View source for Rusalka (opera)

{{Short description|1901 opera by Antonín Dvořák}}
{{For|the opera of the same name by Alexander Dargomyzhsky|Rusalka (Dargomyzhsky)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox opera
| name              = Rusalka
| composer          = [[Antonín Dvořák]]
| image             = Poster for the premiere of Rusalka in Prague, 31 March, 1901..jpg
| image_upright     = 1.1
| alt               = 
| caption           = Poster for the premiere
| librettist        = [[Jaroslav Kvapil]]
| language          = Czech
| based_on          = fairy tales by [[Karel Jaromír Erben]] and [[Božena Němcová]]
| premiere_date     = {{Start date|1901|03|31|df=y}}
| premiere_location = Prague
}}
'''''Rusalka''''' ({{IPA|cs|ˈrusalka|pron|Rusalka.ogg}}), [[Opus number|Op.]] 114, is an [[opera]] ('lyric fairy tale') by [[Antonín Dvořák]].<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=Rusalka, Op. 114, B203 &#124; Antonín Dvořák |url=https://www.antonin-dvorak.cz/en/work/rusalka/}}</ref> His ninth opera (1900–1901),<ref name="Loppert" /> it became his most successful, frequenting the [[standard repertoire]] worldwide. [[Jaroslav Kvapil]] wrote the [[libretto]]<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite AV media notes|title=Rusalka (Prague National Theatre Orchestra, conductor: [[Jaroslav Krombholc]])|year=2005|chapter=Beloved National Opera by Dvořák|first=Ladislav|last=Šíp|others=Kohoutová, Joy (trans.)|pages=8–15|type=CD|publisher=[[Supraphon]]|id=SU 3811-2|location=Prague}}</ref> on [[Karel Jaromír Erben]]'s and [[Božena Němcová]]'s fairy tales. The [[rusalka]] is a [[water sprite]] from [[Slavic creatures of folklore|Slavic mythology]]; it usually inhabits a lake or river.

For many years unfamiliarity with Dvořák's operas outside the [[Czech lands]] helped reinforce a perception that composition of operas was a marginal activity, and that despite the beauty of its melodies and orchestral timbres ''Rusalka'' was not a central part of his output or of international lyric theatre. In recent years it has been performed more regularly by major opera companies.<ref name="Loppert" /> In the five seasons from 2008 to 2013 it was performed by opera companies worldwide far more than all of Dvořák's other operas combined.<ref>[https://archive.today/20140816203752/http://www.operabase.com/visual.cgi?is=opera&by=Dvorak,A "Works by Dvorak, A"].{{dead link|date=June 2022}} In the five seasons from 2008/09 through 2012/13, ''Rusalka'' had 124 productions (performance runs), ''[[The Devil and Kate]]'' 7, ''[[The Jacobin]]'' 5, ''[[Armida (Dvořák)|Armida]]'' 2, and ''The Spectre's Bride'', one, totaling 15 for the other operas combined. ''Vanda'' had a performance run March through May 2014. . [[Operabase]]. Retrieved 16 August 2014</ref>

The most popular excerpt from ''Rusalka'' is the soprano aria, the "Song to the Moon" ("{{Lang|cs|Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém|italic=no}}") for the title character in act 1, which is often performed in concert and recorded separately. It has also been arranged for violin and used on film soundtracks.

==Composition history==
[[File:Růžena Maturová as the first Rusalka.jpg|right|thumb|Růžena Maturová as the first Rusalka]]
Dvořák had played [[viola]] for pit orchestras in Prague (the [[Estates Theatre]] from 1857 until 1859 while a student, then from 1862 until 1871 at the [[Provisional Theatre (Prague)|Provisional Theatre]]). He thus had direct experience of a wide range of operas by [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], [[Carl Maria von Weber|Weber]], [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]], [[Albert Lortzing|Lortzing]], [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]] as well as his compatriot [[Bedřich Smetana|Smetana]].

