Blaubart

5 things to know about Bluebeard

1° Pretty much the opposite of Perrault’s tale

Created in 1866 at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris, Offenbach wrote Bluebeard in close relationship with his usual librettists Meilhac and Halévy. If the title immediately brings up thoughts of Perrault’s horrible character, the composer and librettists were very loosely inspired by the French folktale. Far from that terrifying story, they turned it into an opera buffa. Bluebeard’ legend has often been worked into popular comic tales in Europe, such as English pantomimes. In this version, Bluebeard’s wives were not killed; Popolani, his alchemist, in charge of disposing of the women, simply putting them to sleep thanks to a potion and laying them in a cellar. Until the day when their awakening bears all the hallmarks of vengeance…

2° A satire of 19th century bourgeoisie

We know about Offenbach’s taste for political and social satire. Written in the same period as three of his great successes – La Belle Hélène (1864), La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein (1867) and La Vie Parisienne (1866) –, Bluebeard is a critique of the 19th century bourgeoisie and of the Emperor Napoleon III. The sexual morals of the time indeed get a bashing: the character of Bluebeard is desperately searching for new women in order to fulfil his sexual appetite and alludes to the Emperor’s habits which were no secret in society. It is at the same time a lazy and incompetent elite and the foundings of the bourgeois marriage – fidelity and virginity – which are joyfully ridiculed.

3° An opera which found success at the time

The opera toured quite a bit at the time of its creation, showing its success. Bluebeard indeed mostly toured in Europe (London, Vienna, Berlin, Milan, Budapest) and in the Unites States, two years after the French premiere, in New York. This success also shows the absence of censorship on a work, which quite openly criticised the governing body. The recipe? Beyond earthy stories, we can think of actors he adored – José Dupuis and Hortense Schneider –, of the same creation venue – Théâtre des Variétés – and the trusting relationship with his librettists Meilhac and Halévy. Today, Bluebeard is less well known and performed in comparison to other of Offenbach’s works from the same period.

4° The legend of Bluebeard

The legend of Bluebeard fascinates and appears as a source of inspiration for many composers, among them: André Grétry who composed a rare comic opera entitled Raoul Barbe-Bleue in 1789, Paul Dukas and his Ariadne et Barbe-Bleue in 1906, or Béla Bartok with Le Château de Barbe-Bleue created in 1918.

5° A piece that joined the Komische Oper’s repertoire in 1963

Walter Felsenstein, one of the great German stage directors of the 20th century and founder of Komische Oper in Berlin, brought it into the repertoire of the house in 1963. It has been 50 years since the show hasn’t been performed, and the Intendant of Komische Oper has called upon the Norvegian stage director Stefan Herheim for a new version of Bluebeard. The title role is sung by Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacken, one of the most versatile character tenors of his generation, who made is debut at Komische Oper.