Chapter CLXXXVI: Act III: shows the feast and the bacchanale at the house of Bacchis

The theft of the mirror is discovered. _Corinna_, a slave, is accused and crucified. _Chrysis_ is inwardly exultant that her wish has been obeyed.

In Act IV _Chrysis_ goes to _Démétrios_ to receive the gifts and to bestow the reward. _Démétrios_, mad with passion, clasps her in his embrace. The clamour without reminds him of his misdeed. In a fit of disgust he demands that the beautiful woman shall not hoard her treasures in secret, but appear in public decked with them, as an atonement. He sends her away.

On the island of the lighthouse of Alexandria the crowds discuss the theft of the mirror and the crucifixion of _Corinna_. _Timon_ announces the slaying of Touni and the stealing of her comb. _Chrysis_ appears wrapped in a long mantle. The sacred courtesans and the temple guards announce the theft of the jewels from the temple. Suddenly _Chrysis_ appears on the highest balcony of the lighthouse, the stolen comb in her hair, the mirror in her hand, and the necklace about her throat. Disclosed in a flash of lightning the crowds think it is the goddess in person. Soon they realize the truth and _Chrysis_ is seized and taken to prison.

The _Jailor_ brings a poisoned goblet to her cell. She drinks--_Démétrios_ arrives too late, to find her dead.

Her friends, _Myrto_ and _Rhodis_, bury her body in the Garden of Hermanubis.

L'ATTAQUE DU MOULIN

THE ATTACK ON THE MILL

This is a four-act music-drama by Alfred Bruneau, the libretto by Louis Gallet, based on a story from Zola's "Soirées de Medan." It was produced at the Opéra Comique, Paris, November 23, 1893, and in this country in 1908.

The tale is an episode of the Franco-Prussian War. In the first act we see the betrothal of _Françoise_, daughter of the miller, _Merlier_, to _Dominique_. The _Town Crier_ announces the declaration of war.

In the second act the mill is attacked and captured by the Germans. _Dominique_ is made a prisoner and locked in the mill. _Françoise_ gets a knife to him. While (in the third act) the girl engages the attention of the sentinel, _Dominique_ makes his way out of the mill, kills the sentinel, and escapes. In the fourth act the French, guided by _Dominique_, return. But just as they enter, with _Dominique_ at their head, the Germans shoot _Merlier_ before his daughter's eyes.

* * * * *

In writing about his theories of the lyric drama, Bruneau, who was regarded as a promising follower of Wagner, used these words: "It is music uniting itself intimately to the poetry ... the orchestra comments upon the inward thoughts of the different characters." Wagnerian--but also requiring the genius of a Wagner.

ARIANE ET BARBE-BLEUE

ARIADNE AND BLUE-BEARD

Opera in three acts, by Paul Dukas; text by Maurice
Maeterlinck. Produced in New York, March 3, 1911.

CHARACTERS

BLUE-BEARD _Bass_
ARIANE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Soprano_
THE NURSE _Contralto_
SÉLYSETTE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Mezzo-Soprano_
YGRAINE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Soprano_
MÉLISANDE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Soprano_
BELLANGÈRE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Soprano_
ALLAINE, wife of _Blue-Beard_ _Acting Rôle_
AN OLD PEASANT _Bass_

Peasants and Mob.

_Time_--Middle Ages.

_Place_--_Blue-Beard's_ Castle.

Act I. Hall in _Blue-Beard's_ castle. _Ariane_, sixth wife of _Blue-Beard_, is warned by voices of the crowd outside that _Blue-Beard_ has already murdered five wives. _Ariane_ has seven keys--six of silver and one of gold. When _Ariane_, intent only on opening the forbidden chamber, throws down the six silver keys, her _Nurse_ picks them up. With one she unlocks the first door. Instantly amethysts set in diadems, bracelets, rings, girdles, fall down in a shower on _Ariane_. And so, to her joy, as door after door swings open, she is showered with sapphires, pearls, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds. Now _Ariane_ opens, with the golden key, the seventh door. Darkness, out of which come the voices of the five lost wives. Here _Ariane_ is surprised by _Blue-Beard_, who lays hold of her. The crowd, admitted by the _Nurse_, rush in to kill _Blue-Beard_, but are told by _Ariane_ that he has not harmed her.

Act II. A subterranean hall. _Ariane_ descends with the _Nurse_ into the depths of the blackness on which the seventh door opened. There she finds the five wives still alive but emaciated and in rags. She tells them that she has obeyed a higher law than _Blue-Beard's_, and that outside birds are singing and the sun is shining. A jet of water extinguishes _Ariane's_ light, but she is not fearful. She leads the five toward a radiant spot at the end of the vault. She throws herself against the barred wall. It gives away. The sunlight streams in. Blinded at first by its brilliance, the five wives finally come out of the vault and go off singing joyously.