Beyond the Doorway: The Operas of Claude Debussy, Paul Dukas, and Maurice Ravel

By Stephen J. Trygar

Not all fairytales have happy endings. Composers Claude Debussy, Paul Dukas, and Maurice Ravel, through their operas, teach their audiences that love often comes with a price. Stephen J. Trygar explores these operas—from Debussy’s epic tale of forbidden love in Pélleas et Mélisande to a temper tantrum gone awry in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges—to allow those interested in attending a performance or listening to a recording an opportunity to understand the message woven into the music by these composers.

Vol. 2 of the anthology Tales of Love, Loss, Magic, and Reality provides detailed synopses, moments in the music to look out for, and recommended recordings of each of these operas to make your night out at the opera a more enjoyable experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781678188689

Book preview

Copyright

Copyright © 2020 by Stephen J. Trygar

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2020

ISBN 978-1-67818-868-9

Stephen J. Trygar

Philadlephia, PA

www.stephenjtrygar.com

Photo for cover by Filip Kominik on Unsplash

Welcome!

Hello! Thank you for grabbing a copy of this volume of the Tales of Love, Loss, Magic, and Reality: Setting the Stage for Opera and Ballet. There are so many incredible operas and ballets in the world, and I am so excited to share them all with you.

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Stephen Trygar

Preface

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by stories and the worlds they create. I grew up reading every type of book I could lay my hands on, but it was often a fantasy book or a collection of fairytales. I would carry my books around with me everywhere. My parents would often question why I felt the need to bring a book with me wherever I went and try to persuade me to leave it behind. This was particularly the case when we were just driving five minutes down the road to a friend’s house, but I didn’t care. If I had free time, I had my face buried in a book.

Things changed as I got older, especially when I went off to college. I no longer had the time to read like I used to. I had time only to read what was assigned to me for homework, and I lost touch with my love of reading. Although that love of reading had dwindled, I certainly never lost touch of the bliss I felt when holding a book and the smell that permeates the air when opened. I began to collect books for that very reason. There is something artistic and visually beautiful about books resting on a shelf. I spent every penny I had on a book that I just put on a shelf and not read until five years later (which is roughly around the time I started writing this book). When I began my master’s degree program, I was assigned several books to read. I often had to read an entire book in a week so we could discuss it in class. I initially thought that it would help rekindle my love of reading, but it didn’t quite work until toward the end of that program when I was assigned books that I thoroughly enjoyed. Only then did I feel that spark again.

A lot happened in that time frame. I went from being an aspiring author (according to my 8th grade yearbook) to a music teacher pursuing a music education