He has wilfully abjured melody
of any accepted kind and harmony conforming to any established
tradition. His music moves in a world of its own, a dream-world of
neutral tints, shadowy figures, and spectral passions. The dreamy
unreality of the tale is mirrored in the vague floating discords of the
music, and whatever the critics may say the effect is singularly
striking and persuasive. At present there are no rumours of a successor
to 'Pelleas et Melisande,' but whatever the future of Debussy may be, he
at any rate deserves the credit of striking a note entirely new to the
history of music.
There are many other living French composers who, if not destined to
revolutionise the world of opera, have already done admirable work, and
may yet win a more than local reputation. Charles Marie Widor has
recently in 'Les Pecheurs de Saint Jean' (1905) given a worthy success
to his twenty-year-old 'Maitre Ambros.' Navier Leroux, a pupil of
Massenet, has carried on his master's traditions, somewhat Wagnerised
and generally speaking brought up to date, in 'Astarte' (1900), 'La
Reine Fiammette' (1903), 'William Ratcliff' (1906), and 'Theodora'
(1907). Remarkable promise has been shown by Paul Dukas in 'Ariane et
Barbe-Bleue' (1907); by Camille d'Erlanger in 'Le Fils de l'Etoile'
(1904) and 'Aphrodite' (1906); by Georges Marty in 'Daria' (1905); by
Georges Huee in 'Titania' (1903), and by Gabriel Dupont in 'La Cabrera
(1905), while a characteristic note of tender sentiment was struck by
Reynaldo Hahn in 'La Carmelite' (1902).
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