La Forêt is an opera in two acts. It is characterized by the use of modal and whole-tone scales as well as a great deal of chromaticism. The story is about a woodcutter who is forced by a higher authority to cut down the forest where he played as a child. He is lured to his death by a vision of a beautiful woman. His wife witnesses his death just as she is passing by in a religious procession. (ref. Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2001).