Organization

Singer

Soprano

Fantine Baudelot

Douce

Baritone

Saeid Alkhouri

Barbe-Bleue

Mezzo-soprano

Clelia Moreau

La Mère

Chiara Davis

Anne

Stage director

Florence Goyon-Pogemberg

Opéra Grand Avignon

Others

Children's Choir and Instrumental Ensemble

Douce et Barbe-Bleue

Avignon

France

L'Autre Scène

Public

Approved

Three pages.
In three pages, Charles Perrault invents with La Barbe bleue a world that is both everyday and marvelous, a narrative technique of sharp, breathless, visionary thriller, which has marked European minds from the 17th century to the present day. The opera has taken over this jewel of French literature many times, such as the children's version by Christian Eymery and Isabelle Aboulker. This French composer, born in 1938, is a forerunner of musical entertainment for young people: she has been writing them since the 1970s, according to La Fontaine, Jules Renard… She adapts the texts with modesty, acuity and liveliness. Douce et Barbe Bleue, created in 2002, is almost a classic of the musical tale. A narrator tells an old story to the children, who take part in it: they form the choir. The characters appear before their eyes, they are the solo singers. Neo-tonal in style, the melodic music of Isabelle Aboulker has one ambition: to give children access to a better understanding, or else to a new light on a fundamental work. They all know this legend, but thanks to the music, suddenly Bluebeard speaks to them. That tells them something.
 
1697… 2022. It is obvious that the original tale and the show presented this season by Florence Goyon-Pogemberg do not quite tell the same story. Who is Bluebeard? In the century of Perrault, a serial killer is not part of the world of men, he can only be an ogre or a henchman of Satan and his punishment is the responsibility of the Inquisition, not of secular Justice. Ambiguity lurks. In the opera, the terrifying husband becomes a simple human again, but a different human; it is struck by a physical peculiarity. Douce et Barbe Bleue stands out from tradition by transforming the happy ending into consummate feminicide – a sublime and touching musical page offered by the youthful voices that seem to emanate from a paradise of innocence. From the beginning to the end of the opera, the sky gradually darkens and the fairy tale becomes social drama.Nathalie Gendrot

English

Douce et Barbe-Bleue by Aboulker, From (2022/2022), Directed by Florence Goyon-Pogemberg,, L'Autre Scène, Avignon, France

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues