Bartók and His Only Opera!
Béla Bartók was a brilliant Hungarian composer and pianist. He was famous for composing orchestrations, string quartets, folk music and even writing the libretto for a ballet…although I’m not sure how you’d need a libretto for a ballet. But the most interesting aspect of Bartók’s career to me was the only opera he ever composed. It is called Bluebeard’s Castle, composed in 1911 but did not premiere until 1918 being deemed “not fit for the stage.”
I found a very interesting review of Bluebeard’s Castle written by Sandor Veress and published by The Cambridge University Press in 1949. (Sandor being a Hungarian composer himself).
“Bluebeard’s Castle” Author(s): Sandor Veress Source: Tempo, Autumn, 1949, №13, Bartók Number (Autumn, 1949), pp. 32–37 Published by Cambridge University Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/942684 (I would have included a PDF for you but Medium only allows JPEG’s)
At the end of the first page, pg. 32 of the journal, Veress wrote some incredible insights that he had on the opera. My favorite part of the article is where he states: “This asceticism, the delving to the very essence of things, is a particular characteristic of Bartók’s personality. Nothing was more foreign to his nature than the superficial glitter of external vanities. It was not an accident, but a deeper inner need that led him to the conception of this opera and the choice of the subject. As with every great creative artist, in Bartók’s art, too, the core reveals the man. Not the idealized man but the man as we meet him in our everyday life. His art radiates the reality of the human being who is composed of good and bad, of entangled passions, constructive and destructive, of the duality of creation and annihilation, the divine and satanic embodied in the eternal beauty of nature, struggling incessantly to a higher and fuller realization of life.”
If you look at the picture above, it is probably the most interesting cover I’ve seen. Symbolistic/impressionistic artistry gives us a sense of what this opera represents. What could you gleam about the opera from this cover?
Earlier in the article, Veress talks about how Bartók’s stage conception is extremely minimalist for an opera. Not many things happen on stage, apart from some lighting techniques. I wonder why this was his choice? Was it an influence of some other composer’s techniques? Debussy comes to mind. Since Debussy’s works were considered impressionistic, letting the audience’s minds generate meaning, couldn’t the same be said for minimalistic work? Other evidence of Bartók’s minimalistic style would be his musical choices. He doesn’t provide an overture, any big musical moments for choir or orchestra. He doesn’t even include arias! Could it still be considered an opera without arias? He also only uses only two characters for the entire production, so duets are the main edition.
Even though today this is a short read, I believe Bartok has some significance to add because this opera is still performed today. I have included a link below to the staged production, should you be curious about them.
Bluebeard’s Castle: follow the score: https://youtu.be/GoImjQOEp-Q or the staged version: https://youtu.be/p9Aq2WWds8k
TTFN!
