Folk Songs and Dances in Bela Bartok’s Duke of Bluebeard’s Castle
Bluebeard’s Castle is expressed in seven distinctive scenes parallel to the seven doors that Judith opens as she go deeper through Bluebeard’s castle. Where each door symbolically represents the revelation of the secrets hidden in Bluebeard’s mind. These scenes are musically connected, which means that the music streams directly from one to the next without any scene changes or interludes, although fleeting pauses in the theatrical action occasionally take place between scenes as Judith draw near a new door with her key.
A significant preface section leads the actual door-opening scenes. This preface, often referred to as a “prelude” by Bartók scholars, provides the opera with an explanation that sets forward the essential background information regarding the two characters as well as their relationship to each other. These explanations include the entry of Bluebeard and Judith into the castle, the statement of Judith’s mission and her observance of the seven doors within the castle. The entire opera’s its most unusual feature is perhaps the prologue orated by the baffling figure of a lyricist, or minstrel, who steps frontward from behind the curtain to speak to the audience. He tenders an enigmatic overture to the consequent dramatic event and then he withdraws and the opera proper commences.
The opera was conceptualized as a series of relatively brief and individual scenes that were organized around visual images that are ever changing. However, this organization of the opera was patterned after the oeuvre of Bartok. Before the year 1911, most of the instrumental compositions of Bartok were envisioned as a collection of shorter pieces that were assembled for publication whose titles are often descriptive and visually inspired. For example, The seven Sketches, Two Portraits and Two Pictures. These collections were written between 1908 and 1910; they exemplify the composer’s preference for writing music, which are inspired by ideas and images that are drawn from the world around him as he observed it.
The individual pieces that were included in the collections mentioned above took the form of portrayals of people like his friends as well s his wife, actions such as folkdances and even outdoor scenes like village dances. In the latter part of his life, from 1908 to 1911, Bartok took the piano music and chose five assorted pieces. He orchestrated them. As a result, the Hungarian Pictures collection was created. His collections were subjective constructions of external realities and this became a central part of his art.
In Bluebeard, Bartok offered a profuse opportunity to exercise his talent for composing musical imagery. For example, the scene of the seven doors focused on the visual images as well as the response of the characters to the images presented before them. However, the seven doors format was unlike his previous works of smaller character pieces that he was accustomed to writing. This means that Bartok had to undergo a radical reorientation in order to make the transition from smaller character pieces to large-scale dramatic work.
According to (1999), Bluebeard is a representation of a new style of opera in Hungary. During the time that the opera was written, Bartok positioned himself as well as his approach to opera writing around the works of . However, in analysis of general trends in the Hungarian opera of contemporary times, Bartok reverts to Wagner especially in discussing why Hungary was not able to develop a distinctly Hungarian opera tradition. He Felt that many Hungarian followed the path of Wagner, which rely heavily on German romanticism with little success.
As Such, Bartok believes that concentration on authentic folk music qualities would liberate Hungarians from the Wagner approach that hindered the growth of an opera, which is truly Hungarian. This preference ofr folk music is evident in his efforts to collect them and use them in his works ( 2001). With this, the structural qualities of Bluebeard enabled Bartok to organize his music in a tableaux manner, which did not rely on recurrent motives as the principal means of musical elaboration. In addition, this kind of structure also allowed Bartok to incorporate new materials as the scene changes. This means that the musical material used in the opera were not dragged to sustain the musical idea of the opera or play. However, a small piece of Wagnerism can still be found in Bluebeard’s Castle. This is the recurring use of the imagery of blood. It suggested that it was a corresponding musical idea that would evolve as the opera progresses.
According to (1921), folk music can influence art music in three ways. First, art music can be based on the work of the folk melody. However, variations can be made such as accompaniment. In addition, folk music can also act as a motive. Second, folk music can be imitated. This means that the intervals, free treatment of triads and modes can be copied or used in art music. Lastly, the atmosphere of folk music can pervade the composition.
Based on this, it can be stated that Bartok used existing underdeveloped musical scores and adjusted them to fit art music. As such, the musical scoring of his operas were more inclined towards the presentation of the lives and actions of folk people. Since Bartok was interested in portraying the environment as he observed it, meaning he wants to present people the way they should be present, as well as in producing truly Hungarian opera, it is crucial that the unadulterated sounds of Hungary portraying the lives and activities of its people be used as a means to convey the message.
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