- Rusalka (Dargomyzhsky)
"Rusalka" ("Русалка" in Cyrillic; stress on the second syllable) is an opera in four acts, six tableaux, by
Alexander Dargomyzhsky , composed during1848 -1855 . The Russianlibretto was adapted by the composer from Pushkin's incomplete dramatic poem of the same name. The premiere took place on 4 May1856 (Old Style) at theMariinsky Theatre .Although much of Dargomyzhsky's "Rusalka" is fairly conventional in musical form and style, its singular innovation for the history of Russian music in particular is the application of "melodic recitative" at certain points in the drama. This type of
recitative consists of lyrical utterances which change continuously according to the dramatic situation, with likewise varied accompaniment in the orchestra. Dargomyzhsky was to apply this technique of vocal composition on a small scale in hissong s and on a large scale in his final opera, "The Stone Guest".Roles
ynopsis
"The action takes place by the
Dnieper River "The plot tells of a maiden who, after being jilted by a prince, drowns herself (hence the designation "
rusalka ," or "drowned maiden"). The last act of the opera, which features a ballet, is somewhat unusual in that a 12-year-old rusalka speaks her lines over the music.Related works
Other operas featuring "rusalki" as characters include Rimsky-Korsakov's "
May Night " and Dvořák's "Rusalka".References
*Naroditskaya, Inna, "Russian Ruslakas and Nationalism," , "Music of the Sirens" (Ed. Linda Austern and Inna Naroditskaya), Indiana University Press, 2006, pp.216-249.
External links
* [http://home.tiscali.cz:8080/ist987/libreta/rusalka.html Russian libretto in HTML]
* [http://www.ceo.spb.ru/libretto/classic/posle_glinki/rusalka.zip Russian libretto in zip file for Word]
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