Pelléas and Mélisande (Pelluea und Melisande), written by Maurice Maeterlinck (), and performed probably at the Deutsches Theater, Berlin, in 1903.

   A scene from Pelléas and Mélisande (Pelluea und Melisande), written by  the Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck (), and performed probably at the Deutsches Theater, Berlin, in 1903.

   

Eduard v. Winterstein, Max Reinhard, Edgar Licho, Lucie Höflich (In 1903 Max Reinhardt recruited her to the Deutsches Theater in Berlin where she performed until 1932.)

   Pelléas et Melisande, published in 1892 and first performed on 17 May 1893, remains Maeterlinck’s best-known play. Its premiére - the first of one of his own works that Maeterlinck attended - inaugurated the Théatre de L’CEuvre, and was directed by Lugné-Poe and Camille Mauclair (who, with Maeterlinck, also designed the costumes), with set design by the painter Paul Vogler and music by Gabriel Fabre.

   Maeterlinck was so nervous on the night of the premiere that he did not attend. Critics derided the performance, but Maeterlinck's peers received it more positively. Octave Mirbeau, to whom Maeterlinck dedicated his play, was impressed with the work, which stimulated a new direction in stage design and theatre performance.