
Pelléas et Mélisande
Forbidden love leads to desire.
Golaud, grandson of King Arkel, falls in love and marries the mysterious Mélisande. His half-brother Pelléas falls for Mélisande as well. It’s a love triangle of royal proportions.
Not seen here since 1977, Debussy’s symbolist masterpiece will be directed and designed by Netia Jones, who recently directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She presents us with a dreamlike and meditative world, which seems of no time and of all time. Four thrilling singers will have their SFO debuts this summer including baritone Huw Montague Rendall and mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey.
Synopsis
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Act I
The forest. Golaud, following a wild boar, hears the sound of weeping and comes upon an unfamiliar clearing and an unfamiliar young woman who, after repeated requests, tells him her name–Mélisande–and reluctantly follows him out of the dark woods.
The castle. Golaud and Mélisande have been married six months, but he still knows little about her. He fears that his grandfather, King Arkel, may not forgive him the match, and so he writes his half-brother, Pelléas, a letter asking him to light the castle lantern if the King is “ready to honor the stranger as his daughter.” Otherwise, he will set a remote course for his ship and never return. Pelléas wants to visit a dying friend, but old Arkel reminds him that his own father is just as ill; he had best stay to greet his brother and his bride.
Before the castle. Golaud and Mélisande have returned. Gèneviève is showing Mélisande the gardens. Mélisande is distressed by the darkness of the world she now inhabits. The Queen seeks to comfort her. Pelléas joins them. The three watch a ship set out to a dark, stormy sea.
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Act II
A fountain in the park called Blind Man’s Well. Pelléas and Mélisande go to a thickly wooded spot at midday. She wants to play in the water, and he warns her not to slip. Leaning over her reflection, her hair falls in … and then, as she plays with the ring Golaud has given her, it slips in and sinks.
At the same moment the ring fell from Mélisande’s hand into the water, Golaud fell from his horse while hunting and was injured. As she tends to him, Mélisande tells him how uneasy she feels here. He grasps her hands and sees that the ring is missing. He sends her out into the night to look for it.
The seashore. Mélisande has told Golaud that she lost the ring in the sea. Pelléas brings her to a grotto on the shoreline so that she can see the place she claims to have dropped it. The place is stalked by the shadow of death. Pelléas and Mélisande see three bearded beggars sleeping in the cave and hurry away.
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Act III
A tower in the castle. Mélisande is combing her long, long hair. Pelléas comes along the road that winds below the tower; he has arrived to bid her farewell. Mélisande puts her hand out the window for him to kiss, then leans out until her hair falls about his head. Pelléas becomes blissfully entwined. Golaud comes near and scolds their “childishness.”
Under the castle. Golaud leads Pelléas through the underground vault. A breeze of death blows through the rooms. Both men shudder and go out.
On the terrace at the entrance to the vault. Golaud demands Pelléas stay away from Mélisande, especially since she is now expecting a child and any emotion could unsettle her.
Below a castle window. Golaud is devoured by jealousy. He holds little Yniold, his son from his first marriage, up to the window to spy on Pelléas and Mélisande and to tell him what they are doing. Yniold can report no impropriety, but Golaud senses something between the two. It makes him feel old.
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Act IV
A room in the castle. Pelléas asks Mélisande to meet him once more before he goes. She promises to come to the fountain in the park.
King Arkel enters and clasps Mélisande to his heart, sensing her unhappiness. Golaud comes in and is so irritated by the sight of his wife–the picture of innocence–that he drags Mélisande across the floor by her hair. Arkel takes pity on her.
A park. Yniold is trying to reach the ball he has dropped behind a stone. Listening to a flock of passing sheep, he wonders why they have fallen quiet. The shepherd replies that they are not headed towards the sheepfold.
Outside the castle gates. Mélisande goes to bid Pelléas farewell. The two, at last, declare their love with joy. Golaud comes from the castle and kills Pelléas, then pursues the fleeing Mélisande into the night.
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Act V
A room in the castle. Mélisande lies in bed. Arkel, Golaud and the physician are discussing her condition. Golaud is inconsolable in his remorse. Mélisande wakens as if from a dream–for that is how all these events have seemed to her–and Golaud rushes to her, begging her forgiveness and begging her for the truth. He demands to know whether she betrayed him with Pelléas. She replies simply that she loved Pelléas and denies that they were guilty. Arkel brings the daughter she has born and prepares last rites for Mélisande to free her soul.
Artists
Huw Montague Rendall
Samantha Hankey
Gihoon Kim
Hometown:
2023 Season:
Golaud, Pelléas et Mélisande (SFO Debut)
Ain Anger
Hometown: Vienna, Austria
2023 Season:
Arkel, Pelléas et Mélisande (SFO Debut)
Susan Graham
Hometown: Roswell, NM
2023 Season:
Geneviève, Pelléas et Mélisande
SFO Debut:
Flora Bervoix, La traviata, 1989
Past Seasons:
Prince Orlovsky, Die Fledermaus, 2017
Clairon, Capriccio, 2016
Grand Duchess, The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, 2013
Susan Graham and Friends Gala Concert, 2012
Emma Rose Sorenson
Hometown: Chicago, IL
2023 Season:
Geneviève, Pelléas et Mélisande (SFO Debut)
Tosca
The Flying Dutchman
Orfeo
Santa Fe Opera Apprentice: 2023
Kai Edgar
Hometown: Saint Charles, IL
2023 Season:
Shepherd Boy, Tosca (SFO Debut)
Yniold, Pelléas and Mélisande
Ben Brady
Hometown: Denver, CO
2023 Season:
Sciarrone, Tosca (SFO Debut)
Physician, Pelléas et Mélisande
The Flying Dutchman
Orfeo
Santa Fe Opera Apprentice: 2022, 2023
Past Seasons:
Carmen, 2022
The Barber of Seville, 2022
Falstaff, 2022
Tristan und Isolde, 2022
Brandon Bell
Hometown: Suffolk, VA
2023 Season:
Shepherd, Pelléas et Mélisande (SFO Debut)
Pastore 2, Orfeo
Tosca
The Flying Dutchman
Santa Fe Opera Apprentice: 2023
Harry Bicket
Hometown: Liverpool, England
Endowed by the Wyncote Foundation, as recommended by Frederick R. Haas & Rafael Gomez
2023 Season:
Pelléas et Mélisande
Orfeo
SFO Debut:
Agrippina, 2004
Past Seasons:
Carmen, 2022
The Marriage of Figaro, 2021
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2021
Così fan tutti, 2019
Candide, 2018
Alcina, 2017
Roméo et Juliette, 2016
La finta giardiniera, 2015
Fidelio, 2014
Radamisto, 2008
Platée, 2007
Netia Jones
Hometown: London, England
2023 Season:
Pelléas et Mélisande
SFO Debut:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2021
D. M. Wood
Hometown: New Haven, CT
2023 Season:
Pelléas et Mélisande
SFO Debut:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2021
Susanne Sheston
Hometown: Salt Lake City, UT
SFO Debut:
2008 Season
Past Seasons:
2022 Season
2021 Season
2019 Season
2018 Season
2017 Season
2016 Season
2015 Season
2014 Season
2013 Season
2012 Season
2011 Season
2010 Season
2009 Season