Ariane et Barbe-bleue
Encyclopedia
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in three acts by Paul Dukas
Paul Dukas
Paul Abraham Dukas was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man, of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, and he abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions...
. The French libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
is adapted (with very few changes) from the symbolist
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
by Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
.
Dukas had been impressed by Maeterlinck's play when it was first published in 1899. Maeterlinck had initially reserved the rights to use Ariane as a libretto for Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
. When Grieg abandoned his plans to compose the opera, Maeterlinck offered it to Dukas instead. Dukas worked on the score between 1899 and 1906.
The work has often been compared to Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
's opera Pelléas et Mélisande
Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)
Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande...
(1902), also based on a Maeterlinck play
Pelléas and Mélisande
Pelléas and Mélisande is a Symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck about the forbidden, doomed love of the title characters. It was first performed in 1893....
. Debussy had virtually finished his score by the time Dukas began work on his. The names of Barbe-bleue's
Bluebeard
"Bluebeard" is a French literary folktale written by Charles Perrault and is one of eight tales by the author first published by Barbin in Paris in January 1697 in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of murdering his wives and the...
five former wives are taken from previous plays by Maeterlinck: Sélysette from Aglavaine et Sélysette (1896), Alladine from Alladine et Palomides (1894) and both Ygraine and Bellangère from La mort de Tintagiles (1894). Mélisande, of course, comes from Pelléas. Dukas, who knew Debussy well, in fact borrows from Debussy a musical theme for Mélisande, though the character is minor in the Dukas. Ariane takes her name from the legend of Ariadne
Ariadne
Ariadne , in Greek mythology, was the daughter of King Minos of Crete, and his queen Pasiphaë, daughter of Helios, the Sun-titan. She aided Theseus in overcoming the Minotaur and was the bride of the god Dionysus.-Minos and Theseus:...
and the Cretan labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
, although she combines the roles of both Ariadne and Theseus
Theseus
For other uses, see Theseus Theseus was the mythical founder-king of Athens, son of Aethra, and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, both of whom Aethra had slept with in one night. Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were...
, who freed the captive Athenian virgins from the Minotaur
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
just as Ariane liberates – or tries to liberate – the wives from Bluebeard.
It received its first performance at the Opéra Comique
Opera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on 10 May 1907. Performances in the latter half of the 20th Century were rare.
Performance history
Ariane et Barbe-bleue premiered at Opéra Comique in Paris on 10 May 1907 with Maeterlinck's partner, Georgette LeblancGeorgette Leblanc
Georgette Leblanc was a French operatic soprano, actress, author, and the sister of novelist Maurice Leblanc. She became particularly associated with the works of Jules Massenet and was an admired interpreter of the title role in Bizet's Carmen...
, in the title role. It was conducted by Alexander von Zemlinsky
Alexander von Zemlinsky
Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher.-Early life:...
at the Vienna Volksoper
Vienna Volksoper
The Vienna Volksoper is a major opera house in Vienna, Austria. It gives about three hundred performances of twenty-five productions during an annual season running from September through June....
on 2 April 1908. Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
and his pupils Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
and Anton Webern
Anton Webern
Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
were in the audience and expressed their admiration for the music. Further performances followed in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
(1909), New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
(1911), Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
(1912) and Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
(1913). The British premiere did not take place until 20 April 1937 (at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, London). Oper Frankfurt gave a new production in its 2007–2008 season and Opéra National de Paris took the work to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in July 2008, together with only one other full-length opera, on the company's first tour of that country; Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona) gave a new production in June 2011, its premiere at the theatre. Five commercial recordings exist, as well as recordings of an orchestral suite, prepared by Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
and premiered in a 1947 broadcast by the NBC Symphony Orchestra
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 10 May 1907 (conductor: François Ruhlmann François Ruhlmann -Life and career:Ruhlmann was a pupil of Joseph Dupont in Brussels. As a child he sang in the chorus at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, and at 7 played the oboe in the orchestra.Ruhlmann's first conducting engagement was at the Théâtre des Arts in Rouen in 1892... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Ariane | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Georgette Leblanc Georgette Leblanc Georgette Leblanc was a French operatic soprano, actress, author, and the sister of novelist Maurice Leblanc. She became particularly associated with the works of Jules Massenet and was an admired interpreter of the title role in Bizet's Carmen... |
| La nourrice (Nurse) | contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above... |
Cécilie Thévenet |
| Barbe-bleue (Bluebeard) | bass | Félix Vieuille Félix Vieuille Félix Vieuille was a French operatic bass who sang for more than four decades with the Opéra-Comique in Paris during the first half of the twentieth century... |
| Sélysette, one of Bluebeard's wives | contralto | Suzanne Brohly |
| Ygraine, one of Bluebeard's wives | soprano | Marthe Bakkers |
| Mélisande, one of Bluebeard's wives | soprano | Hélène Demellier |
| Bellangère, one of Bluebeard's wives | soprano | Berg |
| Alladine, one of Bluebeard's wives | mime | Régina Badet |
| An Old Peasant | bass | Louis Azéma |
| 2nd Peasant | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Lucazeau |
| 3rd Peasant | bass | Tarquini |
| Chorus: Peasants, Crowd | ||
Act One
Scene: A vast, lavish semi-circular hall in Barbe-bleue's castleAriane is destined to be Barbe-bleue's sixth wife. As she and her nurse arrive at Barbe-bleue's castle, they are greeted (offstage) by a chorus of peasants clamouring for Barbe-bleue's death because they believe he has murdered his former wives. Ariane is convinced they are still alive. She declares: Il m'aime, je suis belle, et j'aurai son secret. D'abord il faut désobéir: c'est le premier devoir quand l'ordre est menaçant et ne s'explique pas. – Les autres ont eu tort et les voilà perdues pour avoir hésité. ("He loves me, I am beautiful, and I will discover his secret. First one must disobey: it's the primal duty when an order is menacing and unexplained. – The others were mistaken and now they are lost because they hesitated.")
