Les cloches de Corneville

Les cloches de Corneville (The Bells of Corneville, sometimes known in English as The Chimes of Normandy) is an opéra-comique in three acts, composed by Robert Planquette to a libretto by Louis Clairville and Charles Gabet.

The story, set at the turn of the 18th century, depicts the return of an exiled aristocrat to his ancestral castle, the machinations of the miserly steward to secure the family's fortune for himself, and the changing amorous pairings of the four juvenile leads. Aspects of the plot were criticised by contemporary critics as derivative of earlier operas.

The opera was Planquette's first full-length stage work, and although he later wrote twelve more, including Rip Van Winkle, which was a hit in London, he never equalled the international success of this first venture. It broke box-office records in Paris and London, where it set a new long-run record for musical theatre worldwide, and was continually revived in Europe and the US during the rest of the 19th century. Since then it has remained in the repertoire for occasional productions in France.