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Bluebeard's
Castle

Closed

Who do you let inside?

Three intense works about the many chambers of love: Duke Bluebeard's Castle by Bartók, Frauenliebe und –leben by Schumann and A Florentine Tragedy by Zemlinsky.

Drama behind closed doors

The three works come together in an unique performance by director Tobias Kratzer, exposing to us the dark nooks and crannies of relationships.

Join us on a journey through time, but without changing location: An apartment where different couples through different times live through days and nights, hope and despair, life and death.

Our lives unfold behind closed doors. The fiercest dramas are played out between two persons who share their lives together. That's what awaits. That's where it burns, both now and then.

You may very well end up confronting yourself. After all, does anyone really change? Can we free ourselves from old habits? Or are we simply echoing those who have lived here before us?

Mann sitter i stor sofa Tobias Kratzer / Photo: Julian Baumann
Open questions from the director Tobias Kratzer

A Kinder Surprise of a performance

This is an opportunity to experience fierce music and three significant works interwoven into one intense narrative that spans different eras, from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day.

Opera Director Randi Stene about Bluebeard's Castle Read more here

Distinguished composers, distinguished artists

The evening starts with Robert Schumann's song cycle Frauenliebe und –leben (1841), continues with Béla Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle (1918) and ends with A Florentine Tragedy (1915–16) by Alexander Zemlinsky.

All three are staged by director Tobias Kratzer, one of the most exciting directors in today’s opera world. The conductor is Edward Gardner, the new music director of the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet.

Seminar: Bluebeard and red stockings Read more here
Tobias Kratzer Is Leading Opera’s Next Generation of Directors.

New York Times

Pre-talk Saturday 20 January at 5.00–5.40 pm Hide Show more

Intense crushes, dead wives, and lovers in the closet––the three works in the triple-bill Bluebeard's Castle offer many unexpected encounters. Schumann's Frauenliebe- und Leben, Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Zemlinsky's A Florentine Tragedy are in themselves a rather surprising encounter of operas and a song cycle. What happens when these works are put together? Why would director Tobias Kratzer do that? And what happens when, through old myths, fairy tales and opera, we are confronted with ourselves?

Before the premiere at Bluebeard’s Castle we invite you to a free pre-talk in the Opera's foyer. Here you will encounter director Tobias Kratzer, opera director Randi Stene, professor of music at the University of California, Berkeley, Mary Ann Smart, and professor of film, theatre, opera and media studies at the University of Chicago, David Levin, in conversation with dramaturg Hedda Høgåsen-Hallesby.

NB! If you want a seat, please be early.

Free introduction one hour before the performance (in Norwegian)

Synopsis

The evening Bluebeard’s Castle brings together three masterpieces from the 19th and 20th centuries, in which the relationship between women and men is negotiated in different ways, into one continuous narrative.

Robert Schumann: Women's Love and Life  

The nameless protagonist of the song cycle experiences an exemplary female fate around 1840: first love, marriage, married life, birth and finally: death. Her feelings and thoughts always remain focused on her husband, who appears increasingly absent over the course of the eight songs.  

Béla Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle  

Duke Bluebeard brings home a new woman: Judith. She is fascinated by the secrets that seem to surround the mysterious stranger, he by the joy and brightness that she wants to bring into the house. But little by little, Judith opens seven locked doors and discovers Bluebeard's past life – and his previous wives. While Bluebeard woos Judith more and more, she has a far-reaching decision to make.  

Alexander von Zemlinsky: A Florentine Tragedy   

Bianca and Simone are in bourgeois but liberal marriage. When Simone catches his wife having an affair with the young Guido Bardi, he initially appears to be tolerant. But spurred on by Bianca's disappointment with his passive behavior and Guido Bardi's competitiveness, Simone experiences a resurgence of outdated gender roles and behavioral patterns. The “ménage à trois” escalates into a deadly confrontation.  

Artistic team and cast

Her kan du se fullstendig rolleliste:

Publikumsrolleliste Blåskjeggs borg 16.02.pdf

  • Music
    Robert Schumann / Béla Bartók / Alexander Zemlinsky
  • Original titles
    Frauenliebe und -leben / A kékszakállú herceg vára / Eine florentinische Tragödie
  • Librettos
    Adelbert von Chamisso / Béla Balázs / Alexander Zemlinsky (based on Max Meyerfeld's translation of Oscar Wilde's unfinished A Florentine Tragedy)
  • Conductor
    Edward Gardner
  • Director
    Tobias Kratzer
  • Set design and costumes
    Rainer Sellmaier
  • Lighting design
    Michael Bauer
  • Video design
    Manuel Braun
  • Participants
    Children from the Children's Chorus, The Opera Orchestra
    • Solist
        • 20. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 23. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 30. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 6. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2024 18:00
        • 13. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 16. Feb 2024 19:00
    • Pianist
        • 20. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 23. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 30. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 6. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2024 18:00
        • 13. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 16. Feb 2024 19:00
    • Hertug Blåskjegg
        • 20. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 23. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 30. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 6. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2024 18:00
        • 13. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 16. Feb 2024 19:00
    • Judit
        • 20. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 23. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 30. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 6. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2024 18:00
        • 13. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 16. Feb 2024 19:00
    • Judit 1918
      • Eline Øverby
        • 20. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 23. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 30. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 6. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2024 18:00
        • 13. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 16. Feb 2024 19:00
    • Judit 1969
      • Liv Rørmark
        • 20. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 23. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 30. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 6. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2024 18:00
        • 13. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 16. Feb 2024 19:00
    • Judit 1980
      • Maja Evenshaug Christiansen
        • 20. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 23. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 30. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 6. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2024 18:00
        • 13. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 16. Feb 2024 19:00
    • Tjenestepike
      • Begoña Puentes
        • 20. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 23. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 30. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 6. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2024 18:00
        • 13. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 16. Feb 2024 19:00
    • Guido Bardi
        • 20. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 23. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 30. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 6. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2024 18:00
        • 13. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 16. Feb 2024 19:00
    • Simone
        • 20. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 23. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 30. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 6. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2024 18:00
        • 13. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 16. Feb 2024 19:00
    • Bianca
        • 20. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 23. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2024 18:00
        • 30. Jan 2024 19:00
        • 6. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2024 18:00
        • 13. Feb 2024 19:00
        • 16. Feb 2024 19:00

Biographies:

Director: Tobias Kratzer
Set designer and costumes: Rainer Sellmaier
Lighting design: Michael Bauer
Video design: Manuel Braun