The combination of Stéphane Mallarmé s esoteric poetry and Maurice Ravel s elusive tonal language presents a multitude of methodological problems for both analysts and performers attempting to study the Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé (1913). While extant analyses of these songs draw on pitch content to make observations about Ravel s interpretation of the text, they fail to consider the fundamental structural importance of Mallarmé s poetry. In his autobiographical sketch, Ravel noted that Mallarmé s préciosité so full of meaning inspired him to compose the Trois poèmes. By using...