Curiosity conquer'd, the Key was applied,
And with thunder most awful the door opened wide.
Now comes the much discussed "Chorus of Headless Wives," which is a
distinct prophecy of Debussy. You have noted in late musical criticisms
allusions to the "ghosts of themes" used in "Pelleas and Melisande,"--
"Sound-wraiths wandering in air." Here we have the same thing and employed
with exquisite appropriateness. The ladies hanging in the secret chamber
are mere bodies, their heads being decidedly off stage. When the door is
opened the wives begin to sing _a_la'_ Debussy, the ghostly effect being
secured by the fact that it is not, of course, the _present_bodies_, but
the _absent_heads_ that are supposed to be singing. The melodic wraiths
float from the key of G flat--I use "key" in the old-fashioned sense, for
the word, like the thing itself, is fast disappearing--through one and four
sharps back to two and three flats, employing all signatures but that of C
major. Six sets of severed vocal organs meandering in space would hardly
use the natural key!
Then we have the opening of the mysterious door; the unexpected return of
Bluebeard; the hysterics of the ill-fated sisters, with plenty of shrieking
and swooning motives; and then the celebrated "_Hammelfleisch_" or "Mutton"
motive, where Sister Anne, from her post in the high tower, observes for a
long time nothing but sheep.
"But, alas! Sister Anne, only saw a few sheep, then, nothing!"
Now there is the thrilling and opportune arrival of the Brothers on their
high horses; the mortal combat; the death of the villain by the
"_Schwert_Motiv_"; the joyous funeral march; and then the superb duet
between Mustapha, the eldest brother, and Fatima, the ill-fated heroine. We
get astonishing color contrasts in the last scene, as each character is
allotted a different set of instruments as accompaniment. Bluebeard has six
sackbuts, a trumpet, a _viol_d'amore_, and a Chinese temple gong; Fatima,
three lutes, an arch-lute, and a pianola; Mustapha a bass-drum and a
harpsichord; and Sister Anne a pair of virginals. (An exquisite touch,
this!) To Bluebeard's servants are allotted barrel-organs, accordions,
jews'-harps, mandolins, bagpipes, and triangles. All this gives a tonal
splendor that simply beggars description.
When the combat is over and Bluebeard's immense body is prone and lifeless
in the dust, Wagner suddenly leaves tragedy and gives us a melodious duet
between the brother and sister on the theme: "What can equal a brother's
love?" This duet and _finale_ unite to form a masterpiece; a deserved
rebuke to any cynic who may consider that Wagner could not adopt the
enervating methods of the Italian school if he desired. His cadenzas here
are miracles of compressed technique, and, although the melody is
conventional, the music itself is never for a moment simple or
intelligible.
--------Suggested arrangement of orchestra for presentation of Bluebeard------
==============================================================================
First violins (union) Prompter's Private First violins (non-union)
Parlour
_____________________
Conductor
______________________________________________________________________________
Organ Horns Flutes Harps Pianola
Second Violins
______________________________________________________________________________
Lutes Mandolins
Arch Lutes Kettledrums Battery Zithers
Mouth Organs Megaphones Chinese Temple Gong Guitars
Double Bassoons Banjos
______________________________________________________________________________
Tuba Trombones Woodwinds Drums
Bagpipes Sackbuts Triangles
Virginals Viol d'Amore B-flat Cornet
Exit to Fire Escape Accordions
==============================================================================
Fatima, singing actress (whose part here is written almost entirely in
appoggiaturas), and Mustapha, baritone, hold the stage; the one who draws
the largest salary occupying the center and the other standing wherever he
can find room. Mustapha, taking care to descend as low in his scale as
Fatima ascends high in hers, and vying with her in exceeding the
speed-limit, sings "Oh ra-ha-ha-hap-ture !" several times, varied by "What
can e-he-he-he-qual a brother's love?" Then, using the same words, they
sing as much as possible in unison to the end of the scene, which closes
with a fantasy of capricious arabesques and a series of trills on notes
seldom heard from any but the high-est-priced human lips.
Ah! What joy!.....What rap---ture! What can e---qual a brother's love?
Oh joy!........Oh joy!.........Oh, joy!........
(Cadenza according to the skill of the performer.)
Whether Wagner followed the Italian school in this case in sarcasm, or
because he believed it was fitting, considering the subject, can never be
known (though we remember that he was at one time a great admirer of
Bellini); but the result is a melodious and restful ending to a tragedy
which, were it carried to the end in unbroken gloom, mystery, and carnage,
would be too terrible and too vast for human endurance and human
comprehension. Yet let us be just! The libretto is full of barbaric
brutalities; it is replete with blood and carnage; but, although Bluebeard
was emphatically not a nice person, and his vices cannot be condoned, and
although Fatima was wrong in marrying for an establishment and most
culpable in yielding to her curiosity, still, virtue triumphs in the end.
The story, as a whole, is fairly murmurous with morality, sending young men
and women to their homes impressed with the risks and snares involved in
bigamy and polygamy, and giving them an added sense of the security and
gravity of the marriage tie when sparingly used.