Bluebeard | Page 5

a hat-box in which it had lain
for nearly half a century, unsuspected, undisturbed.
If this incident is true it is exquisitely pretty and touching; if not, it is
highly absurd and ridiculous, but the same may be said of many
hypothetical historical incidents. At all events, the financial
arrangements which followed upon the discovery of the MS. and the
price demanded for it by the Wagnerian housemaid convinces me
absolutely of its authenticity.
To me it is not strange that Wagner should choose to immortalize the
story of Bluebeard, for the interesting and inspiring myth has been used
in all ages and in all countries. It differs slightly in the various versions.
In some, the shade of the villain's beard is robin's-egg and in others
indigo; in some the fatal key is blood-stained instead of broken; while
in the matter of wives the myth varies according to the customs of the
locality where it appears: In monogamous countries the number of
ladies slain is generally six, but in bigamous and polygamous countries
the interesting victims mount (they were always hung high, you
remember) to the number of one hundred and seventeen.
I ought, perhaps, to confess to you that there are critics who still deny
the authenticity of this work, although they concede that it is full of
Wagner's spirit and influence and may have been produced by some
ardent follower or pupil; one steeped to the eyebrows in mythologic

lore and capable of hurling titanic tonal eccentricities against the
uncomprehending ear-drum of the dull and ignorant herd. There are
those, too, who think that some disciple of Richard II.,--Strauss, not
Wagner,--had a hand in the orchestration, simply because his "Sinfonia
Domestica" occupies itself with the same sweet history of the inglenook
which is the basis of the Bluebeard libretto. Strauss's symphony is
worked out along more tranquil lines, to be sure, but it is only the
history of a single day of married life and a day arbitrarily chosen by
the composer. It is conceivable that there may have been other days!
The incredulous ones urge that Wagner would never have been drawn
to the Bluebeard myth as a foundation for a libretto; but for myself I
regard its selection as a probable reaction, violent, no doubt, from the
composition of Parsifal. In Parsifal the central themes and the
unavoidable conclusion are derived from outgrown beliefs that have
long since ceased to influence the heart of mankind. Parsifal is
medieval, mystic, rapt, devout. Its ideals are those of celibacy and
asceticism, the products of an age whose theories and practices as
regards sex-relationships can have no echo in modern civilization.
What more natural than that Wagner should fling himself, for mental
and emotional relief, into a story throbbing with human love and
marriage? Neither would some calm domestic drama serve, some story
of the nursery or hearth-stone, dealing with the relations of one fond
husband and father, one doting mother and child. As a contrast to the
asceticism and celibacy of Parsifal we have in Bluebeard rampant and
tropical polygamy; fervent, untiring connubialism. The ardent and
susceptible Solomon might have been a more dignified hero, one would
think; but, although he could furnish wives enough to properly fill the
stage, his domestic life was not nearly as varied, as thrilling, and as
upset as Bluebeard's, whose story makes a well-nigh invincible appeal
to manager, artists, and subscribers alike; and, for that matter, is as
likely to be popular with box-holders as with the gallery-gods.
This master work enunciates the world law that Woman (symbolized by
Fatima, Seventh Wife, singing actress) is determined to marry once at
any cost; and that Man (symbolized by Bluebeard, baritone) is
determined, if he marries at all, to marry as thoroughly and as often as

possible. It holds up to scorn the marriage of ambition and convenience
on the one hand, but on the other, pursues with wrath and vengeance
the law-breaker, the indiscriminate love-winner, the wife-collector and
wife-slayer; and, although women still have a strange and persistent
fancy for marriage, they might sometimes avoid it if they realized that a
violent death were the price.
We must first study the musical construction of the overture with which
the music-drama opens, as it is well known that Wagner in his Preludes
prepares the spectator's mind for the impressions that are to follow.
Several of the leading motives appear in this Vorspiel and must be
appreciated to be understood. First we have the "Blaubartmotiv"
(Bluebeard Motive). This is a theme whose giant march gives us in
rhythmic thunders the terrible power of the hero.
["Blaubartmotiv"]
The "Blaubartmotiv" should be constantly kept in mind, as it is a clue to
much of the later action, being introduced whenever Bluebeard budges
an inch from his doorstep. We do