Synopsis

Bluebeard's Castle written by Béla Bartók in 1911
World Premiere Budapest Opera 24 May 1918
First Performance at the Royal Opera House 27 February 1989 by Hungarian State Opera & Ballet
Premiere by Royal Opera 27 February 2002

The opera is in one act, and takes place in the dark and old castle of Duke Bluebeard.
A spoken prologue introduces the story as a fairy tale, an ancient melody, to be heard in silence.
Duke Bluebeard has brought his new wife Judith to his castle, a gloomy home unlike her father's.
Her parents, brother and sister having now gone, Judith declares that she will never leave her new husband.
The huge doors of the castle entrance shut behind them.
The castle is dark, icy and gloomy; there are no windows,
and the condensation on the walls is as if the castle is weeping.
Judith tells Bluebeard that she has come to bring light and warmth into his castle;
Bluebeard says that will never happen.
Judith sees seven great doors, all locked, and demands that they are opened.
She hammers on the first door, and hears the castle sighing. Bluebeard gives her the key.
Door 1
Behind the first door, Judith discovers a torture chamber with blood-stained walls; there is a crimson sunrise.
Judith must open all the doors, she says, because she loves her husband.
Door 2
The yellow glow behind the second door reveals the castle's armoury, whose weapons are covered in blood.
Door 3
The third door opens to reveal the reflection of mountains of gold and jewels of the castle treasury.
All the jewels are blood-stained.
Door 4
The garden behind the fourth door is full of lilies, carnations and roses, bathed in blue-green light.
Judith declares she has never seen such beauty. But the white rose is 'flushed with blood spots.
All the soil around is blood-soaked'.
Door 5
As each door has opened, new streams of coloured light have illuminated the central hall of the castle.
The light from the fifth door is dazzling, as the vast kingdom of Duke Bluebeard is revealed.
He thanks Judith for bringing light into his castle; his house will now ring with music and light,
and he again declares his love for his new wife. But two doors remain shut and he insists they
must not be opened or darkness will return to his castle. Judith demands the keys.
Door 6
As Judith turns the key in the sixth door, Bluebeard makes a last appeal to her not to open it.
But she does to reveal a lake of Bluebeard's tears. The light begins to fade inside the castle.
Bluebeard tells her to ask no questions, for it is sufficient that she has brought light to his castle;
but Judith cannot resist and persistently asks Bluebeard who it was that he loved before her.
Judith insists that the seventh and last door is unlocked, for the bloodstained weapons, gold and
garden have convinced her that the tales of him are true: he has murdered his previous wives.
Door 7
Demanding that she must know the truth, Judith unlocks the seventh door.
As she does so the fifth and sixth doors swing shut and the seventh gives out a beam of silvery moonlight.
From the doorway come Bluebeard's former wives, 'the hearts I have loved and cherished'.
Each of the three women, sparkling with jewels and wearing crowns, comes forward and stands before
Bluebeard, who declares that they are immortal, the source of his wealth and kingdom. All is now theirs.
His first wife was found at sunrise, and is the dawn of each day.
His second was found in the golden glow of noon. His third was found at sunset.
Judith he found at midnight. Deaf to her appeals, Bluebeard decks Judith in a diamond crown,
cloak and jewels: she is his best and fairest wife. Weighed down by her new adornments,
Judith follows the other wives through the seventh door, which swings shut behind them.
From now on, Bluebeard declares, all shall be darkness.