La Fille de Mélisande by Kate Mosse Arises From Pelléas et Mélisande

Summary: La Fille de Mélisande by Kate Mosse arises from the Achille-Claude Debussy opera Pelléas et Mélisande from the alike-named Maurice Maeterlinck play.

"God talks to human beings through many vectors: through each other, through organized religion, through the great books of those religions, through wise people, through art and music and literature and poetry, but nowhere with such detail and grace and color and joy as through creation. When we destroy a species, when we destroy a special place, we're diminishing our capacity to sense the divine, understand who God is and what our own potential is." Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., April 19, 2023, Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts.

“And there’s many people out there who want us to move to the next planet already and I’m like, hang on, let’s not give up on this planet yet," William, Prince of Wales, July 31, 2023, Sorted Food food truck, London, England, United Kingdom.

Golaud (from Old Testament gilead, “heap of witnesses” via Franch Galaad, Galahad) abandons his young bride and his young brother to one another's daily company. He abhors their like-aged activities. Pelléas (Frenchified Greek πηλός, “clay” via Πηλεύς) and Mélisande (from French Mélisande, “Millicent” [Anglicized Germanic amalas, “brave”; swinba, “strong” via Amalaswinba) absorbed with one another in such ambiances abounding in isolated, natural beauty as a magical fountain and a shoreline cave network accelerates Golaud's adulterous suspicions; gouache paint on paper scenography sketch of cliffs by Swedish artist Carl Grabow (1847-1922) for the March 17, 1905, premiere of Pelleas och Melisande at Svenska Teatern (Swedish Theatre) in Helsinki, Uusimaa region, southern Finland: Statens musikverk (Swedish Performing Arts Agency). Photographer: Narciso Contreras, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

La Fille de Mélisande by Kate Mosse arises as short-story sequel of 2009 from the Achille-Claude Debussy opera Pelléas et Mélisande from the alike-named Maurice Maeterlinck play that perhaps archives European legends.

La Fille de Mélisande, by Kate Mosse for the Jeanette Winterson-edited, 2009-released Midsummer Nights, banishes anything bewildering the 1902-staged opera, the 1893-staged play Pelléas et Mélisande. The Achille-Claude Debussy (Aug. 22, 1862-March 25, 1918) opera from the Maurice Maeterlinck (Aug. 29, 1862-May 6, 1949) play commences 18-plus years before the Mosse sequel. Allemonde (from German allaz, “all”; German mann-, “men”? or French monde, “world”? via Latin Alemannī) King Arkel, Queen Geneviève and Prince Pelléas discuss dauphin Prince Golaud.

Arkel (from Old Norse arn, “eagle”; ketill, “cauldron”) and Geneviève (from German kunga, “lineage”; wiba, “wife”?; Gaullish genos, “family”? via Frenchified Genovefa?) expect a royal engagement.

The royal couple favor finishing futile feuds by fiancéing their dauphin (from French dauphin, “successor”; Latin delphīnus; Greek δελφίν, δελφίς, “dolphin” from δελφύς, “womb”) to Ursule.

Golaud (from Old Testament gilead, “heap of witnesses” via Franch Galaad, Galahad) gathers, not Ursule (from Latin ursa -ula, “she-bearlet”) from neighboring royal grounds, but Mélisande. Mélisande (from French Mélisande, “Millicent” [Anglicized Germanic amalas, “brave”; swinba, “strong” via Amalaswinba) has perhaps royal histories even as she heaves her crown into forest waters. Father-in-law Arkel and mother-in-law Geneviève invite, as their elder son Prince Golaud’s recentest wife and as their only grandchild Yniold’s stepmother, Princess Mélisande into Allemonde Castle.

La Fille de Mélisande (from French la, “the”; fille, “daughter”; de, “of”; Mélisande, “Millicent”) by Kate Mosse joins to that six-member royal family a royal grandchild.

Yniold (from German irmin, “great”; hilt, “battle” via Irminhild via Italian Imeldo) keepsakes his mother, perhaps killed, in his heart even as he knows stepmotherly kindness.

Golaud lets Yniold loose to lag after lithe Pelléas and lovely Mélisande to learn if two such like-aged lives lead to liking and loving one another. It maddens him that Mélisande minds her marriage ring so minimally that it merges with cave-moistened materials that he makes her meander with Pelléas and Yniold. Yniold notes Mélisande and Pelléas nuzzling, the former numbed from nudging her ring off for ring-tossing, ring-catching games that nestle it down among deep-water well niches.

La Fille de Mélisande by Kate Mosse never offers Miette the maternal ring that occasioned obnoxious outcomes from obstreperous, old, opinionated Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande.

Golaud, as Allemonde premier power-holder, prevents Pelléas peregrinating to whatever place that Marcellus (from Latin Mārs –cellus, “battle little[-spaced]”) picked for perishing protected by preferred people.

Quintessentially quarrelsome, Pelléas quests what qualifies as his truth even as Mélisande and Pelléas quest the quaint quietude of such quarters as Allemonde towers and wells. He resents Pelléas (Frenchified Greek πηλός, “clay” via Πηλεύς) rounding Mélisande’s Rapunzel-like, tower-high long hair to willow trees even as Mélisande and Pelléas reprise another kiss. Nothing stops Golaud from sabotaging whatever Pelléas seeks or from shoving a pregnant Mélisande around their room until she succumbs even as their first child survives.

