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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--
 

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 First violins (union) Prompter's Private First violins (non-union)
 

 Parlour
 

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 Conductor
 

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 Organ Horns Flutes Harps Pianola
 

 Second Violins
 

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 Lutes Mandolins
 

 Arch Lutes Kettledrums Battery Zithers
 

 Mouth Organs Megaphones Chinese Temple Gong Guitars
 

 Double Bassoons Banjos
 

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 Tuba Trombones Woodwinds Drums
 

 Bagpipes Sackbuts Triangles
 

 Virginals Viol d'Amore B-flat Cornet
 

 Exit to Fire Escape Accordions
 

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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.