Programs · Episode

DVORAK: Rusalka

Program: At the Opera
Aired: Saturday, May 4, 2024 @ 6:00 pm
Hosted by Lisa Simeone

Most people know Dvorak mainly through his dramatic symphonies.  But he also wrote about a dozen operas. One of his best is this fanciful story of a love-struck water nymph. On At the Opera, we’ll examine Dvorak’s fantasy love story, Rusalka, in a pair of recordings, both featuring superb performances of the title role. In one, Renée Fleming is Rusalka, with conductor Charles Mackerras. In the other, it’s Gabriela Beňačová and conductor Václav Neumann. Both recordings feature the Czech Philharmonic, an orchestra that played its first concert under that name in 1896 – with Antonin Dvorak conducting.

MORE ABOUT THE OPERA:

When novelist J. R. R. Tolkien's trilogy The Lord of the Rings became a trio of blockbuster movies, the films added an element to the plotline that Tolkien basically ignored: romance.

Composer Antonin Dvorak surely would have approved.  His opera Rusalka tells a similar romantic story, and even takes it a few steps further.

In the movie version of The Lord of the Rings, a beautiful elf named Arwen falls in love with one of the story's heroes, Aragorn.  But there's a catch — a big one.  As an elf, Arwen is immortal, while the very human Aragorn is not.  For the two to be together, Arwen must sacrifice her immortality. She does, and love wins out in the end.  It doesn't get much more romantic than that.

But imagine for a moment that it doesn't work out, after all.  Let's say Arwen leaves her immortality behind, only to have Aragorn dump her when he falls in love with someone else!  Could a story like that ever have a romantic ending?  In Dvorak's opera, the answer is yes.         

The title character of Rusalka is a water nymph.  Like Tolkien's Arwen, she's immortal, and she falls in love with a mortal man — a prince who finds himself repeatedly drawn to the quiet lake where Rusalka lives.  Also like Arwen, Rusalka decides to give up her immortality to pursue true love.  Unlike Aragorn, however, the prince is no hero.  He falls for a human princess and promptly abandons Rusalka, leaving her to a hellish life of eternal solitude.

Of course, there's much more to the story — the truly romantic part.  The prince realizes his mistake, seeks Rusalka out, and willingly makes his own, ultimate sacrifice, restoring her immortality in the process.

The opera's libretto is based on two, well-known sources:  Friederich Fouque's novel Undine and Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid.  But Dvorak truly makes the story his own. The score features some of his finest and most evocative music, giving the entire opera the dreamy feel of a fairy tale, but with an ominous undercurrent that makes the drama's transcendent ending all the more rewarding. 

On At the Opera, host Lisa Simeone looks in on Dvorak’s fantasy love story, Rusalka, with extended excerpts from two recordings. In one, soprano Renee Fleming sings the title role, with conductor Charles Mackerras. We’ll also hear Gabriela Beňačová as Rusalka, in a recording led by Václav Neumann.

FEATURED RECORDINGS:

Charles Mackerras, conductor
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Kühn Mixed Choir

CAST: Renée Fleming (Rusalka); Ben Heppner (The Prince); Franz Hawlata (Vodnik); Eva Urbanová (Foreign Princess); Dolora Zajick (Jezibaba)

(DECCA 46056820)

Václav Neumann, conductor
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Prague Philharmonic Choir

Gabriela Beňačová (Rusalka); Wieslaw Ochman (The Prince); Richard Novák (Vodnik); Drahomíra Drobkova (Foreign Princess); Věra Soukupová (Jezibaba)

 (SUPRAPHON 3718-2 633)

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