rchestration to recommend
it. Nevertheless it is a charming trifle, and has survived many of
Gounod's more pretentious works. 'La Reine de Saba' (1862) and 'La
Colombe' (1866) are now forgotten, but 'Mireille' (1864), one of the
composer's most delightful works, still enjoys a high degree of
popularity. The story, which is founded upon Mistral's Provencal romance
'Mireio,' is transparently simple. Vincent, a young basket-maker, loves
the fair Mireille, who is the daughter of a rich farmer named Raymond.
Raymond will have nothing to say to so humble a suitor, and favours the
pretensions of Ourrias, a herdsman. While making a pilgrimage to a
church in the desert of Crau, Mireille has a sunstroke, and her life is
despaired of. In an access of grief and remorse her father promises to
revoke his dismissal of Vincent, whereupon Mireille speedily recovers
and is united to her lover. Gounod's music seems to have borrowed the
warm colouring of the Provencal poet's romance. 'Mireille' glows with
the life and sunlight of the south. There is little attempt at dramatic
force in it, and the one scene in which the note of pathos is attempted
is perhaps the least successful in the whole opera. But the lighter
portions of the work are irresistible. 'Mireille' has much of the charm
of Daudet's Provencal stories, the charm of warmth and colour,
independent of subject. More than one version of the opera exists. That
which is now most usually played is in three acts. In the first version
of the work there is a curious scene, in which Ourrias is drowned by a
spectral ferryman in the waters of the Rhone, but this is now rarely
performed.

In 1869 was produced 'Romeo et Juliette,' an opera which, in the
estimation of the majority of Gounod's admirers, ranks next to 'Faust'
in the catalogue of his works. The libretto, apart from one or two
concessions to operatic convention, is a fair piece of work, and at any
rate compares favourably with the parodies of Shakespeare which so often
do duty for libretti. The opening scene shows the ball in Capulet's
house and the first meeting of the lovers. The second act is the balcony
scene. The third includes the marriage of Romeo and Juliet in Friar
Laurence's cell, with the duels in the streets of Verona, the death of
Mercutio, and the banishment of Romeo. The fourth act opens with the
parting of the lovers in Juliet's chamber, and ends with Friar Laurence
giving Juliet the potion. The last act, after an e