Inde / 2015
© Philippe Chancel
Bluebeard's Castle
Opera Festival
Béla Bartók
- Opéra de Lyon
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2 hours 30 minutes
whose1 intermission (s) 35 min
- hu
- Subtitled
Bartók adapted the famous Perrault story into Hungarian for his one and only opera. A piece of infinite musicality which rewrites operatic convention and is part of the genre’s move towards modernism.
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20:00
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16:00
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20:00
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20:00
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20:00
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16:00
About
Synopsis
Judith, Bluebeard’s fourth wife, discovers a huge dark room in her castle, with a sad and mysterious atmosphere, surrounded by seven closed doors. Bluebeard finally gives her permission to open the first six to let in a little light. The seventh, however, is strictly forbidden to her. But Judith braves the ban, to her misfortune...
Ambiguous Bluebeard
Bartók was 30 years old when he composed this pivotal work with a libretto by Bela Balázs. For the composer, Bluebeard's Castle is a collection of notable firsts: his first (and only) opera, his first vocal work and the first truly Hungarian opera. While drawing from the repertoire of Hungarian popular music, the composer confirms a real appetite for change with this work and signs off on one of the key pieces of 20th century modernism. In one act, this short opera aims more for efficiency than lyricism. If the libretto gives a central place to the musicality of the Hungarian language, it is the very colorful score which conveys the drama of the work and its hidden, unspoken emotions. Ukrainian director Andriy Zholdak exploits the ambiguity of this Bluebeard to the full, offering us, in the same evening, two radical stagings, intense and sensual, highlighting the different ways in which the same work and the same actions can be perceived.
New production
Cast
Sets
Andriy Zholdak et Daniel Zholdak
Costumes
NN
Lighting
NN
Dramaturgy
Georges Banu
Bluebeard
Karoly Szemeredy
Judith
Eve-Maud Hubeaux
Judith
Victoria Karkacheva
Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon
My Evening
Why we love it
Judith, the real heroine of the piece, is one of opera’s great female figures, free and resilient.
Why we love it
Andriy Zholdak’sdouble versionhighlights just how important staging and viewpoint are to the work.