Bluebeard, when first introduced--you remember the movement, one of somber
grandeur leading upward to vague desire was alone and lonely. Certainly the
first, probably the second. If his mood were that of settled despair,
typical of a widower determined never to marry again no matter what the
provocation, the last note of the phrase would have been projected
_downward_; but, as you must have perceived, the melody terminates in a
tone of something like hope. There is no assurance in it--do not
misunderstand me; there is no particular lady projected in the musical
text--that would have been indelicate, for we do not know at the moment
precisely the date when Bluebeard hung up his last wife; but there _is_ a
groping discontent. At the opening of the drama we have not been informed
whether Bluebeard has ever been married at all or only a few times, but we
feel that he craves companionship, and we know when we hear this
"_Immer_-_wieder_-_heirathen_Motiv_" (Always About to Marry Again Motive)
that he secures it. The sex created expressly to furnish companionship will
go on doing so, even if it has to be hung up in the process.

Look again at the second theme, the "_Immer_-_wieder_-_heirathen_Motiv_"
(Always About to Marry Again Motive). Do you note a mysterious reflection
of the first theme in it? Certainly; it would be evident even to a
chattering opera-party of the highest social circles. But why is this, asks
the sordid American business man, who goes to the music-drama absolutely
unfitted in mind and body to solve its great psychological questions. Not
because Wagner could not have evolved a dozen _Leit-Motive_ for every
measure, but for a more exquisitely refined and subtle reason. The wife is
often found to be more or less a reflection of her husband, especially in
Germany, therefore an entirely new and original motive would have been out
of place. It is this extraordinary insight into the human mind which brings
us to the feet of the master in reverential awe; and it detracts nothing