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Printed from: http://petersburgcity.com/news/culture/2016/01/14/Mikhailovsky_Rusalka_1401/
Culture news, 14.01.2016 14:20

Opera «Rusalka»

Opera «Rusalka»

Opera in three acts music by Antonn Dvok
Antonn Dvok is the greatest Czech composer of the nineteenth century. His style stands out in its melodies, its inventive rhythms often rooted in folklore, and in his colourful orchestral compositions. In the winter of 1899–1900, Dvok started looking for a libretto to bring into a new composition. He settled on Czech poet, dramatist, and theatre director Jaroslav Kvapil’s recently finished libretto of Rusalka, a deeply touching story of an all-conquering love that does not retreat in the face of suffering or even death. The composer gave his new opera, completed in November 1900, the subtitle ‘A Lyric Fairy Tale’, outlining very precisely the parameters of his genre.
The Mikhailovsky Theatre’s production of Antonn Dvok’s Rusalka is staged by director Igor Konyayev. The spectacular, poetic, action-packed production describes the love story between water nymph Rusalka and the Prince, who, finding themselves at the crossroads between ordinary human life and a mythical world, come up against a series of grave trials. Though the opera is filled with characters like Vodnik the water spirit, Jeibaba the witch, and other mythical lake- and forest-dwellers, this is not a children’s fairy tale, but a very serious, grown-up story of doomed love, betrayal, revenge, and mercy.
The production’s Musical Director, Peter Feranec, believes that Rusalka is “an example of elevated musical culture in which beautiful melodies, possessed of Slavic poetics and lyricism, are developed within a strict classical framework.”

News source: St.Petersburg Tourist Information Bureau

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