Rusalka is the ninth of Dvorak’s ten operas, and frankly the only one of those that you are ever likely to see. Its plot has a strong similarity to that of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson, in which a water creature gives up the power of speech in order to consort with a human prince, but ultimately the prince marries someone else. Rusalka is one of these one-hit wonders, known mainly for the “Song to the Moon” aria in Act 1, which Renee Fleming made famous.
Act 1 was a dimly-lit woodland scene surrounding a small pond in which the water nymph Rusalka and her father the Water Gnome live. Looming over the pond is the tall stump of a dead tree; Rusalka climbed to the top of the stump to sing her Song to the Moon. Near the front of the stage and to the right was the cave that served as the home of Jezibaba, the witch who will brew the potion that will turn Rusalka into a (mute) human. Act 2 was similarly dimly lit, with the windows and balcony of the main floor of the Prince’s mansion visible at the rear of the stage, and a curving staircase descending to stage level. In front of the mansion was a smaller pond with a big rock in the middle, serving as a home away from home for the Water Gnome. Act 3 was back at the pond of Act 1.
Our cast:
Rusalka: Renee Fleming
Water Gnome: John Relyea
Jezibaba: Dolora Zajick
Prince: Piotr Beczala
Foreign Princess: Emily Magee
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Production: Otto Schenk
That’s a lot of star power to lavish on a rarely-performed opera, but I will venture that it was produced at the request of Renee Fleming. There was fine singing from all of the principals, but the one who really stood out was a singer previously unknown to me, Emily Magee. “Where did she come from?” No idea, but I hope to be able to hear more of her. The star power balanced the uninvolving story and (aside from the Song to the Moon) rather ordinary music; a beta.
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