In these Debussy is putting forth his very best. The _Harmonies du soir_ may be taken as an epitome of his whole harmonic method. ‘The Balcony’ is very long and rich in descriptive imagination. The _Jet d’eau_ and ‘The Death of Lovers’ should also be mentioned from this group. ‘The Faun’ and ‘The Grotto,’ from the same period, show Debussy at his best. The former in particular reveals him admirably as a painter of pictures in tones. Among the fairly simple songs (always the best for the student who is approaching a new style) we may mention _Beau soir_ and the _Romance_. The _Proses lyriques_ are very ambitious, very long, and very difficult. Even the most capable singer will find it hard to hold them unified when they are sung. The voice part is free, not exactly declamatory, but fragmentary and merged with the symphonic comment which is the accompaniment. Of the four _Les Fleurs_ is perhaps the best, while the last, _Le soir_, is the simplest and the most approachable. The _Chansons de Bilitis_ are more emotional and not so good. But the three ‘Ballads of François Villon,’ published in 1910, are masterpieces. The Prayer to the Virgin Mary is admirably pathetic, and the third, ‘The Ladies of Paris,’ shows Debussy in his sprightly vein, which he manages with capital humor and verve. The _Fêtes galantes_ (words by Verlaine) include two very typical songs, _En Sourdine_ and _Clair de lune_; the second extremely successful in the creating of ‘atmosphere’ and the first unusually appealing in melody. Finally we may mention the _Ariettes oubliées_, published in 1913, which include one admirable song, the ‘Belgian Landscape,’ which is clear and picturesque. Maurice Ravel (born 1875) has a more vital talent than Debussy. Though the idiom he uses is remarkably similar, he manipulates it with greater incisiveness of effect and hence can make it expressive of emotion and physical energy to a greater extent. Where Debussy avoids the harsh and crude, Ravel often delights in it. Moreover, of late years, he has shown a marked change in his style (which cannot be said of Debussy). For, while the radical French music of the nineties was preëminently harmonic (insisting on the absolute effect of strange chords for its effect), Ravel has made his increasingly polyphonic. This he seems to have got from the Russian, Stravinsky. Undoubtedly this is a more vigorous method and especially one which is capable of a longer life and more variety of expression. And with it Ravel has accomplished fine things. The new French school, which with Debussy seemed in danger of degenerating into meticulous preciosity, will surely not see its energy exhausted at Ravel’s hands.