Puccini Festival: The Tabarr & The Castle of Duke Bluebeard

12 and 26 August
Two one-act plays, performed for the first time in 1918.

With Il Tabarro, one act of Il Trittico, Puccini brings to the stage the events of a society in decline, of people who need to give a reason to their wretched life and betrayal, clandestine love is really a shock to this life of sacrifices. The story is set on a barge on the Seine and once again has a dramatic ending, the death of the lover, killed by the betrayed husband.

The Castle of Duke Bluebeard by Bela Bartók to a libretto by Béla Balázs, is a short drama inspired by the fairy-tale character of Bluebeard, whose story takes place in the dark room of a castle with seven closed doors and has Bluebeard and his new wife Judith as protagonists . What inspired Bela Bartók for the composition of the work was the occasion of a competition for an opera in one act, announced in 1911 by the Ministry of Fine Arts in Budapest.
The opera was not well received in the competition and its author had to wait until 1918 to see its premiere at the Budapest Theater.