Rusalka

Dvořák’s Rusalka is about a water nymph who dreams of a life on land, rooted in the tradition of the ‘undine’ as well as the opposition between man and nature. While Rusalka sacrifices almost everything to live as a human with her prince, she ultimately returns to the water utterly disillusioned.

Undine

An undine is a water nymph that takes the form of a dazzlingly beautiful woman without a soul. The only way that she can obtain a soul is by marrying a human, but if he leaves her, she kills him with a kiss. With no hope of finding lasting contentment in either her own or the human world, the undine is tragically doomed to a lonely existence.

Dvořák's supreme masterpiece

Antonín Dvořák created Rusalka when he was at the very height of his musical powers. It contains sublimely poetic and sensual passages, particularly those evoking the Bohemian forest. Rusalka is the Czech composer’s most adored opera both within and outside his homeland. Most famous is Rusalka’s ‘Song to the Moon’, in which she begs the moon to tell her beloved that she is waiting for him.