Antonín Dvorák's opera Rusalka

Rusalka by Antonin Dvorák


I have attended many, many operas over the years, operas by Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Rossini, Bizet, Mozart, Wagner, Strauss...all sung either in Italian, French or German. Dvorak's opera Rusalka written and sung in Czech was a first for me. In March the Boston Lyric Opera gave an outstanding production of this opera with which I had not been familiar. I loved it. It is a Czech melodic fairy tale in 3 acts. The setting is near a lake and castle in legendary times. It is a fairy-tale opera about a water nymph who falls in love with a human prince. The music is glorious and this joint production with Minnesota Opera was inspired. "O Silver Moon" is a truly beautiful aria. Although I was familiar with Dvorak's symphonic works, Rusalka, a romantic fairy tale, was a delightful revelation for me. It is considered the only triumph of the operas that Antonín Dvorák composed.

"Song to the Moon" from Rusalka...Lucia Popp