Ariane & Bluebeard

Matthew Brown is Professor of Music Theory at the Eastman School of Music. He is author of numerous articles and five books, including Debussy Redux: The Impact of His Music on Popular Culture (IUP). In 2011, he founded TableTopOpera, a multimedia chamber ensemble based at the Eastman School of Music.Th. Emil Homerin was Professor of Religion and Former Chair of the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester. His works include a number of books and articles on Islam, Arabic literature, and mysticism. He is author (with Joy Calico and Matthew Brown) of "Comic Book Opera: P. Craig Russell's Salome in a Production by Table Top Opera" in The Opera Quarterly.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Ariane et Barbe-bleue: A Dramatic and Musical Overview, by Matthew Gordon Brown and Thomas Emil Homerin2. The Genesis of Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, by Matthew Gordon Brown3. Performing Ariane et Barbe-Bleue: From Premier to Orchestral Suite, by Matthew Gordon Brown4. A Feminist Opera? Women's Rights and Women's Wrongs in Maurice Maeterlinck's and Paul Dukas' Ariane and Bluebeard, by Jean Elisabeth Pedersen5. Maurice Maeterlinck and the Mystical Ariane, by Thomas Emil Homerin6. Maeterlinck and Plato's Cave, by Nicholas Gresens7. Ariane et Barbe-Bleue and the Legacy of Richard Wagner, by Matthew Gordon Brown8. Singing Ariane: An Interview with Katherine Ciesinski, by Katherine Ciesinski and Matthew Gordon Brown9. Bluebeard, or Female Curiosity? Not the Same Old Story, by Andrea G. Reithmayr10. Reflections on Comic Book Opera: P. Craig Russell's Ariane and Bluebeard, by Thomas Emil Homerin11. An Adaptation of an Adaptation: TableTopOpera's Live Production of Ariane and Bluebeard, by Matthew Gordon BrownAppendicesAlbert Flament, "'Ariane' dans les ruines de St-Wandrille," Femina 163 (1 November, 1907), 484–85. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Henri Duvernois, "Les femmes de Barbe-Bleue," Femina 153 (1 June, 1907), 246–249. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Lucien Fugère, "La vie du théâtre," Musica 55 (April 1907), 53–55. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Paul Dukas, "Ariane et Barbe-Bleue," La Revue Musicale (numéro spécial) (May-June, 1936), 4–7. English translation by Timothy Scheie.Montrose J. Moses, "The Wife of Maurice Maeterlinck," Metropolitan Magazine 34 (March, 1912), 38–52.Georgette Leblanc-Maeterlinck, "The Later Heroines of Maurice Maeterlinck," Fortnightly Review 93 (January 1910), 48–56. English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.BibliographyContributorsIndex

This is as thorough an examination of Ariane et Barbe-bleue, in all its aspects, as one is likely to see. Generous appendixes with illustrations and historical documents round out the picture. An intriguing addition to the literature on music.- B. J. Murray, Miami University