Hungary Vajda, Mario and the Magician / Bartók, Bluebeard’s Castle: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Hungarian State Opera / János Kovács (conductor), Hungarian State Opera, Budapest, 9.4.2025. (AK)
The pairing of these two one-act operas is wholly appropriate, thought-provoking and exciting. Although premiered as a double-bill in 2013 and I visited Budapest several times since then, this was my first encounter with the production (and with Vajda’s opera).
Both operas have unique librettos. Bluebeard’s Castle was a Hungarian poem written in 1910 by writer/poet Béla Balázs, who is better known outside Hungary as an influential film theoretician. Balázs read the poem to his friends Bartók and Kodály; Bartók was drawn to it and set it to music as an opera in 1911. He made some changes in 1912 and 1917; the opera was finally premiered in 1918.
János Vajda’s libretto for his opera Mario and the Magician – composed in 1983-85, shown on TV in 1986, premiered in the Budapest Opera House in 1988 – is based on Thomas Mann’s novella of the same title (Mario und der Zauberer) written in 1929. I do not know whether Vajda and his librettist (Gábor Bókkon) went back to the original German text or used only the Hungarian translation by György Sárközi. At any event, the digital programme notes for the double bill include extensive excerpts by Sárközi, the highly talented Hungarian poet, writer and translator who was murdered in the Holocaust at the age of 46.
Mario is the last victim of the magician Cipolla who manages to brainwash his audiences to submit to his will (and thus make people follow his instructions of various kinds). Finally, Mario rebels against humiliation: he kills Cipolla. Thomas Mann placed his plot in Italy of the 1920s where fascism had already raised its ugly head; Mario’s stand against Cipolla can be interpreted as fight against fascism and dictators.
Duke Bluebeard brings Judit, his new young wife, to his castle which – behind seven inside doors – seems to be concealing many secrets. Judit insists on opening all doors. What opens may be interpreted as the past life of Bluebeard or his innermost psychological struggles. Having gained access behind each door, thus having discovered all of Bluebeard’s secrets and inner thoughts, Judit has nowhere to go and becomes a treasured memory for Bluebeard.
In both operas, stage director Péter Galambos presents the essence with insight and admirable theatrical skills. However, on my first outing to this double bill, I was perplexed by some minor matters which, for me, negate the big picture.
In Mario and the Magician, the action starts with a man entering the stage, sitting with his back to the audience at the edge near the orchestra pit and staying there throughout (or much of the time). Is this a message to say that we are seeing a play and, therefore, there is no need to worry about the story on the stage? On conclusion, for a split second or so, we see Mario waking up: is this to say that the story did not happen, Mario only dreamt it all? On conclusion of Bluebeard’s Castle, the Duke is sitting in his armchair and is woken up by his wife seemingly within regular domesticity. Was, therefore, what we saw just a strange dream?
Born in 1949, Vajda is our contemporary but the music of Mario and the Magician is a mixture of styles starting with Baroque/Classical language and culminating in Romantic music but also with the inclusion of long sections of waltz music more in the style of Richard – than Johann -Strauss. Like Bartók, Vajda pays full attention to the words and thus allows clarity for the text.
Both operas were sung in Hungarian, the text appeared in English translation in surtitles. The text displayed for the Balázs/Bartók opera is of concern. Balázs’s text is a beautiful Hungarian poem, but the English surtitles did not match its poetry. I am reminded of the late Péter Zollman’s poetic setting of Balázs’s text. Commissioned for the Edinburgh Festival in August 1998, Zollman’s translation was performed in Edinburgh and later in an English National Opera production. (Publication: György Kroó, János Kass, Péter Zollman, 1998; ISBN: 963-03-4779-2)
The musical presentation of both operas was beyond what one can expect in an opera house. As a life-long opera lover I know that whatever can go wrong in an opera performance it usually does. However, not here: conductor and cast were exceptional.
Gábor Bretz amazed me with his tour de force accomplishment. He was Cipolla in the Vajda section, being on the stage and singing/acting throughout. And after the interval he was Bluebeard. I do not know how many minutes Bretz sang during the evening, but it must have been more than what even the longest Wagner roles demand. Yet Bretz’s technique and stamina did not show any energy saving in the Vajda or exhaustion in the Bartók opera. He sang with good voice, good pitching and great musicality throughout.
Viktória Mester seems to have been born to sing Judit. She looked like the vulnerable but inquisitive woman; she sounded like what poet Balázs and composer Bartók most probably envisaged. At no point did it cross my mind that I was watching Viktória Mester; I was watching Judit and her struggle for the truth …with not a single note out of place.
I was intrigued by Judit carrying a violin on arrival to the castle and her picking up only her violin when she wanted to leave. She also appeared to want to use the violin in her efforts to persuade Bluebeard to open doors. Mester looked entirely credible with violin in hand, it looked like Judit was a violinist. I wonder if stage director Péter Galambos was referring to Bartók’s great love for the violinist Stefi Geyer? The relationship concluded before Bartók composed his opera but, arguably, the memory of the Geyer episode stayed with him.
The person reciting the spoken Prologue to Bluebeard’s Castle gave a wonderful rendering of Balázs’s text. But who was he? There is no mention of him in the digital programme notes.
Conductor János Kovács is a rarity: a great conductor and a great musician with long years of experience. His artistic integrity is second to none. Under his leadership, the Vajda-Bartók double bill was truly magical.
Agnes Kory
Production:
Director and Set designer – Péter Galambos
Costume designer – Enikő Kárpáti
Choreographer – Csaba Solti
Chorus director – Gábor Csiki
English translation – Arthur Roger Crane
Casts:
Mario and the Magician
Cipolla – Gábor Bretz
Mario (speaking role) – Balázs Csémy
Mrs Angiolieri – Laura Topolánszky
Mr Angiolieri – András Hábetler
Man in woollen shirt – Mário Matyó
Gentleman from Rome – Lajos Geiger
Bluebeard’s Castle
Judit – Viktória Mester
Bluebeard – Gábor Bretz