Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-31

FRENCH CANADIAN folksongs fea-
ture the annual event, the Quebec
Festival. at which artists born and bred
on the soil of Quebec Province and
celebrated artists from afar rival to re-
cover the spirit of both old and New
France and the age-old culture of the
Gallo race The festival will be held
this year october Is, II and IS. ac-
cording to an announcement made by
the Canadion Pacific Railway.
The center of activity during the
three days festival will be the Chateau
Frontenac, where, as at the two pre-
ceding festivals, hundreds of visitors
from all parts of Canada, France
Great Britain and the United States
will gather to feast of ballad operas
folksongs and dances, French and
French Canadian music. songs of the
soil, of village, farm and river, and
the stirring, haunting "chansons" OF
"voyageurs" and "coureurs du bois,
the pioneer woodsmen of this continent
In addition there will be representa-
lions of every handicraft practiced in
old rural France and in the Province
of quebec
Two Ballad Operas.
The two ballad operas selected for
presentation at the Quebec Festival
represent in the one case joyous scene
of French Canadian life, and the other
a page from the history Of early French
settlement in Acadia.
The first, "A French-Canadian We'd
ding" was written by Alberto Bourgeois.
and wildly depicts the jollity of song
and dance accompanying a country
ceremony Of this nature a hundred
years ago.
"LOrdre de Bon Temps" the second
opera, was written by Louvigny de
Montigny. It achieved such remark
able success on its first production that
it was translated into English and pro-
duced at the Sea Music and Yuletide
Festivals at Vancouver and Victoria
last winter. 1.-THE Order of Good
Cheer" is derived from the diary Of
Marc Lescarbot and paints a brilliant
picture of life in the settlement of Port
Royal under Champlain 800 years ago.
A revised French version, by the
French-Canadian poet, Robert Cho-
quette, will be presented at the coming
festival by cast selected from La
Societe dOperette" of Montreal, under
the direction of M. H. Vaillancourt.
The music has been arranged by DR..
Healey William OF the Toronto Con-
servatory of Music.
Traditional Folk Dances.
Traditional country dances from FIVE
provinces of France--those of Nor
mandy, Brittany, Auvergne, Limousin
and Poitou-will be presented by three
groups of Quebec children trained by
Nine. Arthur Duquest and a group of
folk-dance enthusiasts from st. Henri,
I1n IF
Charles Goulet.
The Bytown TroubadourS, a quartet
of French-Canadian "chansonniers,"
without whom no such festival would
be complete, will entertain with num-
erous songs selected from some 5000
chansons recorded for the National
Museum by DR.. Marius Barbeau, z. z.
Massicotte, Adelard Lambert and
others.
The death this year of Charles
Marchand, leader of the quartet and
one of the organizers of the Quebec
Festival, was an incalculable loss to
French Canadian culture, but the Trou-
badours have found a new comrade IN
Lionel Daunais, brilliant young BARI
tone who has devoted much OF his
time to the study and Interpretation
of folksongS. These troubadours in
their checkered shirts and centuries
flecheos" will once more bring TO the
Festival the gayety and romance Of the
backwoods of Quebec.
Habitant women are never at loss
for work and as they work they sing
old songs Of kings and knights and
ladies fair, lovely melodies that have
been preserved through the centuries.
The Festival will provide an oppor-
tdnity for visitors TO see spinners and
weavers at work, with specimens of the
exquisite fabrics they make, for the
spinning wheels and looms have not