Antonin Dvorak’s next to last opera draws its substance from the underwater wonderland of little mermaids, Undines and Melusines: the water nymph Rusalka falls hopelessly in love with a prince and, although she is willing to sacrifice her voice to acquire the human form she needs in order to stay with him, the disparity between them proves to be too great. Jaroslav Kvapil’s libretto inspired Dvorak to compose a masterpiece, a compelling opera full of poignant lyricism and dramatic twists. Ádám Fisher and Stefan Herheim masterfully presented this ‘lyrical fairytale’ at La Monnaie in 2008. In this widely acclaimed interpretation, the fairytale elements sometimes assume frighteningly realistic dimensions so that one might see this enchanting production as a psychoanalytical study of male fantasies and female archetypes.
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Cast
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Myrtò Papatanasiu
Rusalka
Also in
The Dutch Opera: Don Giovanni
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
Willard White
Vodnik
Also in
Amadeus
Porgy and Bess
Pavel Cernoch
The prince
Also in
Iolanta / Perséphone – Teatro Real
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
Renée Morloc
Jezibaba
Also in
Eugene Onegin
Es wäre gut, daß ein Mensch würde umbracht für das Volk
Annalena Persson
The foreign prince
No other roles listed
Willy Vanduren Director · Jaroslav Kvapil Writer Antonín Dvořák Composer
First release January 1, 2012 · Produced in Belgium · Production De Munt / La Monnaie
Production
Oper Graz
Production
De Munt / La Monnaie
Production
Belgium
Produced in
Languages
Original language
Czech
Spoken on screen
Czech
Release dates
Belgium · January 1, 2012
Digital
No release date listed for United States.
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