Pelléas et Mélisande. Drame lyrique en 5 actes et 12 tableaux de Maurice Maeterlinck [...]. Partition pour piano et chant. SIGNED PRESENTATION COPY

Paris: A. Durand & fils, [E. Fromont]. [1907]. Second Edition. Large 4to. iii (blank); frontis illustration; 310 pp. [PN] 6953. Inscribed by Debussy on the title page "à Madamoiselle Germaine Poyet / Hommage respectueux sympatique. Claude Debussy 9. X. 09." Original printed paper wrappers. Fragile spine chipped and with minor losses, otherwise in very fine condition throughout. Signed scores from Debussy are uncommon.


The recepient of this copy from Debussy, Germaine Poyet, was the wife of a well-known doctor in Paris, who treated, among others, Debussy and Massenet.


First performed in Paris at the Opera Comique on the 30th of April, 1902, conducted by André Messager and produced by Albert Carré, this important work has a fascinating early publication history. "The first edition of the vocal score of Pelleas was published by E. Fromont of Paris in 1902. It contained 283 pages and included the original, unexpanded version of the interludes (not, as some writers have stated, no interludes at all). The enlarged interludes first appeared in print in the 409-page orchestral score that was issued on a subscription basis by Fromon in 1904. Not long after that, the copyright in the work was transferred to the firm that became Debussy's regular publisher, Durand of Paris, who in 1905 rather surprisingly reissued the 1902 vocal score unaltered save for the substitution of their own name for that of Fromont....It was not until 1907, however, that Durand brought out the familiar 320-page second edition of the vocal score, with parallel French and English texts. It was re-engraved from beginning to end, not always accurately, and at last included the extended interludes." (Howard Ferguson, "Debussy's Emendations to 'Pelleas.'" The Musical Times, August 1988) (5429)

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Signed Document/Item

Opera

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