Claxton Opera
2010 Production
Bluebeard's Castle
Claxton Opera's application for performing rights has been turned down by MDS Music Distribution Services Ltd for Universal who hold the rights to Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle.
This refusal places our production in jeopardy; we are making one last application to the Bartók Trust. It will be a bitter disappointment if we are unable to perform this extraordinary masterpiece.
The show for 2010 will be
Duke Bluebeard's Castle by Béla Bartók. It will be performed on 1 - 3 July
(Thurs - Sat) and 15 - 17 July (Thurs - Sat) at The
Old Meeting House in Claxton.
Duke Bluebeard's Castle was composed in 1911 (with modifications made in 1912 and a new ending added in 1917) and first performed on May 24, 1918 in Budapest. The basic plot is loosely based on the folk tale of Bluebeard, but is given a heavily psychological reworking.
The action occurs in a dark hall in a castle, with seven locked doors.
The cast consists of a spoken Prologue, Duke Bluebeard, a bass or bass-baritone, Judith, a soprano or mezzo-soprano and a number of wives who neither speak nor sing.
Judith insists that all the doors in the hall be opened to allow light to enter into the forbidding interior, insisting further that her demands are based in her love for Bluebeard. Bluebeard refuses, saying that they are private places not to be explored by others and asking Judith to love him but ask no questions. Judith persists, and eventually prevails over his resistance. The first door opens to reveal a torture chamber stained with blood. Repelled, but then intrigued, Judith pushes on. Behind the second door is a storehouse of weapons and behind the third a treasury. Bluebeard urges her on. The fourth door reveals a secret garden of great beauty; the fifth door opens onto Bluebeard's vast kingdom. All is now sunlit, but blood has stained the riches, watered the garden and grim clouds throw blood-red shadows over Bluebeard's kingdom. He pleads with her to stop: the castle is flushed with light, but Judith refuses and opens the penultimate sixth door, as a shadow passes over the castle.
This is the first room that has not been somehow stained with blood; a silent silvery lake is all that lies within, "a lake of tears". Bluebeard begs Judith simply to love him, and ask no more questions. The last door must be shut forever. However, she persists, asking him about his former wives, and then accusing him of having murdered them, suggesting that their blood is the blood everywhere, that their tears are those that filled the lake, and that their bodies lie behind the last door. At this, Bluebeard hands over the last key. Behind the door are Bluebeard's three former wives, but still alive, dressed in crowns and jewellery. They emerge silently, and Bluebeard, overcome with emotion, prostrates himself before them and lavishes praise on all four women. Judith, horrified, begs him to stop, but it is too late. He crownes her as his duchess and she follows the other wives along a beam of moonlight through the seventh door. It closes behind her, and Bluebeard is left alone as all fades to total darkness.
The second half of the evening will consist of Trial by Jury by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan.
Synopsis
Duke Bluebeard's Castle was composed in 1911 (with modifications made in 1912 and a new ending added in 1917) and first performed on May 24, 1918 in Budapest. The basic plot is loosely based on the folk tale of Bluebeard, but is given a heavily psychological reworking.
The action occurs in a dark hall in a castle, with seven locked doors.
The cast consists of a spoken Prologue, Duke Bluebeard, a bass or bass-baritone, Judith, a soprano or mezzo-soprano and a number of wives who neither speak nor sing.
Judith insists that all the doors in the hall be opened to allow light to enter into the forbidding interior, insisting further that her demands are based in her love for Bluebeard. Bluebeard refuses, saying that they are private places not to be explored by others and asking Judith to love him but ask no questions. Judith persists, and eventually prevails over his resistance. The first door opens to reveal a torture chamber stained with blood. Repelled, but then intrigued, Judith pushes on. Behind the second door is a storehouse of weapons and behind the third a treasury. Bluebeard urges her on. The fourth door reveals a secret garden of great beauty; the fifth door opens onto Bluebeard's vast kingdom. All is now sunlit, but blood has stained the riches, watered the garden and grim clouds throw blood-red shadows over Bluebeard's kingdom. He pleads with her to stop: the castle is flushed with light, but Judith refuses and opens the penultimate sixth door, as a shadow passes over the castle.
This is the first room that has not been somehow stained with blood; a silent silvery lake is all that lies within, "a lake of tears". Bluebeard begs Judith simply to love him, and ask no more questions. The last door must be shut forever. However, she persists, asking him about his former wives, and then accusing him of having murdered them, suggesting that their blood is the blood everywhere, that their tears are those that filled the lake, and that their bodies lie behind the last door. At this, Bluebeard hands over the last key. Behind the door are Bluebeard's three former wives, but still alive, dressed in crowns and jewellery. They emerge silently, and Bluebeard, overcome with emotion, prostrates himself before them and lavishes praise on all four women. Judith, horrified, begs him to stop, but it is too late. He crownes her as his duchess and she follows the other wives along a beam of moonlight through the seventh door. It closes behind her, and Bluebeard is left alone as all fades to total darkness.
The second half of the evening will consist of Trial by Jury by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan.
Tickets will be available
in mid May 2010 from:
Ward & Wright, 33 Timberhill, Norwich, NR1 3LA.
