Search - David Pittman-Jennings, Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek, Michail Jurowski :: Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek: Ritter Blaubart

Blockbuster score enlivens a "just okay" libretto...

Eric D. Anderson | South Bend, IN United States | 01/04/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Reznicek's score for his 1920 opera "Ritter Blaubart" is a blockbuster! Wow!! I can't say a single negative thing about it. It was a refreshing change of pace after alot of listening to Mahler, Zemlinsky, early Schoenberg, etc. Not because I don't love those guys, because I really do! But they all come from the Mahlerian strain of German music--lots of

yearning, angst, and introspection.



But Reznicek's music rings with the noble horns and heroic air of Richard Wagner. Reznicek aligned himself with Strauss and Pfitzner, and I heard some Strauss in "Ritter Blaubart" as well. But the overriding impression, which grew and grew as I listened, was that of a die-hard Wagnerian. It's really a very old-fashioned score for 1920, though it's none-the-worse for that. It has ensemble scenes, and a wonderful, almost "Forging Song" like aria for Bluebeard's servant Joshua just before the denoument--a wonderful dramatic stroke.



For the libretto, though, my enthusiasm isn't as unmixed.



The story is a variant of the same Bluebeard story set by composers such as Bartok, Offenbach, and Dukas. In this telling, Bluebeard is set to marry Judith (having killed and beheaded his first 5 wives), and gives her a key to a door which she must promise not to open. Of course, when Bluebeard goes travelling, she can't resist. The key becomes irreversably stained with blood, and when Bluebeard discovers this, he murders her as well. After the funeral, Bluebeard starts to woo Judith's sister Agnes, but Bluebeard's guilt-ridden servant Joshua burns down the Castle with Bluebeard inside, while Agnes leaps to her death.



The language itself is very skillful. But the plot seems unfocussed. Who are we supposed to identify with? Judith, Agnes, or Bluebeard? Hard to say. And Bluebeard, unlike in Bartok's tale, is clearly insane. He babbles incoherantly. In fact, at a wedding dinner, he rudely insults Judith's family, then apologizes to her profusely trying to salvage the wedding. He hardly seems so smooth as to have been able to win 6 wives. Doesn't it seem like someone might have been suspicious about why Judith died--specially since he apparently had hung onto her head?...And the issue of the key to the forbidden door--it seems a minor detail in the plot, and he tries to do in Agnes later despite the fact that he never offered her the key--so why bother with it? There are many plot holes.



Yet the ending is set so persuasively that I was nearly won over! Or maybe I was won over--but not without reservation. It seemed the story was too single minded about getting from one plot point to the next to be a great work of art.



The wonderful music, though, makes me eager to hear other works by Reznicek--especially his operas, which number fourteen, as well as his symphonic poems. I'm especially interested in the two operas which follow "Ritter Blaubart"--the one act "Holofernes", based on the Apocrypha, and "Satuala", a 75 minute three-act tragedy set in Hawaii that includes a Hula dance! Please, opera companies--let's hear them...

"

Enjoyable but slight work in excellent performances

G.D. | Norway | 05/12/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The CPO revival of the music of Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek continues with this full-blooded grand opera slightly reminiscent of Schreker or Strauss (although somewhat more conservative). It is no masterpiece, not by a long shot, but Reznicek's unerring sense of dramatic pacing and his ability to score effective, fiery orchestral parts saves much when invention starts flagging (which it admittedly does at a couple of points in this opera). Bluebeard is here clinically insane from the very start, providing the opportunity for some migraine-like turbulent fin-de-siecle coloration and gloom which persist throughout the whole work. After murder, gore and madness aplenty, the whole work culminates in the castle going up in flames (consuming Bluebeard while Agnes, sister of the main female character Judith - murdered and decapitated earlier in the opera - throws herself into a ravine upon learnin the truth). In short, plenty of room for musical firework and turmoil.



While Reznicek doesn't display, say, Schreker's mastery in the musical setting of grandiose decadence, the dramatic tension and urgency never really flags and the vocal parts, which, while not containing any really memorable stand-alone arias, are violently expressive. And the soloists here are really good. Pittman-Jennings in the title-role is superb, both in his characterization of the insane Bluebeard (full of horror, but without turning him it into anything parodic) and in his ability to tackle the hurdles thrown at him with aplomb. Celina Lindsley as Judith is dramatic and powerful, but lacks, perhaps, some subtlety and tender innocence. Andion Fernandez as Agnes, on the other hand, is suitably nuanced but perhaps without the fiery edge one might think her character needs. The rest of the cast is excellent, and Jurowski drives the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra forward with passion and propulsiveness. Sound quality is superb as well. All in all, this is again no masterpiece, and isn't even close to withstanding comparison with the operas of Schreker, Strauss or others. But in a performance as good as this one it comes across pretty convincingly. So if you don't expect anything profound or very memorable this will be a truly worthwhile and enjoyable set. And under those conditions it is recommended with confidence."