Pelléas et Mélisande

Pelléas et Mélisande is a tragic medieval love story. Prince Golaud finds a mysterious young woman, Mélisande, lost in a forest. He brings her back to his castle and marries her. Here Mélisande falls in love with Golaud’s half-brother Pelléas, arousing Golaud’s jealousy. Pelléas decides to leave the castle but arranges to meet Mélisande one last time and the two finally confess their love. Golaud, who has been eavesdropping, rushes out and kills Pelléas. Mélisande dies shortly after, having given birth to a daughter.

LIVE AT THE CONCERTGEBOUW week 18 “…May, 17 1893 was a memorable evening when Paris witnessed the premiere of Maurice Maeterlinkck’s tragedy Pelléas et Mélisande, a tragic love story set in Medieval times.
 
A few years later, Claude Debussy composed one of the greatest operas of all time based on this play, Arnold Schoenberg wrote a huge late romantic symphonic poem. And far away from Paris, way up north in Finland, Jean Sibelius wrote incidental music for a Swedish version of the play. Both Maeterlinck’s tragedy and Sibelius’ music enjoyed great succes in Helsinki in 1905.

This is an orchestral suite from Sibelius’ Pelléas et Mélisande, written by the way in great haste, because Sibelius was working on more important matters, his Violin Concerto and the third symphony…’ [RNW-host Hans Haffmans]
 
Dutch stinginess
Mozart breathes the clouds of unfullfilled love away with the oboe concerto he composed for the court orchestra’s principal oboe Giuseppe Ferlendis. When Mozart needed money he reworked the concerto into a flute concerto for the Dutch flautist, Ferdinand de Jean. But the stingy Dutchman, refused to pay, since it wasn’t an original concerto but an arrangement.
 

Finally the seldomly heard voice of a Swedish romantic composer: Franz Berwald’s third symphony...

 
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic
Kees Bakels, conductor
Alexei Ogrintchouk, oboe
 
Jean Sibelius: excerpts from Pelléas and Mélisande
W.A. Mozart: Concerto for oboe and orchestra KV 314
Franz Berwald: Symphony no. 3 ‘Sinfonia singulière’
 

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