Le poète et le fantôme (1891)

Considering that he wrote not far short of 260 mélodies - a total achieved by no other French composer of any significance - a Massenet song is a surprisingly rare event in concert programmes. Considering also that, as his operas demonstrate, he was a master of the art of word-setting, the neglect is even more suprising. Le poète et le fantôme (to words by a wisely anonymous poet) is a characteristic example of his undemonstrative skill and economy. Not scored as a duet - although it certainly lends itself to duet treatment - it is a dialogue song in the tradition of Der Tod und das Mädchen. While it is obviously less serious than the Schubert example, since the encounter is not with death in this case but with memory, the technique is basically the same. The harmonies, represented here by a scarcely interrupted flow of piano arpeggios, and the shape and colour of the vocal line are varied according to the regular exchange between poet and phantom.