Main content

Bluebeard's Castle: Enter at Your Peril

Tom Service intrepidly explores Bluebeard's Castle, Bartok's one-act symbolist opera, first performed in 1918 with just two characters: Bluebeard and his newest wife Judith.

Tom Service intrepidly explores Bluebeard's Castle - the one-act Symbolist opera by Hungarian composer Bela Bartok first performed in 1918 which features just two characters: Duke Bluebeard and his fourth wife Judith. Newly married, he brings her home to his murky castle for the very first time, where she finds a torture chamber, armoury, treasury, garden, and lake of tears. And unfortunately for Judith, it's not long before she discovers just what happened to those first three wives...

With Harvard Professor of Folklore and Mythology Maria Tatar.

Producer: Ruth Thomson

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Fri 17 Mar 2023 16:30
±«Óătv Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Collage, writ large: Berio's Sinfonia

Next

Here Comes the Bride

See all episodes from The Listening Service

Music Played

  • BĂ©la BartĂłk

    Duke Bluebeard's castle - opera in 1 act Sz.48

    Performer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Performer: John Tomlinson. Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Bernard Haitink.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 0724355616258.

  • Jacques Offenbach

    Barbe-bleue - operetta in 3 acts

    Performer: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Neville Marriner.
    • PHILIPS.
    • 411-476-2.

  • Paul Dukas

    Ariane et Barbe-bleue - opera in 3 acts

    Performer: Ariane Lori Phillips. Performer: ±«Óătv Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leon Botstein.
    • TELARC.
    • CD80680.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 12 Mar 2023 17:00
    ±«Óătv Radio 3
  • Fri 17 Mar 2023 16:30
    ±«Óătv Radio 3

Why do we call it 'classical' music?

Tom Service poses a very simple question (with a not-so-simple answer).

Six of the world's most extreme voices

From babies to Mongolian throat singers: whose voice is the most extreme of all?

How did the number 12 revolutionise music?

How did the number 12 revolutionise music?

How Schoenberg opened a new cosmos for composers and listeners to explore.

Why are we all addicted to bass?

Why are we all addicted to bass?

Bass is everywhere, but why do we enjoy it? Join Tom Service on a journey of discovery.

Watch the animations

Join Tom Service on a musical journey through beginnings, repetition and bass lines.

When does noise become music?

We like to think we can separate “noise” from “music”, but is it that simple?

Podcast