Alfred Bruneau (1857) links the Wagner period with Debussy’s. His operas are rarely given outside of Paris. His manner was new and caused much discussion. He based many of his plots on Émile Zola’s writings, and was conductor of the _Opéra Comique_. _The Attack on the Mill_ was given in America. CHARPENTIER’S “LOUISE” Gustav Charpentier (1869) comes next. He made his name with the delightful opera about the dressmaker apprentice _Louise_, a musical novel on the life in Montmartre, one of the artist quarters of Paris. Charpentier wrote the book, which was the story of his own life. He also wrote its sequel _Julien_. No one who has ever been in Paris fails to be deeply stirred by this picture of the simple home life of the _midinette_ or sewing girl. Mary Garden created the part of Louise in America and it was the first rôle of her operatic career. In one scene, you hear the almost forgotten street cries of Paris. He has also written a charming work for orchestra, _Impressions of Italy_, which is the result of his having won the _Prix de Rome_ in his youth. This brings us up to the 20th century to which we shall devote an entire chapter. But in order to finish our story of French opera, we will merely introduce you to Claude Achille Debussy, the ultra-modern harmonist and weaver of mystery and beauty, who ushered in the 20th century with his lovely and enchanting opera, _Pelleas and Melisande_ written on the play by Maurice Maeterlinck. For ten years the composer worked over this masterpiece, and it was produced for the first time at the _Opéra Comique_, in Paris in 1902. Here we find something that never had been before,—opera completely separated from all the old ideas of what opera should be. But in tearing down the old, Debussy gave something very rare, beautiful, sensitive, touching a very high artistic peak, in its place. This was pure impressionism in music, just what romanticism was to the early 19th century. This carries the French School to its highest degree of mystic beauty. Coming later than Debussy’s opera are Maurice Ravel’s _L’Heure Espagnole_ (_The Spanish Hour_), Henri Rabaud’s _Marouf_, Paul Dukas’ _Ariane et Barbe Bleue_, also a Maeterlinck libretto and second only to _Pelleas and Melisande_ in atmospheric charm, Albert Roussel’s _Padmavati_, an Oriental opera, that has been produced very recently at the Grand Opera in Paris, and Florent Schmitt’s _Le Petit Elfe Ferme l’Oeil_ (_The little elf winks its eye_) presented at the _Opéra Comique_ in 1924. HUMPERDINCK—THE FAIRY TALE MAN—GERMANY