Glyndebourne 2019 production photo of Rusalka by Tristram Kenton

Music by Antonín Dvořák l Libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil

Rusalka

Dvořák: Beloved by his native Czechs

The musical legacy of Antonín Dvořák is a
remarkable tribute to European cultural
heritage; his music is revered in his native
country. He was celebrated internationally for
his chamber, choral, and symphonic music,
especially in London and New York, and
towards the end of his life Dvořák was
frequently described as the world’s greatest
living composer. On an international level,
Dvořák’s music is performed more than any
other Czech composer. Over four decades, he
produced nearly 200 complete works, yet his
Study Guide to the Opera

nine operas found little renown beyond his

native Bohemia.

Dvořák’s position in music history is all the more Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
noteworthy because he had only two years’
official music education that provided him with basic skills in compositional
technique. He compensated for his lack of formal education by studying the
scores of the masters and by his extraordinary will power. In addition to
playing organ and violin, his experience playing viola in opera orchestras in
Prague provided him with direct experience of operas in many styles by
Mozart, Weber, Rossini, Verdi, Wagner, and Smetana.

Over time, Dvořák overcame his lack of formal training. He remarked: “I

would have an idea, I’d write a few bars, but then I’d be stuck. It took a lot out
of me before I finally discovered how to write a decent long movement!” For
someone whose total compositional output would take 85 hours to play, and
whose opera Rusalka takes more than three hours to perform, Dvořák clearly
succeeded as a composer and as a creator who could express a sense of
human happiness in his work. For Czechs, pride in Dvořák’s compassionate
and gracious music is unequivocal. A visitor to the Antonín Dvořák Museum
in Prague discovers tangible evidence of how much he is loved.
 Rusalka Synopsis
World Premiere: National Theater, Prague, 1901
Sung in Czech. Estimated full opera run time is 3:45.

Act I
The water nymph Rusalka has fallen in love with a
human—the Prince—when he came to swim in her lake.
Now she wants to become human herself and live on
land to be with him. Rusalka’s father, Vodník (the Water
Sprite) is horrified and tells her that humans are evil and
full of sin. When Rusalka insists, claiming they are full of
love, he says she will have to get help from the witch
Ježibaba. Rusalka calls on the moon to tell the Prince of
her love. Ježibaba arrives and agrees to turn Rusalka
into a human—but warns her that if she doesn’t find love
she will be damned and the man she loves will die. Also,
by becoming mortal, she will lose her power of speech.

