Pelleas und Melisande (Schoenberg)

For other uses, see Pelleas and Melisande (disambiguation).

Arnold Schoenberg, 1927, by Man Ray

Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5, is a symphonic poem written by Arnold Schoenberg and completed in February 1903. It was premiered on 25 January 1905 at the Musikverein in Vienna under the composer's direction in a concert that also included the first performance of Alexander von Zemlinsky's Die Seejungfrau.[1] The work is based on Maurice Maeterlinck's play Pelléas and Mélisande, a subject suggested by Richard Strauss. When he began composing the work in 1902, Schoenberg was unaware that Claude Debussy's opera, also based on Maeterlinck's play, was about to premiere in Paris.

  1. ^ Malcolm MacDonald, Schoenberg (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2008): p. 50.