ind. 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 Pelleas is persuaded by Arkel to postpone his journey to the
bedside of his dying friend Marcellus; the opening scene of Act III,
between Pelleas, Melisande, 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:

ARKEL, _King of Allemonde_
PELLEAS & GOLAUD, _half-brothers, grandsons of_ ARKEL
MELISANDE, _an unknown princess; later the bride of_ GOLAUD
LITTLE YNIOLD, _Son of_ GOLAUD _by a former marriage_
GENEVIEVE, _Mother of_ PELLEAS _and_ GOLAUD
A PHYSICIAN
_Servants, Beggars, etc._

ACT I

The opening scene is in a forest, in an unknown land. It is autumn.
Golaud, gray-bearded, stern, a giant in stature ("I am made of iron and
blood," he says of himself), has been hunting a wild boar, and has been
led astray. His dogs have left him to follow a false scent. He is about
to retrace his steps, when he comes upon a young girl weeping by a
spring. She is very beautiful, and very timid. She would flee, but
Golaud reassures her. Her dress is that of a princess, though her
garments have been torn by the briars. Golaud questions her. Her name,
she says, is Melisande; she was born "far away;" she has fled, and is
lost; but she will not tell her age, or whence she came, or what injury
has been done her, or who it is that has harmed or threatened
her--"Every one! every one!" she says. Her golden crown has fallen into
the water--"It is the crown he gave me," she cries; "it fell as I was
weeping." Golaud would recover it for her, but she will have no more of
it.... "I had rather die at once!" she protests. Golaud preva