Programme note: Bluebeard's Castle

[ONE-ACT OPERA] Béla Bartók wrote his one-act opera Duke Bluebeard’s Castle in 1911. Although it lasts barely an hour, the opera is an utterly monumental composition. Its focus is not as much on the plot as it is on the psychological development of the two protagonists. The music Bartók wrote to portray it is extremely compact, yet very vivid. The orchestration closely follows the various worlds hidden behind the various doors. Several recurring motifs also provide musical continuity and coherence. The vocal style is predominantly syllabic and declamatory, which makes the more lyrical moments all the more poignant. 

[NEW VERSION] Siebe Thijs rearranged Bartók’s score for an ensemble of 15 musicians. This gives the work the feel of a chamber opera. It paradoxically brings the tale of Bluebeard even closer. Although the mythical dimension is absent, at the same time, this version allows a menacing domesticity to creep in. Thys himself composed a kind of prelude to the opera, which is regarded as an independent work. To make the link with Bartók unambiguous, he starts with one of the most frequently occurring motifs in it – the sigh. 

[TEXT AND IMAGE] The opera is sung in Hungarian, but a somewhat condensed translation of the libretto will be projected during the performance. This projection is part of a video projected onto a scrim that is the actual staging of Bartók’s opera. To make this film, Lise Bruyneel dived into the catacombs of the Brussels courthouse – a space that turned out to be eminently suited to creating the right atmosphere: it has the look of a castle with countless unexplored rooms; it also calls up questions about crime and justice, especially regarding the way ‘ordinary’ people interact with each other.

[SYNOPSIS] Judith goes with Duke Bluebeard, for whom she feels an inexplicable fascination, to his castle. She has left her family and fiancé behind to follow him despite his shady reputation. Once inside the castle, her curiosity gets the better of her and she demands that the duke open every room to let her see it. One by one the doors are opened one by one. Behind the first door is a horrible chamber with iron instruments of torture; the second is full of weapons; then Judith discovers a room full of jewels, and one with lovely gardens. Behind the fifth door, she can glimpse Bluebeard’s realm of mountains, forests, rivers and fast landscapes, and behind the seventh lies a mysterious lake. Judith discovers to her distress that every room has traces of blood. Although her fear steadily grows, she urges him to open the door to the seventh room. In it are three women: the wife of the dawn, of the midday and of dusk. Judith realises that she is the fourth, meant to complete Bluebeard’s life work – the wife of the night. 

Pieter Bergé