Bayerische Staatsoper Rusalka Programmbuch
Client: Bayerische Staatsoper
Format: A5 Booklet
Antonín Dvořák
Jaroslav Kvapil
Lyric fairy-tale in three acts op. 114
Rusalka feels trapped in a world from which there is no escape. She is ready to put her immortality on the line in return for a human soul, so she can gain the love of a handsome prince. But she must pay for it with her voice. Muted and liberated from her dark world, she is forced to watch as the prince rejects her in favor of a foreign princess – dooming them both. She cannot live, she cannot die, yet nevertheless at the end, she helps the prince find his death with a “rescuing” kiss.
In their opera Rusalka, which premièred in 1901, Antonin Dvořák and his librettist Jaroslav Kvapil mixed the Slavic myth of the undead vengeful woman from the water with such storybook characters as Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué’s Undine and Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid. The fascinating musical worlds, the lyrical and highly dramatic moments came together to make Rusalka one of the most successful Czech operas ever written.
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Exciting new productions, internationally acclaimed stars and an impressive repertoire: these are the solid pillars supporting the Bavarian State Opera – one of the world’s leading opera houses, which can proudly look back on a history of over 350 years. With more than 300 performances each year, it makes a major contribution to Munich’s reputation as a cultural metropolis. During one season, over 30 operas from five centuries are performed, making the programme one of the most richly varied performance schedules of all international opera houses. ✐