Opera Duke Bluebeard`s Castle (Opera in one act) World famous Bolshoi Ballet and Opera theatre (established 1776) - Small Stage
Running time: 1 hour
Schedule for Duke Bluebeard`s Castle (Opera in one act) 2022
Composer: Bela Bartok
Orchestra: Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra
Duke Bluebeard's Castle
(opera)
Production by the English National Opera
Synopsis
Judith and Bluebeard arrive at his castle, which is all dark. Bluebeard asks
Judith if she wants to stay and even offers her an opportunity to leave, but she
decides to stay. Judith insists that all the doors be opened, to allow light to
enter into the forbidding interior, insisting further that her demands are based
on her love for Bluebeard. Bluebeard refuses, saying that they are private
places not to be explored by others, and asking Judith to love him but ask no
questions. Judith persists, and eventually prevails over his resistance.
The first door opens to reveal a torture chamber, stained with blood.
Repelled, but then intrigued, Judith pushes on. Behind the second door is a
storehouse of weapons, and behind the third a storehouse of riches. Bluebeard
urges her on. Behind the fourth door is a secret garden of great beauty; behind
the fifth, a window onto Bluebeard's vast kingdom. All is now sunlit, but blood
has stained the riches, watered the garden, and grim clouds throw blood-red
shadows over Bluebeard's kingdom.
Bluebeard pleads with her to stop: the castle is as bright as it can get, and
will not get any brighter, but Judith refuses to be stopped after coming this
far, and opens the penultimate sixth door, as a shadow passes over the castle.
This is the first room that has not been somehow stained with blood; a silent
silvery lake is all that lies within, "a lake of tears". Bluebeard begs Judith
to simply love him, and ask no more questions. The last door must be shut
forever. But she persists, asking him about his former wives, and then accusing
him of having murdered them, suggesting that their blood was the blood
everywhere, that their tears were those that filled the lake, and that their
bodies lie behind the last door. At this, Bluebeard hands over the last key.
Behind the door are Bluebeard's three former wives, but still alive, dressed
in crowns and jewellery. They emerge silently, and Bluebeard, overcome with
emotion, prostrates himself before them and praises each in turn, finally
turning to Judith and beginning to praise her as his fourth wife. She is
horrified, begs him to stop, but it is too late. He dresses her in the jewellery
they wear, which she finds exceedingly heavy. Her head drooping under the
weight, she follows the other wives along a beam of moonlight through the
seventh door. It closes behind her, and Bluebeard is left alone as all fades to
total darkness.
Schedule for Duke Bluebeard`s Castle (Opera in one act) 2022
|