Kvapil's libretto was written before he had any contact with the composer. The plot contains elements which also appear in ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'' by [[Hans Christian Andersen]] and in ''[[Undine (novella)|Undine]]'' by [[Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué]],<ref name="autogenerated1"/> and has been described as a "sad, modern fairy tale", in a similar vein to his previous play, ''Princessa Pampeliška''.<ref>Lemariová M.: "''Rusalka'' – its dramatic conception and philosophy" (summary). In: ''Antonín Dvořák Dramatik / Antonín Dvořák the Dramatist'', ed Jitka Brabcová and [[Jarmil Burghauser]]. Theatre Institute, Prague, 1994.</ref> The libretto was completed by 1899, when Kvapil began looking for composers interested in setting his text to music. His composer friends were engaged with other works, but mentioned that Dvořák was looking for a project. The composer, always interested in Erben's stories, read the libretto and composed his opera quite rapidly, with the first draft begun on 22 April 1900 and completed by the end of November.<ref name="Grove" /> Coming after his four symphonic poems inspired by the folk-ballads of Erben of 1896–97, ''Rusalka'' may be viewed as the culmination of Dvořák's exploration of a "wide variety of drama-creating musical techniques".<ref name="Loppert">Loppert M. "Catching up with ''Rusalka''." Essay in programme book, [[Glyndebourne Festival Opera]] 2009, p. 86.</ref>

==Performance history==
''Rusalka'' was first performed in [[Prague]] on 31 March 1901, with [[Růžena Maturová]] as the first Rusalka. It became an enormous success in [[Czech lands]], and soon gained success also abroad.<ref>{{cite book |title=Antonín Dvořák |last=Burghauser |first=Jarmil |author-link=Jarmil Burghauser |year=2006 |publisher=Koniasch Latin Press |location=Prague |isbn=80-86791-26-2 |pages=102 |language=cs}}</ref> Shortly after the premiere Dvořák was in contact with [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]], then at the Vienna Court Opera about mounting the work there, and having met Mahler signed a contract for a production to take place, but this fell through.<ref>Clapham, John. ''Dvořák.'' David & Charles, Newton Abbot and London, 1979, p162-163.</ref>

The first performance outside Bohemia took place in Ljubljana.<ref name="Vrkocová">Vrkocová L. Antonín Dvořák and his ''Rusalka''. Booklet notes for Supraphon LPs 50440 3, 1963.</ref> The opera was given in Vienna by a Czech company in 1910; in German translation it was given in Stuttgart in 1935.

The UK stage premiere was given by John Lewis Opera at [[Peter Jones (department store)|Peter Jones]], Sloane Square in May 1950. ''The Times'' commented: "It is left to amateurs to stage for us those operas by composers howsoever eminent which do not get into the international repertory".<ref>''The Times'', 12 May 1950, p.8.</ref>
The first professional performances were at [[Sadler's Wells Theatre]] in 1959; a 1983 production by [[English National Opera]] was filmed and revived several times.<ref name="Grove">Smaczny J. "''Rusalka''". In: ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Opera]]''. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.</ref>

The United States premiere of the opera was presented by the [[San Diego Opera]] in 1975 with [[Kathryn Day|Kathryn Bouleyn]] in the title role.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sdopera.com/Company/PerformanceHistory|title=1975–1976|publisher=[[San Diego Opera]] Performance Archives|access-date=9 November 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925110321/https://www.sdopera.com/Company/PerformanceHistory|archive-date=25 September 2015}}</ref> ''Rusalka'' was first performed in New York at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in 1993, a production from the [[Vienna State Opera]], directed by [[Otto Schenk]], with [[Gabriela Beňačková]] and [[Neil Rosenshein]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/07/arts/is-rusalka-a-fairy-tale-yes-and-no.html "Is ''Rusalka'' A Fairy Tale? Yes. And No."] by Kenneth Furie, ''[[The New York Times]]'', 7 November 1993</ref> The 2007 production by [[Opera Australia]] with [[Cheryl Barker]] in the title role and [[Richard Hickox]] conducting won the [[Helpmann Award for Best Opera]].

==Roles==
{| class="wikitable"
|+{{sronly|Roles, voice types, premiere cast}}
!Role<ref name=":0" />
![[Voice type]]
!Premiere cast, 31 March 1901<br />Conductor: [[Karel Kovařovic]]
|-
|Rusalka, ''a water nymph''
|[[soprano]]
|[[Růžena Maturová]]
|-
|The Prince
|[[tenor]]
|Bohumil Pták
|-
|[[Vodník]], ''the [[Sprite (folklore)|water sprite]]''
|[[bass (voice type)|bass]]
|Václav Kliment
|-
|The Foreign Princess
|[[mezzo-soprano]]
|Marie Kubátová
|-
|[[Ježibaba]], ''a witch''
|[[contralto]]
|Růžena Vykoukalová-Bradáčová
|-
|First wood nymph
|soprano
|Amalie Bobková
|-
|Second wood nymph
|soprano
|[[Ella Tvrdková]]
|-
|Third wood nymph
|contralto
|Helena Towarnická
|-
|Gamekeeper
|tenor
|[[Adolf Krössing]]
|-
|Turnspit/Kitchen boy
|soprano
|Vilemína Hájková
|-
|Hunter
|[[baritone]]
|František Šír
|-
| colspan="3"|''Chorus: Wood nymphs, guests at the castle, entourage of the prince''
|}