Telephone: 01603 610636
For information about our productions, contact
Richard White 01508 480757.
Ward & Wright, 33 Timberhill, Norwich, NR1 3LA.
Telephone: 01603 610636
For information about our productions, contact
Richard White 01508 480757.
 Ruth Roberts, singing the role of Judith, was born and brought up in South Wales. She started singing from a young age and regularly competed in local and national ‘Eisteddfodau’. Ruth was a member of the National Youth Choir of Wales from 1991-93 and as a student she was a Choral Scholar at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where she read Social and Political Sciences and studied singing with Alison Wells. Ruth then went on to study singing at the Birmingham Conservatoire, gaining a Post Graduate Diploma in Music (vocal performance) and 1998. Ruth performed in several student showcases while at the Conservatoire and also produced and directed a production of the Brecht/Weill ‘Threepenny Opera’. Ruth also performed as part of a duo with pianist Jane Ford for the national music charity ‘Live Music Now!’. And sang at the Ross-on-Wye International Festival and the Ribchester Festival as part of the operatic quartet ‘Opera Bites’. Operatic roles have included: Michaela (Carmen); Fortuna (Coronation of Poppea); Mimi (La Boheme); Serafina (The Night Bell). Oratorio performances have included: The Messiah; The Creation; Poulenc’s Stabat Mater; Elijah; Petite Messe Solemnelle; Christmas Oratorio; Vivaldi’s Gloria and Mozart’s Mass in C. In 2001 Ruth took a change of direction and began training as a counsellor and psychotherapist, completing this training in 2004 with an MA in Counselling at UEA. Ruth currently works as the Educational Counsellor at UEA and now sings mainly for pleasure. Her MA dissertation researched the role of the voice in the construction of identity and its implications for the therapeutic encounter. |
 Geoff Davidson, playing Bluebeard, studied at The Royal Scottish Acadamy of Music, graduating with honours in singing and piano. He was for seven years a staff member of the BBC Singers touring extensively and appearing as soloist in London's major venues, working with some ofthe world's great conductors. He occasionally acted as chorus-master for Sir John Eliot-Gardiner and his world-famous Monteverdi Choir. One of Scotland's most distinguished and versatile singer/musicians, Geoff was, for a number of years, musical director for Scots singer Moira Anderson and later Anne Lorne Gillies both for whom he played piano and guitar. He has appeared as soloist in virtually every European Capital as well as Poland, Scandinavia, the Ukraine, Canada and the USA where he appeared at the Lincoln Center, New York, and the Kennedy Center, Washington. He sang in several operas with Wexford Festival Opera, Scottish Opera and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and sang solo baritone in Luciano Berio's CORO at La Scala, Milan with Berio conducting. His countless BBC broadcasts have included an astonishing variety of music from English lute songs to works by Britten and Schumann and for 10 years he was "Star" singer in Radio 2's Friday Night is Music Night. Radio 2 brought out a CD of highlights from the programme's 50-year history and two of Geoff's tracks were included. Other highlights (with Geoff as guest singer) included a Tall Ships Gala from Aberdeen with Terry Wogan and a "Menagerie" evening for Radio 2 with TV "Vet" Robert Hardy. At the other end of the musical spectrum, 2001 saw his world premiere of the baritone solo in Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies's Canticum Canticorum with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and Nuremberg Opera-Chorus. His solo commercial CDs include Stainer's Crucifixion conducted by Brian Kay, Schubert part-songs and Brahms Liebeslieder with Jane Glover and 2 volumes of The Art of Robert Burns, with the Musicians of Edinburgh. His singing of "My love is like a red, red rose" was described in the Scotsman as "sublime". His brand new musical on the life and loves of Robert Burns (Red Red Rose) was given its premiere in Burns' theatre in Dumfries last year to critical acclaim. Geoff is founder and director of the Norwich Pops Orchestra which flourishes in Norfolk and beyond and provides unique and enterprising programmes of film and light music. He was also Musical Director of Norfolk and Norwich Operatic and has conducted their performances in the Theatre Royal, Norwich for 10 years. |
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| Proposed Set Design by Norman Manners for Duke Bluebeard's
Castle |
|---|
In the summer of 2011, we are planning to stage
Der
Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber.
"Der Freischütz is an opera in three
acts by Carl Maria von
Weber to a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It is considered the first
important German Romantic opera, especially in its national identity
and stark emotionality. Its plot was taken from German folk legend and
many of its tunes were inspired by German folk music. Its unearthly
portrayal of the supernatural is especially poignant in the famous
Wolf's Glen scene. Despite its daring innovations (and some scathing
attacks by critics) it quickly became an international success, with
some fifty performances in the first 18 months after its June 18, 1821
premiere at the Konzerthaus Berlin. Among the many artists influenced
by Der Freischütz was a young Richard Wagner, who would come to be seen
by many as Weber's successor."
From Wikipedia
This opera has an active chorus partipation and we are looking for new
young singers in all voices.
A strong voice is important but previous stage experience is not
necessary.
Last Updated
February 28 2010
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