : double basses

Structure#

The work is in the key of D minor, and is an example of Schoenberg’s early tonal works. It is one continuous movement which comprises many inter-related sections. The major sections are delineated by the following tempo markings: * Die Achtel ein wenig bewegt – zögernd * Heftig * Lebhaft * Sehr rasch * Ein wenig bewegt * Langsam * Ein wenig bewegter * Sehr langsam * Etwas bewegt * In gehender Bewegung * Breit Alban Berg provided a formal outline demonstrating a combination four-movement symphonic form and a single movement sonata form with connections to scenes from the Maeterlinck play. Theme groups, similar to the leitmotif, which are associated with individual scenes or people, form the building-blocks of a symphonic development, which has its beginning in the forest scene introducing the first movement, where Golaud meets Melisande and they marry, and continues on through the inner segments of the Scherzo, which portrays the scene at the fountain where Melisande loses her wedding ring and encounters with Golaud’s half-brother Pelleas, and Adagio, which portrays the farewell and love scene of Pelleas and Melisande, where Golaud kills Pelleas, and leads to the recapitulation of the thematic material in the Finale, which portrays the death of Melisande. In a letter to his brother-in-law, Alexander Zemlinsky, who wanted to make cuts in Pelleas for a Prague performance he was to conduct in 1918, Schoenberg summarized the fundamental anchoring points of this work: “the opening motif (12/8) is linked to Melisande”, which is followed by the “fate motif”, and the Scherzo contains “the game with the ring”, the Adagio the “scene with Melisande’s Hair”, and the “love scene; … the dying Melisande” and “entrance of the ladies in waiting, Melisande’s death” in the finale. Melisande’s themes are based on a three-note motive : \new Staff \with \remove “Time_signature_engraver” \relative c’ \clef bass \override Stem #’transparent = ##t a4 bes b common to several themes in the work. : \relative c’ \clef bass \time 12/8 \key d \minor \tempo “Melisande 1” \partial 84 a8\p\ f4!) c'8(\ aes4!) \relative c \clef treble \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \key d \minor \tempo “Melisande 2” \partial 81 aes8( g4 fis bes, c8 des d2 fis,4) The first Melisande theme is followed immediately by the “fate” theme. : \relative c \clef bass \key d \minor \time 12/8 \tempo “Fate” \partial 161 d16 cis'4.->~ cis4~ cis16) ais fis4.~ fis8 : \relative c’ \clef treble \key d \minor \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \tempo “Golaud” \partial 41 d(~ d8. fis16) fis4. b,8( e4~ e a,) After a forceful statement of the fate theme Pelleas’ motif (which contains the three note motive from Melisande’s theme) is introduced. : \relative c \clef treble \key e \major \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \tempo “Pelleas” \partial 4*3 b e,4. e'8 dis4-> ais4. dis8( gis,8.) a16 ais4.-> b8 bis( disis) fis,8. fisis16 gis Influenced by Pillar of Fire, a ballet version of his Verklärte Nacht by Antony Tudor, which premiered in 1942 in New York, Schoenberg, in American exile, decided for commercial reasons to modify and arrange the work’s score for ballet as well, by expanding the one-movement symphonic poem into a multi-movement suite. He first spoke of this in early 1947 in a letter to his son-in-law Felix Greissle. However, the project collapsed due to the intervention of Associated Music Publishers, who managed to prevent authorization.

Selected discography#

• Pelleas und Melisande (coupled with Variationen für Orchester op.31). Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez. Erato 2292-45827-2 (1992).
• Pelléas und Mélisande (coupled with Pelléas et Mélisande Suite op. 80 by Gabriel Fauré). Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra / Hans Vonk. PENTATONE PTC 5186324 (2008).
• Pelleas und Melisande (coupled with Erwartung op.17). Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Edward Gardner. Chandos – CHSA 5198 (2020).

Further reading#

• Schoenberg, Arnold. Five Orchestral Pieces and Pelleas und Melisande in full score. New York: Dover Publications reprint of two CF Peters originals (1912), 1994. .
• Roy, Adam J. 2021. “Motivic Metamorphosis: Modelling Intervallic Transformations in Schoenberg’s Early Works”. PhD Dissertation. Western University.