MahlerFest: Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle

"Bartok's opera is based on a libretto by the Jewish-Hungarian writer and critic, Bela Balazs. Balazs wrote the libretto for their mutual friend, Zoltan Kodaly. Bartok was spurred to set the libretto by a competition, which he lost. The opera languished without a performance for several years, causing Bartok to lament to his wife, Marta to whom he dedicated the opera: 'Now I know that I will never hear it in this life. You asked me to play it for you—I am afraid I would not be able to get through it. Still I’ll try so that we may mourn it together.' In Balazs' and Bartok’s re-telling of the Bluebeard legend, the title character is, in Bartok’s words, 'not a murderer. The images of the Castle are allegorical pictures of the soul.' Bartok also said that the work was a 'soul ballade' which expresses 'the tragedy of a soul destined to be alone.' The work mourns the way in which 'the holy feeling of love dies by becoming every-day. His loves live, but no longer in his life.'"

Colorado MahlerFest Chamber Orchestra with Kenneth Woods, conductor.