Barbe-bleue has given her seven keys to his treasure chambers: the six silver ones she is permitted to use, but the seventh, golden key is forbidden. Ariane says this is the only key which matters and goes to look for the seventh door while her nurse opens the others. The nurse turns the lock in the first door and a cascade of jewels and other treasures spills out. The second door reveals a "shower of sapphires"; the third, a "deluge of pearls"; the fourth, a "waterfall of emeralds"; the fifth, "a tragic torrent of rubies"; and the sixth, "avalanches of gigantic diamonds." The sixth door also reveals the vault containing the seventh to Ariane. Ignoring her nurse's warning, she turns the golden key in the lock. At first it reveals nothing but darkness, then "the stifled sounds of far away singing rise from the bowels of the earth and spread across the hall." It is the voices of Barbe-bleue's other wives singing a folk song "Les cinq filles d'Orlamonde" ("The five maids of Orlamonde"). The nurse is terrified and tries to shut the door again but she is powerless to move it as the voices draw nearer. At the last words of the song, Barbe-bleue enters the hall. He accuses Ariane: Vous aussi... ("You too..."). She replies, Moi surtout ("Me above all"). He tells her that through her disobedience she is abandoning the happiness he has offered her. She tells him, "The happiness I want cannot thrive in the shadows." Barbe-bleue grabs her by the arm and tries to drag her towards the seventh door. As he does so, the furious peasants smash the windows and break into the hall to confront Barbe-bleue, who draws his sword in defence. But Ariane calmly turns to the crowd and asks them "What do you want? - He has done me no harm" before closing the door on them.
Act Two
Scene: A vast, underground hall, at first shrouded in almost complete darknessThe seventh door has shut behind Ariane and the nurse. They explore the darkness with the aid of a lamp. Ariane is not afraid and believes Barbe-bleue will free them of his own accord: Il est blessé, il est vaincu, mais il l'ignore encore... ("He is wounded, he is defeated, but he doesn't know it yet..."). She finds the other wives hiding in the darkness, dressed in rags and terrified, but alive. She embraces them and says she has come to free them. She asks them if they have tried to escape. One wife (Sélysette) replies: On ne pourrait pas fuir; car tout est bien fermé; est puis c'est défendu ("We couldn't; everything is barred and bolted; besides, it is forbidden.") She asks their names and they give them, except for Alladine who is a foreigner and unable to speak. Drops of water from the vault extinguish Ariane's lamp and they are plunged into darkness. But Ariane thinks she can make out a faint source of light and gropes towards it. She finds it is a stained-glass window covered in grime. Taking a stone, she smashes the panes one by one and is dazzled by the light flooding in. The wives follow her. They can hear the sound of the sea, wind in the trees and the singing of birds. They gaze on a green country landscape as a village clock strikes midday. Ariane tells them not to be afraid but to follow the stone steps which lead down into the outside world.
