DeBussys "Pelleas et Melisande" is certainly not the Opera one laughs when
one sees.  But Graham Vick succeeds to bring the Audience to laugh, and
that also before the long Pause, in which, as in the Charicature of the
Glyndebournevisitor, the Alcoholconsumtion great is in its Picknickway,
to strengthen the lazy visitor, so he can hear the Rest Half of the Play.
The Great Laugh comes in the Szene with Pelleas, who, when he tries to
escape his forbidden Feelings for the Woman of his Halfbrother, want to
take Farewell of her.  The Libretto lets Melisande stand at a Window in a
Tower, combing her long Hair.  In Glyndebourne the Opera is playing in a
greatbourgeoise Salon of the Fin de Siecle, with grandiose paintings on the
walls, large Japanese Wases, Familyphotos on the Sofatable, and a winding
Staircase.  Melisandes Voice rings as coming from Nowhere.  Suddenly her
Shadow is to be seen in the Ceiling, and she comes up and her Hair sinks
down on Pelleas.

Grahan Vick goes from one Extreme to another:  Last year he presented a
costumless "Cosi fan Tutte", which lacked all Charm; his "Manon Lescaut"
the year before was really, really dull.  But the regisseur has obviously
taken the Critic to his Heart; For "Pelleas et Melisande" he has got his
Scenery from Paul Brown and it is opulent and goes in low Spirits and is
surrealisticly connected with Reality...No shines of Light comes into
the windowless Room.  Neither Wood nor Sea is to be seen.  There is - of
course - no well, but water purls quietly down the winding Stair, in which
Melisande looses her Weddingring.  Under the transparent Glassground
flowers are growing.  Therebetween lies rotting Corpses.  Maids in Aprons
serve the Gentlemen.  Pelleas and Golaud sits after the Supper, talking in
the Night over a glas of Whisky.  In House Allemonde is the Air so thick as
in a Strindberg-Play.  Everywhere is the "Unheil" to be feeled, evenso in
the Music; The London Philarmonic Orchestra under Andrew Davis brings clear
Sounds of Mahlerian Beauty.  The Interpretation is clear and precise,
although Davis follow the Score in a poetic way.  The Mood is emphazised
by the Lights, controlled by Thomas Websters.

Many have interpreted this as the symbolic Bourgeoise Familydrama.  In
his Critics in "New York Herald Tribune" the American Composer Virgil
Thomson 1944 described the Persons in DeBussys Opera as correct, wellfeeling
Frenchmen with strong Passions, warm Hearts, and an intensive Familylife.
And Pierre Boulez labelled it after the Maeterlinck Original:  A Bourgeoise
Tradgedy, a completely common Drama.  Hence have many Regisseures, among
them Jonathan Miller at Metropolitan, Cristoph Marthaler and Anna Viebrock
in Frankfurt as well as Pierre Strosser in Lyon, choosed the Bourgeoise
Scenery.  Grahan Vick presents a disturbed Family in Freuds Manner.  The
willing to show comes out as bad.  Even Golauds little Son Yniold is turned
away by the Grandma, by whom he seeks comfort.

Also the Idea to produce the Opera as Backflash, isn't new.  Golaud sits
in a Leatherchair and once again he lets the Murderstory go through his
Head.  On the Table behind him lays Melisande naked secred by a white
Carpet.  At the next Szene works the unreachable Spirit in its stiff
eduardian Dress as a Bird in a Cage.  Loved by Golaud and Pelleas and
wished by the brotherinlawgrandfather Arkel, whom treats her with great
passion, it is, like all oppress her.  In the End Goland sits once again
in the Chair.  Beside him, in the same white Carpet lies the Corpse of his
Wife.  When he sings about his astraywalking in the Grove, this is free for
all to interpret in their Way.

All in all the Text and Regi work well together, most eclatantistic,
where Goland forces the Son, to tell him what is going on between Pelleas
and Melisande.  Instead of bearing the Boy up so that he can look through
the Window, he beats a Hole in the Glassground and sticks down the Sons
Head there, so one fear he shall get Wounds from the Sharp Edges.  John
Tomlinsons wagnerian Baritone threats to oversound all the others.  De
spite the performance has certain Quaulities, although beside him
Christiane Oelzes Melisande and Richard Crofts Pelleas sounds to quiet.

The Evenings real Star is the 12 years old Jake Arditti, who as Yniold
can see everything the People are doing, but is not able to understand
them.  Especially moving is the Szene with the Shepherd.  The Shepherd want
to go and slaughter his Sheeps, which are made by wood in the scenery.  The
Janitor wonders what the Shepherd wants, and he asks the little Boy.  And
he stomps on the Sheep with his foot, so it is destroyed.  OK, Regifreedom
is allowed, so far Vick succedes giving telling Pictures.

His time as Prodcutionleader for the Festivals comes next Year to an End.
Nicholas Snowman, who is the Intendant of the Festival since September
1998, will not replace him; he has other Plans for the following 10 years.
Among them to realize the Dream the Festivalfounder John Christie once had;
to perform Wagner in Sussex.  For the Year 2003 stands "Tristan und Isolde"
with Waleri Gergijew on the Program, and Nikolaus Lehnhoff will make the
Regi.  Gergiew is also angaged in the Glyndenbourne "Othello", and Simon
Rattle, who will conduct "Fidelio" and "Idomeneo".

Snowman is a passionate Lover of the Modern.  He belongs to the Founders
of the London Sinfonietta, and lead between 1972 and 1986 the by Boulez
founded Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique in Paris
Center Pompidou.  His plans include much of the Modern and lesser known
old.  The following Season he will put up "The Last Supper" by Harrison
Birtwistle, and Opera after Tony Kushners Aida-Play by Peter Oetvoes,
as wella s new Compositions by Elliot Carter and Thomas Ades, also Works
by Gluck and Monteverdi.  But there will also be some more famous Pieces
by Berlioz and Wagner with Mark Elder and The Orchestra of the Age of
Entlightment.  Additionally a Series of Operas of the German Romanticism,
starting with Webers "Euryanthe", "Freischuetz" and Schumanns "Genoveva".
Snowmanns Critics warn for scaring the Glyndebourne Audience off with
difficult Works.  How well he will proceed; the Future will show us, but
clear is that, that a here starts a new Aera for Glyndebourne!

Andreas von Doebeln
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