Bluebeard | Page 8

"LeichenMotiv," or
funeral march? Simply because we cannot be expected to feel the same
unmixed grief at the death of a wife-murderer as at the death of a
wife-preserver! Ah, where shall we find again so subtle a reading of the
throbbing heart of humanity!
The "SchwertMotiv" mingles again with the haunting strains of the
half-sad, half-glad "LeichenMotiv," until the Vorspiel ends abruptly
with a single note of ineffable meaning, thus:
[Tod und Ho'lle Motiv] (off the keyboard to the left)
This is very interesting to the student, and means much, if it means
any-thing. The sword of the elder brother, Mustapha, has gone through
Bluebeard, if not the swords of the other Brothers. This, you say, might
not have been necessarily fatal, since those hardy ruffians of a bygone
age were proof against many a stab; but in this case the sword of the
heroic Mustapha was accompanied by the killing "Schwert Motiv,"
consequently the villain is dead.
But what has become of him? We have the one clue only, which will be

known by all students in future as the "TodundHo'lle Motiv," just given
above: Bluebeard has gone where we will not follow him unless we are
obliged. Is this asserting too much? Alas, it is only too evident. If it had
been Wagner's intention to refer to the glorious immortality of a
godlike hero, we should have had the exquisite strains of a heavenly
harp, thus:
[rising arpeggios]
or the whir of angels' wings, thus:
[trills off the right-hand end of the keyboard]
And a final significant note, thus:
[a good 1 « inches above the treble staff] (Stretch the keyboard a little
if necessary and play a half, if there is not room for a whole note.)
whose piercing sweetness and dizzy altitude would have symbolized
Heaven, or at least Walhalla.
Alas, it is all too plain. We have this:
[1 inch below the bass staff]
enough in itself to show his whereabouts; and as if that were not
enough, this:
[VerdammungsMotiv] (Allegro frantico.) [2 dissonances, « and 1
inches below the bass staff]
to show that he is uncomfortable!
It will be interesting for the student to note the difference between the
"VerdammungsMotiv" of "Bluebeard" and the" Damnation Motive" of
Wagner's earlier opera, "Tannha'user."
[Damnation Motive]

Both are strong, tragic, and powerful, but the sins of Bluebeard are
gross and those of Tannha'user subtle; consequently the peril of each is
foreshadowed in its own way, it being very clear that Bluebeard's fate
is final, while Tannha'user, as we know, is saved by the spiritual
influence of Elizabeth, a very different lady indeed from the frivolous
and mercenary Fatima.
The plot of this music-drama itself is made beautifully clear by this
Vorspiel and lecture-recital, so that even a mother and child at a
matine'e can follow the tone-pictures without difficulty; but the libretto,
which is a remarkable specimen of Wagner's alliterative verse, only
helps the more to rivet attention and compel admiration. I have given
you an idea of the brief overture, and the opera itself opens with a
somber recitative, descriptive or symbolic of the Dark Ages of Juvenile
Literature.
RECITATIVE
"The Dark Ages of Juvenile Literature do not afford a chronicle of
greater atrocity!
"Than that furnished by a very glum, grim, gruesome, gory, but
connubially-minded gentleman, whose ugly blue beard was a perfect
monstrosity!
"He also had an unfortunate predilection for leading unattached ladies
to the altar, constantly marrying wives, six wives, successively one
after another, on a regular railroad of matrimonial velocity!
"But, finding them intoto, all very so-so, determined to turn each one of
them into a good woman by cutting off her head!
"As a punishment for the most unmitigatedly determined and
persevering female curiosity!"
(With naivete') "But to our tale!"
The "tale" introduces the lovely, luckless Fatima, sitting at her cottage

window, dreaming the dreams of girl-hood. She has received
Bluebeard's message of love, and is awaiting his coming as the hero of
her heart's romance. This "Traum" theme is almost precisely like the
"Guileless Fool Motive" of "Parsifal," and the application to Fatima is
unmistakable.
ARIA
"Within sight of his castle, a short hour's ride, "An impecunious old
lady lived, two marriageable and impecunious daughters beside,
"Whom Bluebeard had seen and at love's highest pitch "Sent to say he
would marry, he didn't care which! "Sent to say he would marry, he
didn't care which!"
We now have Bluebeard's triumphal journey toward Fatima's cottage,
from whence he is to bring her as his bride. If this brutal bigamist had
any preference it was for Anne, Fatima's younger sister, but he knew
that it was only a matter of a few weeks anyway, so there is not the
slightest hint in the music of anything but the tempered joy with which
the