Dukas is mainly known from his "L'apprenti sorcier," and that's not just because of Fantasia; apparently in his lifetime he was irritated that people were focused on that one short piece to the exclusion of all his other work. Well, here we have his only opera, so hopefully now we can give his unquiet ghost (trying to get in a seasonal mood) its due.
Clearly, the main Bluebeard opera that we know is Bluebeard's Castle. Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle. Béla Bartok's bizarre, beautiful Bluebeard's Castle. Sorry, I'm just spouting gibberish. But in all seriousness: that is a hella unnerving opera. Might be a good one to watch for Halloween, if you're looking for something seasonal. Though I don't know; maybe the US teetering on the edge of fascism is scary enough for you. Opinions vary!
Why did I write the above paragraph? Who knows? This is not that, anyway. It's based on a play by Maeterlinck, more or less retelling the basic story, though with differences. Ariane goes to Bluebeard's castle, but she's convinced his previous wives are still alive and that she can save them. She has the seven keys of which she's allowed to use but six; she opens the first six doors and finds a bunch of precious jewels; behind the seventh are the wives. A mob attacks Bluebeard offstage and renders him helpless, leaving the wives to decide what to do with him. They spare his life, but they're still free, in theory: Ariane tries to get them to leave with her, but all of them refuse, so she departs with her nurse. That is it. In spite of the opera's title, the part of Bluebeard is actually extremely small; he only sings in one short scene.
So that's about it. It's sort of hard to determine what particular point is being made here. It is what it is, I suppose. Unless I'm wrong! Maybe it's not what it is. Still, I really like Dukas' music. In particular, the scene in the first act where Ariane and her nurse are opening the doors is pretty stunning. A very ecstatic, Wagnerian sound. To be honest, the actual story didn't engage me much, especially as it wore on, but I'm certainly glad to have seen it. The production--the only available, naturally--probably didn't help: it's not, like, egregiously horrible or anything, but it kind of arbitrarily takes place in this clinical, hospital-like environment. As you know, I don't object to some Eurotrash, but the problem here is...it's just not very interesting to look at, and it underemphasizes the mythic aspects of the story. OH WELL!
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