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-Pru ian 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." Wagner i an—but also requiring the genius of a Wagner.