Bluebeard's Castle

 

Last fall I photographed a dress rehearsal of Opera Southwest's production of Bluebeard's Castle, a one-act opera with music by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881-1945) and libretto by Béla Balázs (1884-1949) based on a French folk legend.  It premiered in Budapest in May, 1918, and had its first fully staged American performance by the New York City Opera in 1952.  The opera has six characters, only two of which have singing roles:  Duke Bluebeard and Judith, his new (and fourth) wife.

The opera begins with a spoken prologue which poses metaphysical questions to the audience such as "Where did this happen - outside or within?" and "The curtain rises - or is it just our eyelids?" and "Where is the stage - outside or within?".  The prologue suggests that the opera may be understood as an interior psychodrama -- perhaps the composer's (or the audience's) struggle to admit the inner secrets of their soul.

The Duke has brought Judith to his castle for the first time.  All the action takes place in a great hall deep within the castle wherein there are seven doors.

Judith asks that the doors be opened to let light into the dark hall.  Bluebeard refuses, asserting that behind the doors are private places not to be explored by others.

Following the narrative principle of Chekhov's gun, if you bring on seven locked doors, you'd better have them all unlocked by the end of the story.  And, indeed, through a cycle of confrontations . . .

 estrangement, 

emotional and, in one case, physical assault, 

followed by reconciliation, 

Judith overcomes Bluebeard's opposition, and one by one gets the keys to unlock and open each of the doors.

Behind the first door is a torture chamber stained with blood:

From there, things get increasingly weird.  Judith approaches each door with a mixture of curiosity and dread:

Finally, only the seventh door remains unopened.  Judith repeatedly asserts her desire to open the door and learn its secret:

But Bluebeard insists that the last door must never be opened.  Judith persists, asking him about his former wives and accusing him of having murdered them.  With that, Bluebeard hands over the last key and Judith opens the door.

Behind the door are Bluebeard's first three wives.  

It's not clear whether they are dead or alive as they encircle Judith, wrap her in a shroud, and escort her to their chamber behind the door . . . 

. . . leaving Bluebeard once again alone in his castle:

Bluebeard's Castle is only about one hour long, but there was no time for rehearsing curtain calls because the orchestra -- seated onstage behind the seven doors -- was scheduled to play music from the opera, Dr. Atomic, as the second half of the evening's program. 

Here, then, for your appreciation is a virtual curtain call composed of some additional images of the singers (Andrea Hill and Justin Hopkins) that I'm especially happy with.

If you would like to see these images (and many more from the dress rehearsal) in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!