The French folktale of Bluebeard, a nobleman who provides a grisly end for each of his new wives, has served as major inspiration for some of opera's greatest composers from Offenbach to Bartok. Tune in to Saturday Night At The Opera to hear Paul Dukas's little-known Ariane Et Barbe-Bleue. In Dukas's adaptation of Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play, Ariadne is his sixth wife, who is given seven keys to his palace but forbidden from using one. Although the opera was performed frequently following its 1907 Opéra Comique premiere (including a production at the Metropolitan Opera featuring Geraldine Ferrar and Arturo Toscanini as conductor), the opera has become a rarity on the stage, so don't miss this week's recording featuring Lori Phillips, Patricia Bardon, and Peter Rose, with Leon Botstein conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Stepan Atamian hosts