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Bluebeard's Castle, Op. 11: Score
(Boosey & Hawkes Scores/Books). Text by Bela Balasz. German and English text.
- GenresMusic
182 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2000
About the author
Béla Bartók
1,277 books13 followersWorks, including the music for the opera
Duke Bluebeard's Castle
(1911) and
Concerto for Orchestra
(1943), of Hungarian pianist and composer Béla Bartók combine east European folk with dissonant harmonies.
Since 1920, small childhood hometown of Béla Viktor János Bartók in the kingdom within Austria constituted Sânnicolau Mare or great Saint Nicholas, Romania.
From his mother, he got his first lessons, but from the age of 18 years in 1899, he studied under a protege of the great late Franz Liszt. At the royal academy in Budapest, he met Zoltán Kodály, lifelong friend. Kodály, Claude Debussy of France, Johannes Brahms, and old Magyar melodies influenced Bartók, who met Richard Strauss in 1902. Indeed, Bartók of founded study of ethnomusicology, a passion in which his friend Kodály joined him, studying and incorporating much country into his own.
Since 1920, small childhood hometown of Béla Viktor János Bartók in the kingdom within Austria constituted Sânnicolau Mare or great Saint Nicholas, Romania.
From his mother, he got his first lessons, but from the age of 18 years in 1899, he studied under a protege of the great late Franz Liszt. At the royal academy in Budapest, he met Zoltán Kodály, lifelong friend. Kodály, Claude Debussy of France, Johannes Brahms, and old Magyar melodies influenced Bartók, who met Richard Strauss in 1902. Indeed, Bartók of founded study of ethnomusicology, a passion in which his friend Kodály joined him, studying and incorporating much country into his own.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 20, 2025
showstopping, lifechanging, amazing
October 30, 2019
In the Opera, "Bluebeard's Castle", published in 1911 by Bela Balazs and written by Bela Bartok, they incorporate a work of literature and musical sense throughout the whole movie, to build a common factor of curiosity, patriarchal authority, and suspense. Bluebeard's Castle was published three years prior to World War I in which the society was facing economic and political challenges during its time. This not only reflected the character's in the opera yet it reflected what we were living around in the early 1900's. Throughout the parallelism and the symbolism we see, sends the audience a message of what this whole opera fulfills in which we will later discuss.
To begin, this opera contains two characters by the name of Bluebeard and his wife Judith. The opera begins with Judith running away from the darkness to be with Bluebeard and his castle. These two characters meet at night which will signify importance later in the opera. However, as Judith enters the castle, she's presented with the castle in a state of darkness as she wants to bring light and joy into the building. By doing so, she begins her curiosity and notices these 7 locked doors which was very intriguing for her to open. Despite these 7 doors, she's heard many rumors that Bluebeard was a psychopath and many more. She wanted to find herself as she persuades Bluebeard to open the first door following the rest of the doors by expressing her "love" to him. By doing so, Bluebeard falls for her actions and opens the doors. Every door that is opened shows what Bluebeard really is as blood happens to drip from most of the doors, having a lake of tears, and his own riches. This make Judith feel more iffy of the fact that Bluebeard lives up to the rumors. As the last door opens, she notices 3 girls which are his wives. The first represents the morning, the next afternoon, the third evening, and lastly fulfill her spot which is the "night". By Bluebeard meeting Judith at night, signifies that she's the wife of the night as she enters the throne of where all the other wives are standing. Not only she agrees on entering as the "night" wife, the audience therefore identifies Bluebeard that the rumors were true and that the rooms that she's open were the rooms that the previous 3 wives dealt with.
Throughout this whole opera, symbolism is present in most of the scenes. One symbolism is the contrast of white and red though-out the opera with Judith wearing white while red represents the blood that Bluebeard contains. We can also see what the lake represented as it was the tears that the 3 wives all obtained in which it accumulated overtime, reflecting Bluebeard's savageness. Many themes fulfill this opera as patriarchal authority overrides women and how curiosity can bring you to a conclusion.
From what I learned in this opera is that curiosity can bring you in favor of a lot of concepts. Whether it can be bad or good, it will make an individual have a sense of realization when everything is done. I also noticed that Bluebeard serves as a Pentheus outlook as to Judith being a Dionysus. These it greatly seen thoughout the whole opera as Judith is open to reveal the unknown as to Bluebeard, he is to secluded and trying to keep things the way he wants it to be.
To begin, this opera contains two characters by the name of Bluebeard and his wife Judith. The opera begins with Judith running away from the darkness to be with Bluebeard and his castle. These two characters meet at night which will signify importance later in the opera. However, as Judith enters the castle, she's presented with the castle in a state of darkness as she wants to bring light and joy into the building. By doing so, she begins her curiosity and notices these 7 locked doors which was very intriguing for her to open. Despite these 7 doors, she's heard many rumors that Bluebeard was a psychopath and many more. She wanted to find herself as she persuades Bluebeard to open the first door following the rest of the doors by expressing her "love" to him. By doing so, Bluebeard falls for her actions and opens the doors. Every door that is opened shows what Bluebeard really is as blood happens to drip from most of the doors, having a lake of tears, and his own riches. This make Judith feel more iffy of the fact that Bluebeard lives up to the rumors. As the last door opens, she notices 3 girls which are his wives. The first represents the morning, the next afternoon, the third evening, and lastly fulfill her spot which is the "night". By Bluebeard meeting Judith at night, signifies that she's the wife of the night as she enters the throne of where all the other wives are standing. Not only she agrees on entering as the "night" wife, the audience therefore identifies Bluebeard that the rumors were true and that the rooms that she's open were the rooms that the previous 3 wives dealt with.
Throughout this whole opera, symbolism is present in most of the scenes. One symbolism is the contrast of white and red though-out the opera with Judith wearing white while red represents the blood that Bluebeard contains. We can also see what the lake represented as it was the tears that the 3 wives all obtained in which it accumulated overtime, reflecting Bluebeard's savageness. Many themes fulfill this opera as patriarchal authority overrides women and how curiosity can bring you to a conclusion.
From what I learned in this opera is that curiosity can bring you in favor of a lot of concepts. Whether it can be bad or good, it will make an individual have a sense of realization when everything is done. I also noticed that Bluebeard serves as a Pentheus outlook as to Judith being a Dionysus. These it greatly seen thoughout the whole opera as Judith is open to reveal the unknown as to Bluebeard, he is to secluded and trying to keep things the way he wants it to be.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews