ago we
find him writing in the spirit of the old modes. Examine the opening
phrases of his song, _Harmonie du Soir_ (composed in 1889-1890), and
note the felicitous adaptation to modern use of the "authentic" mode
known as the Lydian, which corresponds to a C-major scale with F-sharp.
Observe the use of the same mode in the introductory measures, and
elsewhere, of his setting of Verlaine's _Il pleure dans mon coeur_
(1889), the second of the "Ariettes." Five years later, in _Pelleas et
Melisande_, the trait is omnipresent--too extensive and obvious, indeed,
to require detailed indication. One might point out, at random, the
derivation from the seventh of the ecclesiastical modes (the Mixolydian)
of the phrase in the accompaniment to Arkel's words in the final scene,
"L'ame humaine aime a s'en aller seule;" or the relationship between the
opening measures of the orchestral introduction to the drama and the
first of the "authentic" modes, the Dorian; or between the same mode
(corresponding to the D-minor scale without accidentals) and Melisande's
song at the tower window at the beginning of the third act.

* * * * *

It remains only to be said, by way of conclusion to this brief survey,
that, for those who are disposed to open their sensibilities to the
appeal of this music, its high and haunting beauty must exert an
increasing sway over the heart and the imagination. It is making no
excessive or invidious claim for it to assert that, after one has truly
savored its quality, other music, transcendent though it may
demonstrably be, seems a little coarse-fibred, a little otiose, a
little--as Jules Laforgue might have said--_quotidienne_. But, however
it may come to be ranked, there are few, I think, who will not recognize
here an accent that is personal and unique, a peculiar ecstasy, a
pervading and influential magic.

II

THE PLAY

ITS QUALITIES

Maurice Maeterlinck's _Pelleas et Melisande_, published in 1892, stands
fifth in the chronological order of his dramatic works. It was preceded
by _La Princesse Maleine_ (1889); _L'Intruse_, _Les Aveugles_ (1890);
and _Les sept Princesses_ (1891). Since its appearance Maeterlinck has
published these plays: _Alladine et Palomides_; _Interieur_; _La Mort de
Tintagiles: Trois petits drames pour Marionnettes_ (1894); _Aglavaine et
Selysette_ (1896); _Ariane et Barbe-Bleue_; _Soeur Beatrice_ (1901);
_Monna Vanna_ (1902); _Joyzelle_ (1903