Debussy's masterpiece, Pelléas et Mélisande, is based on Maurice Maeterlinck's symbolist play - a tragic fairytale, which recounts the ill-fated love of half-brothers Golaud and Pelléas for the same woman, the enigmatic Mélisande. Haunting and intensely atmospheric, Debussy's score continues where language ends, articulating the dream-like inner worlds of the doomed lovers. Melodic vocal lines and motifs resurface throughout the opera like snatched memories.

Deutsche Grammophon: 435 344-2 (on discs: 435 345-2--435 346-2). Opera in 5 acts and 12 scenes. Sung in French; libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck. Compact discs. Notes by Hugh Macdonald, synopsis, and libretto with English translation ([104] p. : ports.) included.