call it the motive
of _Sorrow_, for it seems like the comment of the music upon the
transporting and utter sadness of the play's denouement. It voices a
gentle and passive commiseration, rather than a profound and shaking
grief:

XXIII. SORROW

[Illustration: Lent et triste]

A third new theme, also of searching pathos, occurs in the strings, _p,
tres doux_, as Melisande quietly greets her husband (page 279, measure
1), and later, when she says that she forgives him (page 282, measure
1). It may be called the motive of _Melisande's Gentleness_:

XXIV. MELISANDE'S GENTLENESS

[Illustration: _tres doux_]

As Golaud's still unvanquished doubts and suspicions torture him into
harsh interrogations, and he asks her if she loved Pelleas "with a
forbidden love," an oboe and two flutes recall, _p et doux_, the
_Rapture_ motive. Later, in succession, we hear (on a solo violin over
flute and clarinets) the _Pelleas_ theme (page 289, measure 2), the
motive of _Gentleness_, for the last time (page 290, measure 3), and
the _Melisande_ theme (pages 290-292). As Melisande recognizes Arkel,
and asks if it be true "that the winter is coming," a solo violin, solo
'cello, and two clarinets play an affecting phrase (page 294, measure
5). She tells Arkel that she does not wish the windows closed until the
sun has sunk into the sea, and the orchestra accompanies her in a
passage of curiously delicate sonority (page 295, measure 6).

The final scene of the act is treated with surpassing reticence,
dignity, and simplicity, yet with piercing intensity of expression.
Nothing could be at the same time more sparing of means and more
exquisitely eloquent in result than Debussy's setting of the scene of
Melisande's death--it is music which dims the eyes and subdues the
spirit. The _pianissimo_-repeated chords in the divided strings which
accentuate Arkel's warning words (page 304, measure 8); the blended
tones of the harp and the distant bell at the moment of dissolution
(page 306, measure 11); Arkel's simple requiem over the body of the
little princess, with the grave and tender orchestral commentary woven
out of familiarly poignant themes (pages 308-309); the murmurous coda,
with its muted trumpet singing a gentle dirge under an accompaniment of
two flutes (page 310, measure 7),--these things are easy to

XXV

[Illustration: Tres lent]

value, but they may not easily be praised with adequacy.

Concerning felicities of structur