I have seen him sick in bed, in a most uncomfortable position, and still turning off pages of orchestration, which followed one another with disconcerting speed.

Too often such facility engenders laziness, but in his case we know what an enormous amount of work he accomplished.

He has been criticised as being too prolific.

However, that is a quality which belongs only to a master.
The artist who produces little may, if he has ability, be an interesting artist, but he will never be a great one.
[Illustration: M.Jules Massenet] In this time of anarchy in art, when all he had to do to conciliate the hostile critics was to array himself with the _fauves_, Massenet set an example of impeccable writing.

He knew how to combine modernism with respect for tradition, and he did this at a time when all he had to do was to trample tradition under foot and be proclaimed a genius.