Bluebeard's Castle

Common card · No. 213879

Duke Bluebeard's Castle (Hungarian: A kékszakállú herceg vára, literally The Blue-Bearded Duke's Castle) is a one-act Symbolist opera by Béla Bartók to a Hungarian libretto by poet Béla Balázs. Bartók's only opera, it is based on the French folk legend, or conte populaire, as told by Charles Perrault. It lasts about an hour and has two singing characters: Bluebeard (Kékszakállú) and his newest wife, Judith (Judit); the two have just eloped and she is coming home to his castle for the first time. Bluebeard's Castle, Sz. 48, was composed in 1911 (with modifications made in 1912 and a new ending added in 1917) and first performed on 24 May 1918 at the Royal Hungarian Opera House in Budapest. Universal Edition published the vocal (1921) and full score (1925). The Boosey & Hawkes full score includes only the German and English singing translations while the Dover edition reproduces the Universal Edition Hungarian/German vocal score (with page numbers beginning at 1 instead of 5). A revision...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Gustave Doré, Public domain