LES CLOCHES DECOBNEVILLE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2576, 25 September 1915, Page 11

LES CLOCHES DECOBNEVILLE

■ Planquetto's beautiful- and romantic , opera, "'tes Cloches de Corneville,"' will be presented to the public at tlie Grand - - Opera House this evening by the Welling-■v-i. t<m . : Amateur^Operatic:;Society," '^-In 1 ' the 1 v - whole.-gamut-; of:.''comic,-. opera ; ' there, vis,, probably no more telling dramatic climax' than that reached at the end- of. tlie' second ■ait;of,'this,opera. i ; :' The situation 1 / is cleverly: worked up by the action, fol-' • :i v the return - - to : his Normandy, -. estates'- of the : Marquis,, .believed :'to be;

• dead.' ■ The . legend: states ; that; the/bells■; iafe'ohiy/to.-ruis;,when .the-Heir returns, ;'. and. ; return. ; he. does—returns: to .find that j Gaspad, the .trusted' servant of his. dead : -father,'has. a/ mean, - grasping, jiniser, •ivho. has hoarded up the money ! accruing from the estates .until..he ; believes 'it-is all his. iWhen 'the'Ma'rq.uis ■returns lie seeks ' liis' youthful: home - in. ,the old: and now crumbling chateau cm •'the:'hill'.: T.he . villagers', believe .:it tobe haunted, ''strange/lights and/shapes have feu iseeiV through' the mullioned: windows ./itv.midnight. " .The Marqius; - with . his . / Jailoi' ladsj' rcsolvcs to probe the mystery, < and/finds'- that the/spectre-is 'none, other fh n. old Gaspard. The /intruders' /then . appear-out of the gloom as ghosts, ( an'd at the; sight of :them. Gaspard hugs his gold and. i loses his reason at ' the same ' time.: The scene. is fascinatingly, dramatic, and the chorus, "Let Our Torches. -Light : .Up, ; the;..Gloom," and; : that:.of. the "(■"Ancestors" are, fine evidences of . Planfiuette's genius as a writer fo* massed

: ! The whole of the net proceeds of .-the opera season, are to be donated to the IWounded SoldiersV Fund. , : / ;

Mrs. Mathcwson, 264 Lambton Quay; -is- offering the. newest .summer costumes in gabardine—a fabric in high favour,this season—also in fino navy serge and tus-. i sore silk, at' very special prices.