abode where He entered, toward the abode whence there is
no return." Then follows a description of the raiment and the jewels
of which she is stripped at the entrance to each of the gates. "Istar
went into the immutable land, she took and received the waters of
life. She presented the sublime Waters, and thus, in the presence of
all, set free the Son of Life, her young lover." The structural
novelty of the work is that, beginning with complexity--typifying the
gorgeously robed Istar--the theme discloses itself little by little,
as she is stripped of her jewels, until at last, when she stands forth
in the full splendor of nudity, the theme is heard unaccompanied, like
Isis unveiled or, to change the figure, like a scientific law which
has been disclosed. The work is based on three generative themes; the
second, derived from the first and of subsidiary importance, called by
d'Indy the motif d'appel. It plays its part, however, since it
introduces the work and serves as a connection between the variations,
seven in all. These themes are as follows:

1. Principal theme:

[Music]

2. Motif d'appel.

[Music]

3. Subsidiary theme, in form of a march.

[Music]

[Footnote 289: For a detailed analysis the student is referred to the
account by the composer himself in his _Cours de Composition
Musicale_, part II, pp. 484-486; to Gilman's _Studies in Symphonic
Music_ and to Vol. 3 of Mason's _Short Studies of Great
Masterpieces_.]

By following the poem the imaginative listener can readily appreciate
the picturesque suggestiveness of the composer. The work opens with a
mysterious intoning, by a muted horn, of the motif d'appel, and then
follows a triple presentation of the march theme in F minor, scored
for wood-wind and low strings--the melody sung at first by the violas
and clarinets and later by the bass clarinet and 'cellos. This
original scoring establishes just the appropriate atmosphere for an
entrance to the abode of captivity.

[Music]

The first variation, in F major, employing all the tone-color of the
full orchestra, is a gorgeous picture of the Oriental splendor of
Istar. It is noteworthy that each variation contains a modulation to a
key a semitone higher, thus affording a factor of unity amid the
elaborate flowerings of the musical thought. The second variation, in
E major scored for strings and wood-wind, is significant for the way
in which the original theme is expanded into a flowing melody. The
lo