Act Three
Scene: The same as Act OneThe castle's magic defences have prevented the wives from escaping and they find themselves in the hall, but they are happy as long as they are with Ariane. Barbe-bleue is nowhere to be seen. Ariane is certain they will soon be liberated. She helps the other wives to decorate themselves with the jewels from the six doors. The nurse enters and tells them Barbe-bleue is on his way. They look through the windows only to see Barbe-bleue's carriage ambushed by rebel peasants. Barbe-bleue's bodyguard is cut down and he is badly beaten. Ariane pleads with them not to kill him but they cannot hear. The peasants break down the castle door and enter with Barbe-bleue roped up. They fall silent at the sight of his wives and willingly turn over their captive to Ariane so she can take "vengeance". She thanks them and persuades them to leave the castle. The wives delicately care for the wounded Barbe-bleue before Ariane cuts his bonds with a dagger. Barbe-bleue is free and silently gazes at Ariane. She bids him "Farewell". He makes a feeble attempt to stop her then relents. Ariane asks the other wives if they are going to follow her: La forêt et la mer nous appellent de loin et l'aurore se penche aux voûtes de l'azur, pour nous montrer un monde inondé d'espérance... ("The forest and the sea are beckoning from afar and dawn is spreading over the azure heavens and will reveal a world filled with hope..."). None of them accepts the offer and Ariane leaves alone with her nurse. The wives gaze at each other, then at Barbe-bleue, who slowly lifts up his head.
Complete opera
- Ariane et Barbe-bleue, Berthe Montmart (Ariane), Xavier Depraz (Barbe-bleue), Marie Luce Bellary (la nourrice), Janine Capderou (Sélysette), Denise Boursin (Ygraine), Nadine Sautereau (Mélisande), Claudine Collard (Bellangère); Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Tony AubinTony AubinTony Louis Alexandre Aubin was a French composer.From 1925 to 1930 Aubin studied at the Paris Conservatory under Samuel Rousseau , Noel Gallon , Philippe Gaubert , and Paul Dukas . He was awarded the Prix de Rome for the cantata Actaeon in 1930...
(Paris, 1968 / Gala, 2003) - Ariane et Barbe-bleue, Katherine Ciesinski (Ariane), Gabriel Bacquier (Barbe-bleue), Mariana Paunova (la nourrice), Hanna Schaer (Sélysette), Anne-Marie Blanzat (Ygraine), Jocelyne Chamonin (Mélisande), Michèle Command (Bellangère); Chœur et Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Armin JordanArmin JordanArmin Jordan , was a Swiss conductor known for his interpretations of French music, Mozart and Wagner.Armin Jordan was born in Lucerne, Switzerland. "Mr...
(Paris, 1983 / Érato, 1983) - Ariane et Barbe-bleue, Marilyn Schmiege (Ariane), Roderick Kennedy (Barbe-bleue), Jocelyn Taillon (la nourrice), Cynthia Buchan (Sélysette), Monique Baudoin (Ygraine), Mitsuko Shirai (Mélisande), Francine Laurent (Bellangère); Kölner Rundfunkchor, Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, conducted by Gary BertiniGary BertiniGary Bertini was an Israeli conductor.-Biography:Gary Bertini was born Shloyme Golergant in Bricheva, Bessarabia, then in Romania, now in Donduşeni District, Moldova. His father, K. A. Bertini , was a poet and translator of the Russian and Yiddish Gary Bertini (Hebrew: גארי ברתיני) (born 1 May...
(Cologne, 1986 / Capriccio, 2011) - Ariane et Barbe-bleue, Debora Polaski (Ariane), Kwangchul Youn (Barbe-bleue), Jane Henschell (la nourrice), Ruxandra Donose )Sélysette), Stella Grigorian (Bellangère); Slovak Philharmonic Choir, Radio Symphonieorchester Wien, conducted by Bertrand de BillyBertrand de BillyBertrand de Billy is a French conductor.He was born in Paris.After his career as an instrumental musician, de Billy began his conducting career in Paris. He later moved to Germany and built up his career as an opera conductor. He was the general music director at the Anhaltisches Theater in...
(Vienna, 2006 / Oehms Classics, 2006) - Ariane et Barbe-bleue, Lori Phillips (Ariane), Peter Rose (Barbe-bleue), Ana James (Ygraine), Daphné Touchais (Mélisande), Sarah-Jane Davies (Bellangère), Laura Vlasak Nolen (Sélysette); BBC Symphony OrchestraBBC Symphony OrchestraThe BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
, BBC Singers, conducted by Leon BotsteinLeon BotsteinLeon Botstein is an American conductor and the President of Bard College . Botstein is the music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, where he served as music director and principal conductor from 2003-2010...
(Watford, 2007 / Telarc, 2007)
Suite
- Ariane et Barbe-bleue, suite, NBC Symphony OrchestraNBC Symphony OrchestraThe NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
and Chorus, conducted by Arturo ToscaniniArturo ToscaniniArturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
, 1947 NBC broadcast concert (Urania)