In France, we have said, a multitude of songs were produced after Schubert had set the fashion. They began, as we have seen, with Monpou and Berlioz. But with the exception of the latter we have not a single original and authoritative voice in French song writing until the time of Fauré, Debussy, and the later César Franck. The French song tradition, derived from the French aria, was indeed distinctive. But it was badly fitted for intimate interpretation, being cold in spirit and thin in workmanship. The best that can be said about this tradition is that it observed a fine economy of means, never using a note that could not be heard and that did not make its effect. But in the truer sense the tradition was not economical, for it failed to get out of its potential resources one tenth of the expressive service it might have had. The French composers were too much occupied with the beauty of their melodic line, which is so all-important that the accompaniment is very frequently no more than a re-duplication of the voice part in the treble, with a few thin and misplaced chords added. Nor has this over-shadowing melody any of the warmth of an Italian tune; on the contrary it is so cold and self-conscious that it seems to have been put down note by note after a consultation with a book of rules. Anything like fertility of polyphonic invention in the accompaniment is not to be found in the works of this tradition. All the art is to be expended on the singer’s part. Undoubtedly this offers considerable exercise to the singer’s intelligence, for due proportion of outline and of nuance must be preserved. But the songs from this period which offer any possibilities to the finer interpretive ability of the artist can be numbered on the fingers of one hand.