Rusalka

When the opera title Rusalka appears on the theater bill, it's essential to specify which one. Two Slavic composers with matching initials created operas with this title: Alexander Dargomyzhsky (1855) and Antonín Dvořák (1900). Dvořák's opera is based on a libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil, a prominent Czech poet, playwright, and director, who freely adapted motifs from the story Undine by German writer Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué (1811), Andersen's fairy tale The Little Mermaid (1837), and Gerhart Hauptmann's play The Sunken Bell (1896). Although Kvapil's libretto is set “in a fairy-tale land at a fairy-tale time,” the Bohemian landscape is clearly discernible. The ultra-romantic story with a hint of symbolism and West Slavic national color could not fail to appeal to Antonín Dvořák, the founder of the Czech compositional school, who created his ninth and most successful opera around the turn of the century.
Dvořák called it a “lyric fairy tale,” accurately conveying the dual nature of his work: Rusalka is an opera about fantastical beings and human emotions. Its themes include devotion and betrayal, hope and disappointment, selfishness, and love. At the same time, it's a genuine magical fairy tale about a young water nymph and her formidable father, the water sprite, about the terrifying witch, lively forest nymphs, and, of course, a prince with a castle, servants, and courtiers. This multidimensionality makes Rusalka an opera for all ages, a composition for both children and adults.
The nearly sixty-year-old Dvořák wrote Rusalka quickly and with enthusiasm. Like many composers of his generation he experienced the infusion of Wagnerian style but retained a unique, recognizable Slavic intonation – heartfelt and melancholic. Wagner's continuous type of dramaturgy in his work is combined with a plethora of rounded operatic numbers: songs, arias, ensembles, choruses, dances. The opera's gem is Rusalka's touching aria Song to the Moon from the first act, often performed in concerts. Also well-known are the Prince's aria A wonder, a marvelous image (first act), the Water Sprite's aria The whole world cannot replace you (second act), and the Witch's aria Hubble, bubble, toil, and trouble! (first act). The remarkable plot twist for the opera genre – the muteness of the central character for a significant portion of the stage time! – does not deprive the title role of its paramount importance. Dvořák bestowed music of extraordinary beauty and poignancy on the key role performer. However, the water nymph can sing only in her element; her world is the forest lake, the weeping willow, the flooded meadow. To depict this world, Dvořák uses a lavish orchestral palette, turning the opera's instrumental accompaniment into a picturesque late-Romantic symphonic poem.
Dvořák's Rusalka is beloved and performed worldwide; the imagery of this operatic fairy tale also resonates closely with the Russian audience – for a unique, special reason. The tender, delicate, inexperienced, and slightly cool Czech Rusalka seems like a sister to our beloved Snow Maiden. Russian classical composers – Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky – undoubtedly inspired the Bohemian master. The resonance with Russian music gives the Czech operatic masterpiece, performed on the St Petersburg stage, a particular charm.
At the Mariinsky Theatre, Rusalka is presented in the Concert Hall. Despite its chamber nature, the production leaves a vivid visual impression – primarily thanks to the costumes and lighting. The cool green-blue mermaid colors are contrasted with the fiery and aggressive black-red tones associated with the world of humans. Dvořák's music itself becomes the main decoration, where the splash of waves and the rustle of leaves can be heard, where the moonlight and the wandering light, into which the abandoned but ever-loving Rusalka transformed, seem visible. Christina Batyushina