==Synopsis==
===Act 1===
{{Listen|type=music
|filename="Song to the Moon" from Dvořák's Rusalka - United States Navy Band.ogg
|title="Song to the Moon" (orchestrated for band)
|description = Performed by the [[United States Navy Band]], 2015
|filename2=Emmy Destinn - Antonin Dvorak - Rusalka - Song to the Moon (restored).ogg
|title2="Song to the Moon" (sung in German: "Lieblicher Mond")
|description2=Performed by [[Emmy Destinn]], 1915
}}
''A meadow by the edge of a lake''

Three wood sprites tease the water goblin, [[Vodník]], ruler of the lake. His daughter Rusalka, a [[water nymph]], tells him that she has fallen in love with a human prince who comes to hunt around the lake, and she wants to become human to embrace him. He tells her it is a bad idea, but nonetheless steers her to a witch, [[Baba Yaga|Ježibaba]], for assistance. Rusalka sings her "Song to the Moon," asking it to tell the prince of her love. Ježibaba tells Rusalka that, if she becomes human, she will lose the power of speech and [[immortality]]; moreover, if she does not find love with the prince, he will die and she will be eternally damned. Rusalka agrees to the terms and drinks a potion. The prince, hunting a white doe, finds Rusalka, embraces her, and leads her away, as her father and sisters lament.

===Act 2===
''The garden of the prince's castle''

A [[gamekeeper]] and his nephew, the kitchen boy, note that the prince is to be married to a mute and nameless bride. They suspect witchcraft and doubt it will last, as the prince is already lavishing attentions on a foreign princess who is a wedding guest. The foreign princess, jealous, curses the couple. The prince rejects Rusalka. Rusalka then goes back to the lake with her father the water goblin. Though she has now won the prince's affections, the foreign princess is disgusted by the prince's fickleness and betrayal and she scorns him, telling him to follow his rejected bride to Hell.

===Act 3===
''A meadow by the edge of a lake''

Rusalka returns to the lake and laments about her fate. She meets Ježibaba and asks for a solution to her woes. Ježibaba gives her a knife and tells her that she can save herself if she kills the prince with it. Rusalka rejects this, throwing the dagger into the lake. Rusalka becomes a [[will-o'-the-wisp]], a spirit of death living in the depths of the lake, emerging only to lure humans to their deaths. The gamekeeper and the kitchen boy are worried about the deteriorating condition of the prince, and go to the lake in order to get rid of Rusalka. They meet Ježibaba and lash out on Rusalka's betrayal, but are rebutted by the water goblin, who says that it was actually the prince that betrayed Rusalka. The wood sprites mourn Rusalka's plight. The prince, searching for his white doe, comes to the lake, senses Rusalka, and calls for her. Rusalka appears and is now able to speak to him. He asks her to kiss him, even knowing her kiss means death. They kiss and he dies; and the water goblin comments that all sacrifices are futile. In her final song, Rusalka tells the prince, "For your love, for that beauty of yours, for your inconstant human passion, for everything by which my fate is cursed, human soul, God have mercy on you!"

==Instrumentation==
Rusalka is scored for 2 [[Western concert flute|flutes]], 1 [[piccolo]], 2 [[oboe]]s, 1 [[Cor anglais|English horn]], 2 [[clarinet]]s, 1 [[bass clarinet]], 2 [[bassoon]]s, 4 [[French horn|horns]], 3 [[trumpet]]s, 3 [[trombone]]s, 1 [[tuba]], percussion, [[harp]] and strings.

==Music==
Dvořák's music is generally [[through-composed]] and uses motifs for Rusalka, her damnation, the water sprite and the forest.<ref name="Vrkocová"/> His word-setting is expressive while allowing for nationally inflected passages, and ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Opera|Grove]]'' judges that the work shows the composer at the height of his maturity.<ref name="Grove" /> He uses established theatrical devices – dance sections, comedy (Gamekeeper and Turnspit) and pictorial musical depiction of nature (forest and lake).<ref name="Loppert"/> [[Rodney Milnes]] (who provided the translation for an [[English National Opera|ENO]] production) admired the "wealth of melodic patterns that are dramatic in themselves and its shimmering orchestration".<ref name="MilnesOpera">[[Rodney Milnes|Milnes R.]], "A centenary love letter – Rodney Milnes celebrates Dvořák", ''[[Opera (British magazine)|Opera]]'', July 2004, pp. 780–85.</ref> One writer considers the final section of the opera – the duet for the prince and Rusalka ("Líbej mne, líbej, mír mi přej") – as "[twelve] or so of the most glorious minutes in all opera" in their "majestic, almost hymnic solemnity"<ref name="Loppert"/> while another describes the opera as a "vivid, profoundly disturbing drama".<ref name="MilnesOpera" />

