Debussy’s Mélisande: The Lives of Georgette Leblanc, Mary Garden, and Maggie Teyte by Gillian Opsted (review)

joué par Louis Pasteur dans le développement d’une nouvelle approche face aux maladies transmissibles. Comportant de nombreux détails techniques tout en restant lisible, Une Société à soigner éclaire utilement tout un pan de la vie quotidienne dans la société française du dix-neuvième siècle, une période durant laquelle, forte de ses progrès récents, une nouvelle médecine triomphante faisait face aux pesanteurs accumulées d’une structure étatique peu encline aux réformes sociales. Western Washington University Edward Ousselin OPSTED, GILLIAN. Debussy’s Mélisande: The Lives of Georgette Leblanc, Mary Garden, and Maggie Teyte. Rochester: Boydell, 2009. ISBN 978-1843834595. Pp. 392. $60.00. Gillian Opsted is passionate about the women in her book. The three named in its subtitle are more important to her than the fictional Mélisande, although it is the latter that allows her to intertwine the biographies of singers Georgette Leblanc, Mary Garden, and Maggie Teyte and to sketch the musical and literary life in France, England and the United States from the 1890s to the 1970s. It begins with a synopsis of Pelléas et Mélisande, the symbolist play written by Maurice Maeterlinck in 1892, and also describes Debussy’s modifications of the story for his opera. However, it is clear from the outset that the tragic heroine Mélisande is a pretext (albeit an excellent one) for the study of three women who were connected to this theatrical and operatic role. This well-documented book is difficult to categorize, but will be of particular interest to music historians and to scholars in women’s studies. It is a triple biography that relies heavily on the women’s autobiographies, although Opsted looks at these with a critical eye and corrects some untruths that the authors have slipped into their narratives. Its style wavers between an erudite historical account and a commentary which calls attention to the adventures, success, and frustrations of the three women as they struggled in the male-dominated world of the arts. Opsted has done extensive research, as we see in the numerous footnotes and detailed bibliography, but on occasion she adopts the tone of fictional biography, as when she puts into words what Georgette Leblanc must have felt when her lover Maeterlinck refused to acknowledge her contributions to his work (51), or what the young Maggie Teyte’s patrons were thinking as she performed Mélisande for the first time (183). These familiar touches seem odd, as do some of the transitions between chapters. The book allows us to accompany the three women throughout their lives. Key moments move their stories forward as Opsted respects the chronology of each woman’s career and alternates between the three in a creative manner. We meet Georgette Leblanc and watch the controversial ascent of her career. We see her eccentricities and intelligence and we witness her interaction with Maeterlinck and Debussy, and her battles with the director of l’Opéra-Comique which contributed to the loss of the role of Mélisande to Mary Garden. Opsted then guides us through the early years of Garden’s life and career, culminating with her creation of an enchanting Mélisande in 1902. When Garden leaves for America, the focus returns to Leblanc who creates the role of Mélisande in a production of Maeterlinck’s play at his château. Then we return to Paris and the search for another Mélisande for the Opéra-Comique where the young Maggie Teyte is chosen for the part. Opsted takes this opportunity to show the path that 646 FRENCH REVIEW 84.3 brought Ms. Teyte to this role that would give her pleasure and renown until her retirement almost half century later. In this way, the chapters pass from one woman to another and from one side of the Atlantic to the other, showing the challenges that the singers faced. International recognition came through stage and recording careers as well as writing, lecturing, teaching, and even music administration. These successes were, however , accompanied by fear of rejection and by constant financial insecurity, and problems with personal relationships plagued all three. It was clearly...