Convinced that her feelings for the Prince can overcome

all spells, Rusalka agrees and Ježibaba gives her a
potion to drink. As dawn breaks, the Prince appears with
a hunting party and finds Rusalka by the lake. Even
though she won’t speak to him, he is captivated by her
beauty and leads her away to his castle. From the lake, Hans Zatzka, Symphony of the Water Nymphs
the voices of the Water Sprite and the other water
nymphs are heard, mourning the loss of Rusalka. Characters
Act II Rusalka, a water nymph soprano
At the Prince’s castle, the Gamekeeper and the Kitchen
Boy talk about the approaching wedding of the Prince The Prince tenor
and his strange new bride, whose name nobody knows.
The Prince enters with Rusalka. He wonders why she is Vodník bass
so cold toward him but remains determined to win her. A Rusalka’s father, the Water Sprite
Foreign Princess, who has come for the wedding, (goblin/gnome) and Spirit of the Lake
mocks Rusalka’s silence and reproaches the Prince for
ignoring his guests. The Prince sends Rusalka away to Ježibaba mezzo-soprano
dress for the ball and escorts the Princess into the A witch who makes Rusalka human,
castle for the beginning of the festivities. but warns her that she will lose her
power of speech
In the deserted garden, the Water Sprite appears from
the pool. Rusalka, who has become more and more The Foreign Princess soprano
intimidated by her surroundings, rushes from the castle Wedding guest who mocks Rusalka
in tears. Suddenly recovering her voice, she begs her
father to help her, telling him that the Prince no longer First wood sprite soprano
loves her. The Prince and the Princess come into the Second wood sprite soprano
garden, and the Prince confesses his love for her. When Third wood sprite contralto
Rusalka intervenes, rushing into his arms, he rejects
her. The Water Sprite warns the Prince of the fate that Gamekeeper, the Forester tenor
Turnspit, the Kitchen Boy soprano
awaits him, then disappears into the pool with Rusalka. Hunter, voice of a Huntsman baritone
The Prince asks the Princess for help but she ridicules
him and tells him to follow his bride into hell. Coro: Wood nymphs, guests at the
castle, entourage of the Prince
Act III
Rusalka waits by the lake once again,
lamenting her fate. Ježibaba appears
Fairy Tale Inspirations
and mocks her, then hands her a knife Early in his life, Dvořák’s
and explains that there is a way to save compositions included short
herself: she must kill the Prince. piano polkas, symphonic works
Rusalka refuses, throwing the weapon influenced by the Viennese
classics, and fascination with
into the water. When her sisters reject
German Neo-Romanticism,
her as well, she sinks into the lake in exemplified by Wagner and Liszt.
despair. The Gamekeeper and the By the 1870s, Dvořák was forging
Kitchen Boy arrive to ask Ježibaba for his own unique style and
help. The Prince, they say, has been including sounds of Slavic music
bewitched by a strange wood girl he in his works. His “mature period” Jaroslav Kvapil (1868–1950)
was going to marry. Enraged, the Water and “American period” followed,
Sprite rises from the lake, saying that it including pieces that are some of his most frequently
was the Prince who deceived Rusalka. performed. Similar to other 19th-century composers of
Terrified by the supernatural sight, the the “national schools”, Dvořák tapped folk music for
two run away. The wood nymphs enter, inspiration.
singing and dancing, but when the
Water Gnome explains to them what In his final years, Dvořák gravitated to opera and
has happened to Rusalka, they fall program music, which included fairy-tale motifs,
silent and disappear. fanciful themes, and supernatural phenomena. In
1899, Dvořák let it be known that he was seeking a
The Prince, desperate and half crazy new opera libretto. Jaroslav Kvapil was a Czech
with remorse, emerges from the forest, author who had already written a libretto for Rusalka,
looking for Rusalka and calling out for and when he offered it to Dvořák, the composer set it
her to return to him. She appears from without asking for changes.
the water, reproaching him for his
infidelity, and explains that now a kiss Origins of the story were the French Mélusine, Hans
from her would kill him. Accepting his Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, Friedrich de
la Motte Fouqué’s Undine, and Gerhart Hauptmann’s
destiny, he asks her to kiss him to give
The Sunken Bell. While other composers of the
him peace. She does, and he dies in time—such as Mascagni, Leoncavallo, and Puccini—
her arms. Rusalka asks for mercy on were creating verismo operas, Dvořák’s work was far
his soul and disappears into the water. different in story and musical style. Rusalka, inspired
—Adapted from the Metropolitan Opera by fairy tales, is a triumph of lyricism by a composer
who was a major symphonist.
Song to the Moon
Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém Kvapil’s libretto, in Czech, was based on fairy tales
about water sprites from Slavic mythology: a melusine
Oh moon in the deep sky,
was a female spirit of fresh water, undines were beings
Your light sees far,
associated with water (nymphs), and mermaids were
You roam over the wide world, aquatic creatures with the upper body of a female
And peer into human dwellings. human and the tail of a fish. Danish author Hans
Oh moon, stay a while, Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid has become
Tell me, where is my love? famous thanks to the Disney adaptation, but neither the
Tell him, silvery moon, opera nor the Anderson tale end happily.
That my arms enfold him,
So that for at least a moment The basic outline of Rusalka parallels other tales: a
He’ll remember me in his dream. mermaid desires a human body to obtain a soul, falls in
Shine for him into the distance, love with a human, experiences a disastrous marriage
Tell him who awaits him here! because of another lover, and must choose to murder
If the human soul dreams of me, her lover to save herself. A love triangle, a dark ending,
May he awake with that thought! and magnificent music—those are the inspirations for
Oh moon, don’t fade! Rusalka.
 Pittsburgh Opera
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EQT
Where is Bohemia, Dvořák’s birthplace? Dr. Donald R. and Nora Barry Fischer
Dr. Freddie and Hilda Fu
Dvořák was born in Nelahozeves, a Bohemian village on the The Grable Foundation
Vitava River north of Prague. Bohemia, the westernmost Hefren-Tillotson, Inc.
and largest historical region of the Czech lands in the Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield
present-day Czech Republic, can also broadly mean the Roy A. Hunt Foundation
entire Czech territory, including Moravia and Silesia. Intermediate Unit #1, Pennsylvania
Department of Education
During Dvořák’s lifetime (1841–1904), Bohemia was part of The Christian A. Johnson
Endeavor Foundation
the Austrian Empire. In the preceding centuries, Bohemia Michalka Family Charitable Fund
had been a Great Moravian duchy, an independent Howard and Nell E. Miller Foundation
principality, and a kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire. After Nancy N. and Maurice A. Nernberg
World War I and the establishment of an independent Mr. and Mrs. Willie M. Owens
Czechoslovak state, the whole of Bohemia became part of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
Czechoslovakia. PNC
UPMC & UPMC Health Plan
1918 Czechs + Slovaks = Czechoslovakia The Hilda M. Willis Foundation
Across from the Benedum Center in
Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, an historical Czech mates:
marker honors “The Pittsburgh Bohemia produced three outstanding
Agreement”, which ensured the formation operatic composers:
of a democratic Czechoslovakia, a Smetana,
combined country of two small eastern known for The Bartered Bride,
European nations. Why Pittsburgh? influenced
Dvořák, known for Rusalka,
Allegheny County has the highest influenced
percentage of people who claim Slovak Janáček,
heritage of any county in the United known for The Cunning Little Vixen.
States. Slovaks immigrated to western Pennsylvania to work
in the coal mines and steel industry. With the onset of World
War I, boundaries in Europe began to change, and it looked For more information on
like Slovakia wasn’t going to win out over the Central Pittsburgh Opera's education
powers of Germany, Austria, and Hungary. So Slovak programs, please contact:
Americans and Czech Americans joined forces to create a
new country for themselves in order to protect their culture. Marilyn Michalka Egan, Ph.D.
Director of Education
megan@[Link]
1993 Czechoslovakia = Czech Republic and Slovakia
Fast forward decades to when communism fell, and Pittsburgh Opera
Czechoslovakia amicably split and became two independent 2425 Liberty Avenue
nations. The little village where Dvořák was born has thus Pittsburgh, PA 15222
been part of numerous nations or empires, but it is still a [Link]
part of Bohemia. 22.1
For more info: [Link]/post/how-country-czechoslovakia-was-created-downtown-pittsburgh#stream/0