The orchestration of "Pelléas et Mélisande" strengthens the previously formed conviction that Debussy is proving a worthy elaborator upon Saint-Saëns' lucid and refined methods. The key-note is transparency combined with an all-sufficient sonority. In a word, the cardinal feature of Debussy's scoring is the indispensability of each note, each phrase, each melody, even when assigned to the so-called secondary instruments of the orchestra--and this is by no means invariably the case in the scores of even such masters as Wagner, Elgar, Richard Strauss!] [Footnote 89: It is but justice to accord Anton Fuchs a large measure of credit for the recent successful series of performances of Wagner's "Parsifal" in New York at the Metropolitan Opera House.] VI. The attitude of the French public toward orchestral concert music has undergone a radical change during the last fifty years. Habeneck's efforts during the first half of the nineteenth century were indeed praiseworthy and productive, but to the modern conductors, Pasdeloup, Lamoureux, and Colonne belongs the honor of having placed concert music in France on a par with that of the drama. The story of their unprecedented activity has been frequently recorded but will bear repetition in consequence of its wide significance. The peculiar fact that until recent times practically all French composers won distinction in operatic lines before attempting orchestral works has already been sufficiently emphasized. It will be remembered, however, that even in the eighteenth century determined efforts had been made to establish orchestral concerts on a permanent footing, though they could not then hope to rival the allectations afforded by the dramatic stage. Retrospection shows us that in 1725 a brother of the composer, François Philidor, founded the "Concerts spirituels," which were subsequently fostered by Mouret and other worthy conductors. In 1770 the "Concerts des Amateurs" as established by Gossec proved such a success that he followed up the enterprise by reorganizing the venerable "Concerts spirituels." With the advent of Cherubini, French concert music received a still more powerful impetus, and through his resistless energy "La Société des Concerts du Conservatoire" sprang into existence. This is the organization that gave Habeneck (1781-1849) an opportunity to distinguish himself. He repaid the debt with interest, for these concerts owe their subsequent world-wide fame primarily to him. Dating approximately from the year of Beethoven's death, new life was infused into this reorganized institution by reason of Habeneck's contagious enthusiasm, and it was he who initiated the French people into the inner mysteries of Beethoven's immortal creations.