Handcrafted Debussy, Claude. (1862-1918) Pelleas Et Melisande. Drame Lyrique En 5 Actes Et 12 Tableaux De Maurice Maeterlinck [...]. Partition Pour Piano Et Chant. - Final Sale [GJ8MryF0]

Large 4to. 283 (3 blank) pp., [PN]. Green percaline with gilt title, binding a little loose, else fine.


First performed in Paris at the Opera Comique on the 30th of April, 1902, conducted by Andre Messager and produced by Albert Carre, this important work has a fascinating early publication history.


" The first edition of the vocal score of Pelleas was publisehd 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 editoin 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)


The 1905 Durand reissue of the First Edition is sold together with a very fine copy of the the 1907 Second Edition, in marble boards and fine gilt-stamped leather spine.