In 2014, [[Slovakia|Slovak]] conductor and composer Marián Lejava produced a version for chamber orchestra that premiered at Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn in [[Switzerland]] that same year and would later be performed in other performing venues.

==Recordings==
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Cast<br />(Rusalka,<br />The prince,<br />Vodník,<br />Foreign princess,<br />Ježibaba)
!Conductor,<br />Opera house and orchestra
!Label
|-
|1952||[[Ludmila Červinková]],<br />[[Beno Blachut]],<br />[[Eduard Haken]],<br />[[Marie Podvalová]],<br />[[Marta Krásová]]
|[[Jaroslav Krombholc]],<br />[[Prague National Theatre]] Chorus and Orchestra
|CD: [[Supraphon]]<br />Cat: SU 3811-2<ref>Review in ''[[Classical Recordings Quarterly]]'', Spring 2007, vol. 48, p. 96.</ref>
|-
|1961||[[Milada Šubrtová]],<br />[[Ivo Žídek]],<br />[[Eduard Haken]],<br />Alena Miková,<br />Marie Ovčáčiková
|[[Zdeněk Chalabala]],<br />Prague National Theatre Chorus and Orchestra
|LP: Supraphon<br />Cat: SU 50440 3<ref>Review in ''Classical Recordings Quarterly'', Autumn 2005, vol. 42, p. 63.</ref>
|-
|1984||[[Gabriela Beňačková]],<br />[[Wiesław Ochman]],<br />Richard Novák,<br />Drahomíra Drobková,<br />[[Věra Soukupová]]
|[[Václav Neumann]],<br />[[Czech Philharmonic]] & Prague Philharmonic Choir
|CD: [[Supraphon]] (re-issue in 2003)<br />Cat: SU 3178-2 633<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.supraphon.com/en/catalogue/on-line-database/detail/?idtitulu=2004669
 |title       = On-line catalogue entry Neumann CD
 |publisher   = Supraphon
 |access-date  = 7 November 2010
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110716055623/http://www.supraphon.com/en/catalogue/on-line-database/detail/?idtitulu=2004669
 |archive-date = 16 July 2011
 |df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>
|-
|1986||[[Eilene Hannan]],<br />John Treleaven,<br />Rodney Macann,<br />Phyllis Cannan,<br />[[Ann Howard (mezzo-soprano)|Ann Howard]]
|[[Mark Elder]],<br />Orchestra and chorus of [[English National Opera]],<br />(Sung in English; director [[David Pountney]])
|DVD: Arthaus Musik (released 2006)<br />Cat: 102 019
|-
|1997||Ursula Furi-Bernhard,<br />Walter Coppola,<br />Marcel Rosca,<br />Tiziana K. Sojat,<br />Nelly Boschkova
|[[Alexander Rahbari]],<br />[[Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra]] & Ivan Goran Kovačić Academic Choir
|CD: [[Brilliant Classics]]<br />Cat: 93968<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.brilliantclassics.com/release.aspx?id=FM00000537
 | title = Dvorák: ''Rusalka''
 | publisher = [[Brilliant Classics]]
 | access-date = 17 September 2013
 }}</ref>
|-
|1998||[[Renée Fleming]],<br />[[Ben Heppner]],<br />{{Interlanguage link|Franz Hawlata|de}},<br />[[Eva Urbanová]],<br />[[Dolora Zajick]]
|[[Charles Mackerras]],<br />[[Czech Philharmonic]] & Kühn Mixed Choir
|CD: [[Decca Records|Decca]]<br />Cat: 000289 460 5682 0<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.deccaclassics.com/cat/single?sort=newest_rec&PRODUCT_NR=4605682&SearchString=rusalka&javascript=1&UNBUYABLE=1&per_page=50&ADD_OTHER=1&flow_per_page=50&presentation=flow
 | title = On-line catalogue entry Mackerras CD
 | publisher = Decca Classics
 | access-date = 7 November 2010
 }}</ref>
|-
|2002||[[Renée Fleming]],<br />[[Sergej Larin|Sergei Larin]],<br />Franz Hawlata<br />[[Eva Urbanová]],<br />[[Larissa Diadkova]]
|[[James Conlon]],<br />Orchestra and chorus of the [[Opéra de Paris]]
