Talk:Pelléas et Mélisande (Debussy, Claude)

The vocal score file seems to be corrupt (I've tried downloading it several times and keep getting that message.)

Otherwise ... thanks for everything! All best, Somtow

If you're in the E.U. then you won't be able to download it as it's still under copyright there. Daphnis 12:36, 2 July 2008 (EDT)

Dear Daphnis, I'm in Bangkok, and it's definitely out of copyright here (Thailand has the same rule as Canada.) The file does download, it just says it's corrupt when it tries to open. Thanks so much for your response.

I just downloaded it myself (within my browser) and viewed each page with no problems. Are you using any download accelerators? If so you may want to deactivate them for the time being. And which version of Acrobat do you have installed? Daphnis 12:53, 2 July 2008 (EDT)
Can you tell me what computer/browser you are using to download the file? I have received complaints from Mac users. --Feldmahler 13:07, 2 July 2008 (EDT)

Indeed, it's a Mac and I'm running Firefox. That could well have been the problem. But guess what, I did it AGAIN (third time) after reading the last few comments, and this time it worked. So maybe it was just one of those inexplicable glitches. Thank you for everything you guys are doing.

Versions of the Full score / Study score

From sbeckmesser at the Forum:

For the record, the Cambridge Opera Handbook on Pelleas (by Roger Nichols, Richard Langham Smith) contains on p.200 the following list of editions of the full score [my comments in brackets are made without having seen original Durand copies of any of these editions]:

  1. conductor's score, Fromont, 1904 (E.1418. F.) [This is the source of the Dover and the IMSLP scores. It does not contain Debussy's 1905 revisions of orchestration.]
  2. conductor's score, Durand, 1905 (D.&F. 6577 on p.1; E.1418.F. on pp. 3-409) [This is one candidate for the source of the IMC score, which differs in the typeface, capitalization and abbreviations for some of the tempo indications, and but also does not contain Debussy's 1905 revisions of orchestration. The IMC score also contains added-in non-Durand English translations of some staging directions.]
  3. conductor's score, Durand, revised edition, Durand, 1966 (D.&.F 6577) [Note the retention of plate number, which is confusing for everybody. This is probably the version of the score shown during the interludes of the DVD production conducted by Boulez. On this DVD, a Durand rental full score is shown that appears to have orchestration revisions inked-in with red ink. The CUP book implies that these 1905 revisions are engraved in the 1966 print. This is the "standard" Pelleas as usually performed.]
  4. study score, Durand, [1908] (D.&F. 7018) [this is the other candidate for the IMC score. Unrevised orchestration.]
  5. study score, revised edition Durand, 1950 (D.&.F. 6577) [The CUP book states that this should contain the revised orchestration, but several samples of very recent Durand printings of the study score do NOT contain the revisions.]

As far as I know, all these editions will have a page count of 409. The revised orchestration could probably be incorporated without a change in page count. An easy-to-find example of the revised orchestration is the opening bar of of Act II (p.70), in which the original flute line is now doubled by the first violins.

There is also a reprint of a Pelleas score available from Kalmus, which I might be able to obtain. It will definitely be a large format (10 x 13), but I've no idea of which exact Durand issue they used as their camera-ready copy. Carolus 06:51, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

7/25: The mystery deepens. Just obtained a copy of a 1964 printing of the Durand study score "Imp. Roland Père et Fils - Paris, Mars 1964". It's the unrevised version! The opening of Act II id for 2 flutes in unison, no violins. Additional scores (different printings) are on order via the local library. Hopefully they got it right sometime after 1950. We'll see..... Carolus 21:46, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

9/3: The following is a slightly edited version of one of my entries in the forum:

[The revised score] contains the following three easy-to-hear [differences from the 1st edition](these corrections are not the only differences, only three of the ones most easily heard on a recording and visible in a score).

A. p.5, system 1, bar 1 (1 bar before [3]): timpani roll on low B-flat (2nd B-flat below middle C) B. p.87, system 2 bar 2 (3 bars after [11]): Pelleas sings: "oui, oui, la bas" C. p.326, last bar of 1st system, first bar of second system (the 2 bars before [39]: the "Golaud rhythm" in the horns (similar to the woodwind rhythms in bars 5-6 of the first act)

In all three instances, the [earlier score] contain[s] full-bar rests for the indicated performers at these points. These locations are thus sure-fire indicators as to whether a score is the revised 1905 orchestration or not. The violins doubling of the flutes at the opening of the 2nd act is apparently one of those corrections that Debussy entered even later into his personal copy of the score and which, as far as I know, have yet to see official printed (engraved) status from any source.

Sorry for my initial confusion on this issue. --SBeckmesser

The good news is that I've now obtained a revised copy of the study score, which is in the process of being scanned. It should appear at IMSLP in the next few weeks. Carolus 21:33, 2 September 2009 (UTC)