Columns linked to A kékszakállú herceg vára (Le Château de Barbe-Bleue)

English National Opera Presents Duke Bluebeard’s Castle at the...

Sam Smith

Béla Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, with a libretto by Béla Balázs, is a one act Symbolist opera, based on the French folk legend as told by Charles Perrault. Bartók originally composed it in 1911, but made quite a few modifications before it premiered at the Royal Hungarian Opera House in Budapest on 24 May 1918. Lasting around an hour, and involving just two singing characters, it tells the story of when Bluebeard brings his new wife...