Music

Entranced by the sudden appearance and mysterious beauty of Mélisande, Prince Golaud falls in love and marries her, but only for Mélisande to become even closer to his half-brother Pelléas. Convinced that he has been betrayed, Golaud is consumed by jealousy, and a tragic spiral of events unfolds with grave consequences for all. Sensual and elusive, beautiful and troubling, this tragic opera is filled with symbolism and enigmatic detail, with Claude Debussy’s score based on a text by the Belgian Nobel Literature Laureate Maurice Maeterlinck. Far removed from Wagnerian weightiness and the recitative-aria Italian style, Debussy’s only complete opera epitomises his captivating musical style filled with lingering melodies and a mystical sonority.