Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande was the composer’s only complete opera, and adapts Maurice Maeterlinck’s symbolist drama in a strikingly original and mysterious way. Icelandic mezzo-soprano Arnheiður Eiríksdóttir talks about taking on the role of Mélisande, and what makes Debussy’s opera so special.
Next month, you’re singing Mélisande with Prague National Theatre Opera for the first time. Could you introduce yourself a little and also talk about what it means to be taking on this fascinating role?
Well, I have been at the Prague National Opera for five years now, and I’ve had the amazing opportunity to sing quite a lot of bigger, more difficult roles. For example, I’ve sung Octavian in Strauss’ Rosenkavalier and the Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as Charlotte in Werther and other roles.
But Mélisande, for me, is quite a different character than those I’ve encountered until now. That makes it quite exciting: I’ve been singing a lot of the trouser roles – these boys are more energetic characters, so to say. It is quite special to take on a character as feminine and mysterious as Mélisande, exactly the opposite of Octavian or a Komponist, actually!
For those who haven’t experienced the opera before, what makes Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande special?
I would say it’s different from other operas in that it puts you into a kind of dreamlike trance. That was at least what my feeling when I listened to it the first time – it's not like a Puccini opera where you have the known arias, highlights and catchy melodies. Debussy's drama is more of a flowing from one musical thought into another, without ever really answering the questions it poses.
The story floats forward in that same way and I believe that is what makes the opera so special and intriguing.
What impression did the opera make on you when you first heard it?
I heard it in Vienna for the first time at the State Opera with Véronique Gens singing Mélisande, which I absolutely loved. I hadn't really heard it before, I didn't really know it, but I felt exactly this way – like I was in a trance throughout the performance. I got absolutely swept away in the story.
Somehow, the way the orchestra moves forward from one emotion to another without ever really fully stopping in any of them, keeps you in a feeling of emotional suspense. That absolutely blew me away.
Can you talk about any notable difficulties or challenges in singing Mélisande?
Portraying Mélisande can in a way be more of an acting challenge than a singing one. She is always the silent one, who then says only perhaps a single word, where you would expect a full explanation. But there’s still so much information that you need to portray as a figure on stage. Another challenge is to then make it all seem effortless.
There’s a famous quote from Debussy: “In opera, there is always too much singing.” And that is exactly it – that you shouldn’t even give the impression that you’re singing. You should give the impression of an extension of spoken language.
In singing Mélisande, you have many vocally technically difficult passages, but you have to always be able to deliver them as if you were speaking a text. The musical score is very difficult, very demanding – the harmonies are unexpected and the rhythms are very precise. It’s especially important to stay true to the written rhythms, in order to mix correctly with the orchestra. But you always need to keep giving the impression that this is the way that you chose to say it – from the point of view of theatrical timing – as if it came straight from you, as the most matter-of-fact thing in the world.
Is there a recording or a memory of a performance that is particularly special to you?
I love the recording from Opéra de Bordeaux conducted by Pierre Dumoussaud where they achieve precisely the feeling of naturalness while staying true to the score, and the later recording conducted by François-Xavier Roth. I love the precision in that one, especially for the dramatic passages – when Golaud loses his temper, for example. The drama he manages to create in the orchestra is really amazing. I would recommend that one for those who love drama in their life!
Do you have a favourite passage in the opera?
When I first started to listen to it – before I started to learn it – I loved the love duet in the fourth act. The moment when all the emotions come bubbling out, with all the big confessions of love. The differences between the way they express their love – how Mélisande says a few matter-of-fact things: Of course I love you. Meanwhile Pelléas has endless passages of breathtakingly beautiful music where he confesses his love and all his deepest emotions with great intensity.
But now, as l’ve gotten more intimate with the piece, I really appreciate Golaud’s explosive emotions. This awful scene of domestic violence, in the second scene of the fourth act. As well as, in the fifth act, when Mélisande is dying, his begging to hear the truth from her in her last moments. The desperation in his music is so moving and at the same time disturbing.
Can you talk a little about working with director Christof Loy and members of the cast, which includes David Oller (Pelléas)?
I am so grateful for having a director like Christof Loy, because through his very precise and detailed approach, he has such an amazing ability to find the correct colour of emotions, to show everything needs to be said without saying anything. David Oller is also wonderful to work with, a fun colleague on and off stage. You can get really lost in scenes with him, which is wonderful for somebody playing your lover. And of course, he is an amazingly talented singer and actor as well.
And then there is my husband, Golaud, who I’m again cheating on. I’m somehow always cheating on Pavol Kubán in our different roles together. Just last June I cheated on him in our production of Werther too, it‘s awful! But he is also a very good, trusted colleague, which is very important when you are doing these scenes where there is such a strong display of anger and violence.
Why should one come to hear a performance of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande?
It's a very great hybrid between a theatre play and an opera, because of the way the music is presented, and the way that the series of events is layered on top of it. It's in a way very movie-like, cinematic, especially in this staging of Christof Loy.
Even though it stays so mystic and so flowing, these are still very concrete scenes, with very real emotions and conversations. In combination with this liquid, beautiful music, it leaves the audience with very strong emotions. That opportunity to get moved, and swept away: this is a big reason to go see this performance.
Arnheiður Eiríksdóttir sings Melisande at Prague National Theatre from 15th October to 19th November.
See upcoming performances at Prague National Theatre.
This article was sponsored by Prague National Theatre.