Pelléas et Mélisande and, by Kate Mosse, La Fille de Mélisande transmit no “more woe than this” Shakespeare:Romeo and Juliet:5:3:308-309) of mother, daughter and their Golaud.

A magical fountain accommodates Kate Mosse arightening with her short story La Fille de Mélisande (from French la, “the”; fille, “daughter”; de, “of”; Mélisande, “Millicent”) what Pelléas et Mélisande (Frenchified Greek πηλός, “clay” via Πηλεύς; French et, "the"; French Mélisande, “Millicent”), as Achille-Claude Debussy (Aug. 22, 1862-March 25, 1918) opera from the Maurice Maeterlinck (Aug. 29, 1862-May 6, 1949) play, never asserts. What awaits a motherless daughter alone amid those whom an awful father awes?; gouache paint on paper scenography sketch by Swedish artist Carl Grabow (1847-1922) for the March 17, 1905, premiere of Pelleas och Melisande at Svenska Teatern (Swedish Theatre) in Helsinki, Uusimaa region, southern Finland: Statens musikverk (Swedish Performing Arts Agency). Photographer: Narciso Contreras, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

Golaud (from Old Testament gilead, “heap of witnesses” via Franch Galaad, Galahad) abandons his young bride and his young brother to one another's daily company. He abhors their like-aged activities. Pelléas (Frenchified Greek πηλός, “clay” via Πηλεύς) and Mélisande (from French Mélisande, “Millicent” [Anglicized Germanic amalas, “brave”; swinba, “strong” via Amalaswinba) absorbed with one another in such ambiances abounding in isolated, natural beauty as a magical fountain and a shoreline cave network accelerates Golaud's adulterous suspicions; gouache paint on paper scenography sketch of cliffs by Swedish artist Carl Grabow (1847-1922) for the March 17, 1905, premiere of Pelleas och Melisande at Svenska Teatern (Swedish Theatre) in Helsinki, Uusimaa region, southern Finland: Statens musikverk (Swedish Performing Arts Agency). Photographer: Narciso Contreras, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dekorationsskiss_av_Carl_Grabow_-_SMV_-_DTM_1939-4129.tif

A magical fountain accommodates Kate Mosse arightening with her short story La Fille de Mélisande (from French la, “the”; fille, “daughter”; de, “of”; Mélisande, “Millicent”) what Pelléas et Mélisande (Frenchified Greek πηλός, “clay” via Πηλεύς; French et, "the"; French Mélisande, “Millicent”), as Achille-Claude Debussy (Aug. 22, 1862-March 25, 1918) opera from the Maurice Maeterlinck (Aug. 29, 1862-May 6, 1949) play, never asserts. What awaits a motherless daughter alone amid those whom an awful father awes?; gouache paint on paper scenography sketch by Swedish artist Carl Grabow (1847-1922) for the March 17, 1905, premiere of Pelleas och Melisande at Svenska Teatern (Swedish Theatre) in Helsinki, Uusimaa region, southern Finland: Statens musikverk (Swedish Performing Arts Agency). Photographer: Narciso Contreras, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dekorationsskiss_av_Carl_Grabow_-_SMV_-_DTM_1939-4127.tif

For further information:

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 November 2023. "La Fille de Mélisande by Kate Mosse Acts as French Phrase Book." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/11/la-fille-de-melisande-by-kate-mosse_17.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 November 2023. "La Fille de Mélisande by Kate Mosse Admits Gold, Green, Red and White." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/11/la-fille-de-melisande-by-kate-mosse_10.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 3 November 2023. "La Fille de Mélisande by Kate Mosse Airs Field, Forest, Marine Animals." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/11/la-fille-de-melisande-by-kate-mosse.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 27 October 2023. "Field and Forest Plants Abound in La Fille de Mélisande by Kate Mosse." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/10/field-and-forest-plants-abound-in-la.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 20 October 2023. "Kate Mosse Anchors in Allemonde her La Fille de Mélisande short story." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/10/kate-mosse-anchors-in-allemonde-her-la.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 October 2023. "La Fille de Mélisande by Kate Mosse Adds a Pelléas et Mélisande Sequel." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/10/la-fille-de-melisande-by-kate-mosse.html

Mosse, Kate. 1 January 2009. "La Fille de Mélisande." Pages 247-254. In: Jeanette Winterson (Ed.). Midsummer Nights. London UK: Quercus Publishing.

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet. The Project Gutenberg eBook of Romeo and Juliet. Release date Nov. 1, 1998 [eBook #1513]. Most recently updated June 27, 2023.
Available @ https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1513/pg1513-images.html

Sotheby’s International Realty. “Historic elegance at the Palais Maeterlinck on Cap de Nice.” Côte d'Azur > Sotheby’s > Luxury real estate.
Available @ https://www.cotedazur-sothebysrealty.com/en/luxury-real-estate/details/941/historic-elegance-palais-maeterlinck-cap-de-nice/