|DVD: Arthaus Musik (re-issue in 2009),<br />Cat: 107 031
|-
|2007||[[Cheryl Barker]],<br />[[Rosario La Spina]],<br />Bruce Martin,<br />Elizabeth Whitehouse,<br />[[Anne-Marie Owens]]
|[[Richard Hickox]],<br />[[Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra]], [[Opera Australia]] Chorus
|CD: [[Chandos Records|Chandos]],<br />Cat: CHAN 10449(3)<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.chandos.net/details06.asp?CNumber=CHAN%2010449
 | title = On-line catalogue entry Hickox CD
 | publisher = Chandos Records
 | access-date = 7 November 2010
 }}</ref>
|-
|2008||[[Camilla Nylund]],<br />[[Piotr Beczała]],<br />Alan Held<br />[[Emily Magee]],<br />[[Birgit Remmert]]
|[[Franz Welser-Möst]],<br />[[Cleveland Orchestra]]
|CD: Orfeo,<br />Cat: C792113D<ref>CD review. ''[[Diapason (magazine)|Diapason]]'', vol. 598, January 2012.</ref>
|-
|2009||[[Ana María Martínez]],<br />[[Brandon Jovanovich]],<br />{{Nowrap|Mischa Schelomianski}},<br />Tatiana Pavlovskaya,<br />[[Larissa Diadkova]]
|[[Jiří Bělohlávek]],<br />[[London Philharmonic Orchestra]] and the [[Glyndebourne Festival Opera|Glyndebourne Chorus]]
|CD: [[Glyndebourne (record label)|Glyndebourne Festival Opera]]<br />Cat: GFOCD 007-09
<ref>[http://www.glyndebourne.com/press/news_new/press_releases/rusalka_release As announced on Glyndebourne Opera's website]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Retrieved 6 November 2010</ref>
|-
|2011
|[[Kristine Opolais]],<br />[[Klaus Florian Vogt]],<br />[[Günther Groissböck|Gunther Groissbock]],<br />[[Nadia Krasteva]],<br />[[Janina Baechle]]
|Tomáš Hanus (conductor) & [[Martin Kušej]] (stage director),<br />[[Bavarian State Orchestra|Bayerisches Staatsorchester]]
|Blu-ray and DVD: C Major<br />Cat: 706504
|-
|2014||Myrtó Papatanasiu,<br />[[Pavel Černoch]],<br />{{ill|Annalena Persson|sv}},<br />[[Willard White]],<br />Renée Morloc
|Julian Hubbard,<br />[[La Monnaie|La Monnaie Symphony and Chorus]]
|DVD and Blu-ray Disc: [[EuroArts]] (DVD label)<br />Cat: 2059928
|-
|2021
|[[Asmik Grigorian]],<br />[[Eric Cutler]],<br />Maxim Kuzmin-Karavaev,<br />[[Karita Mattila]],<br />[[Katarina Dalayman]]
|[[Ivor Bolton]] (conductor), [[Christof Loy]] (stage director),<br />[[Teatro Real]]
|Blu-ray and DVD: C Major<br />Cat: 759604
|}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Cheek, Timothy. ''[https://www.scribd.com/doc/122542751/Rusalka-A-Performance-Guide-with-Translations-and-Pronunciation Rusalka, a Performance Guide with Translations and Pronunciation]'', Lanham: Scarecrow, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-8108-8305-5}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Rusalka (opera)}}
* [http://www.antonin-dvorak.cz/en/rusalka ''Rusalka'' on a comprehensive Dvorak site]
* {{IMSLP|work=Rusalka, Op.114 (Dvořák, Antonín)|cname=''Rusalka''}}
* [http://kareol.es/obras/rusalka/acto1.htm Czech (and Spanish) libretto]
* [http://www.opera-guide.ch/opera.php?id=116&uilang=en English (and German) libretto]
* [https://sites.google.com/site/frufrusphonoweb/eng---chapters/rusalka-s-aria---song-to-the-moon "Song to the Moon"], Czech lyrics with [[Phonetic transcription|phonetic]] IPA transcription
* {{YouTube|Ry-iKGaKpmU|"Song to the Moon"}}, [[Anna Netrebko]], [[Antonio Pappano]], [[RAI]] 2014

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[[Category:Operas by Antonín Dvořák]]
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[[Category:Operas based on Undine (novella)]]
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