Czech Philharmonic ⬩ Rusalka

Programme

Antonín Dvořák Rusalka 160'

“I am bound by the waves, entangled in the water lilies…”

The story of Rusalka, a water nymph whose love ends in tragedy, unfolds against the fairytale backdrop of a moonlit lake. Yet the world inhabited by the Water Sprite, the Prince, the Witch and the Wood Nymphs has a distinctly human side. More otherworldly than the story itself is the music. Once you have fallen under the spell of rippling waters and shimmering moonlight, there is usually no turning back.

Antonín Dvořák became so absorbed in composing Rusalka that he would not hesitate to wake his librettist, Jaroslav Kvapil, at seven in the morning to discuss how the work should develop. And according to one account, the composer himself was deeply affected by the emotional power of his new opera:

“Dvořák composed Rusalka entirely without the use of a piano. He wrote at his desk, only occasionally playing through some of what he had written during the day in the evening. Once the opera was finished, he played its ending one evening for Suk and his wife. Otilka was moved to tears, and Dvořák remarked: ‘You see, and imagine how I must have felt when I was writing it!’”

With Ruzan Mantashyan, David Butt Philip, Pavel Švingr and Jongmin Park bringing the story to life, you are in for a wonderful evening. Trust us on that.