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Tuesday, January 28, 2014
LA RUSALKA DI DVORAK
Speranza
Božena Němcová (4 February 1820[citation needed], Vienna – 21 January 1862, Prague) was a Czech writer of the final phase of the Czech National Revival movement.
Her image features on the 500 CZK denomination of the banknotes of the Czech koruna.
In her childhood she lived near to the small town of Ratibořice, where her grandmother Magdalena Novotná played an important part in her life.
Němcová would later write her most famous novel with the main character inspired by her grandmother.
When she was 17 years old, she married the 15-years-older Josef Němec, who worked as a customs officer and was therefore a state employee.
The marriage was arranged by Barbora's parents and became an unhappy one, as the married couple didn't understand each other very well.
Němec was said to be a rude and authoritarian man.
He was a Bohemian patriot, which his superiors didn't like, and he was often transferred to different locations, and later lost his job.
The family had four children and suffered from a lack of money.
Němcová died in poverty, estranged from her husband.
The Bohemian patriots arranged a magnificent funeral for her.
According to one hypothesis, Němcová could have been born three to four years earlier than previously thought, and be an illegitimate daughter of Wilhelmine, Duchess of Sagan (1781–1839). Helena Sobková, a writer of popular-history books about Němcová, believes that Němcová may actually have been the niece of Wilhelmine.
In 1816 an illegitimate daughter was born to Wilhelmine's younger sister, Dorothée de Talleyrand-Périgord, and Count Karel Jan Clam-Martinic (1792–1840) in Bourbon-l'Archambault (a French spa). The child was not officially recognized by its mother; it was registered as Marie-Henriette Dessalles.[1] The child's further fate is unknown, and it is possible that Duchess Wilhelmine of Sagan later gave the girl to Němcová's parents to raise her as their own child under the name Barbora Panklová.
None of these speculations, however, have been definitely proven by serious historical research.
| Božena Němcová | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | February 4, 1820 ? Vienna, Austria |
| Died | January 21, 1862 (aged 41) Prague, Austria |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Literary movement | Czech National Revival |
Božena Němcová (4 February 1820[citation needed], Vienna – 21 January 1862, Prague) was a Czech writer of the final phase of the Czech National Revival movement.
Her image features on the 500 CZK denomination of the banknotes of the Czech koruna.
According to the dating up to now accepted by the majority of Czech authors, Božena Němcová was born in 1820 as Barbara Pankel (or Barbora Panklová according to the usual Czech name-giving for women) in Vienna as a daughter of Johann Pankel from Lower Austria and Teresie Novotná, a maid of Bohemian origin.
In her childhood she lived near to the small town of Ratibořice, where her grandmother Magdalena Novotná played an important part in her life.
Němcová would later write her most famous novel with the main character inspired by her grandmother.
When she was 17 years old, she married the 15-years-older Josef Němec, who worked as a customs officer and was therefore a state employee.
The marriage was arranged by Barbora's parents and became an unhappy one, as the married couple didn't understand each other very well.
Němec was said to be a rude and authoritarian man.
He was a Bohemian patriot, which his superiors didn't like, and he was often transferred to different locations, and later lost his job.
The family had four children and suffered from a lack of money.
Němcová died in poverty, estranged from her husband.
The Bohemian patriots arranged a magnificent funeral for her.
Speculations on Božena Němcová's real origin[edit]
Some authors question the birthdate (the preserved documents differ) and the real origin of Božena Němcová.According to one hypothesis, Němcová could have been born three to four years earlier than previously thought, and be an illegitimate daughter of Wilhelmine, Duchess of Sagan (1781–1839). Helena Sobková, a writer of popular-history books about Němcová, believes that Němcová may actually have been the niece of Wilhelmine.
In 1816 an illegitimate daughter was born to Wilhelmine's younger sister, Dorothée de Talleyrand-Périgord, and Count Karel Jan Clam-Martinic (1792–1840) in Bourbon-l'Archambault (a French spa). The child was not officially recognized by its mother; it was registered as Marie-Henriette Dessalles.[1] The child's further fate is unknown, and it is possible that Duchess Wilhelmine of Sagan later gave the girl to Němcová's parents to raise her as their own child under the name Barbora Panklová.
None of these speculations, however, have been definitely proven by serious historical research.
Novels
- Podhorská vesnice (The village under mountains)
- Babička (The Grandmother) (1855) – Němcová's best-known novel about a young girl named Barunka (a pet form of Barbora) and her childhood with her grandmother in the countryside. The book was inspired by Němcová's own childhood in the village of Ratibořice, where she lived with her parents, siblings and maternal grandmother Magdalena Novotná.
Fairy tales and legends[edit]
- Selská politika (Country Politics)
- Hospodyně na slovíčko
- Dopisy z lázní Františkových (The Letters from Franzenbad)
- Listy přítele přítelkyni
- Silný Ctibor
- Devět křížů (Nine Crosses)
References[edit]
- Jump up ^ See Johannes Willms, "Talleyrand: Virtuose der Macht", C.H. Beck, Munich 2011, p. 226.
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Božena Němcová. |
|
LA RUSALKA DI DVORAK
Speranza
Báje a pověsti slovanské (Slavic Tales and Legends), 1902 publication. Cover drawing by Věnceslav Černý.
| Karel Jaromír Erben | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Karel Jaromír Erben by Jan Vilímek
| |
| Born | 7 November 1811 Miletín, Austria |
| Died | 21 November 1870 (aged 59) Prague, Austria-Hungary |
| Resting place | Olšany Cemetery |
| Occupation | Writer, poet |
| Nationality | Czech |
| Literary movement | Romanticism |
| Notable work(s) | Kytice |
| Spouse(s) | Barbora Mečířová |
Karel Jaromír Erben ( 7 November 1811 – 21 November 1870) was a Czech historian, poet and writer of the mid-19th century, best known for his collection Kytice (Czech: Bouquet), which contains poems based on traditional and folkloric themes.
He also wrote Písně národní v Čechách (Folk Songs of Bohemia) which contains 500 songs and Prostonárodní české písně a říkadla (Czech Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes), a five-parted book that brings together most of the Czech folklore.
Erben was born on November 7, 1811 in Miletín u Jičína. He went to college in Hradec Králové.
Then, in 1831, he went to Prague where he studied philosophy and later law.
He started working in the National Museum (Národní muzeum) with František Palacký in 1843. He became editor of a Prague's newspaper in 1848. Two years later, in 1850, he became archives' secretary of the National Museum. He died on November 21, 1870 of tuberculosis.
His works include:
Písně národní v Čechách (Folk Songs of Bohemia) (1842–1845); contains 500 songs
Kytice z pověstí národních (A Bouquet of Folk Legends) (1853, expanded edition 1861) (English edition, 2012)
Sto prostonárodních pohádek a pověstí slovanských v nářečích původních (One Hundred Slavic Folk Tales and Legends in Original Dialects) (1865)
Vybrané báje a pověsti národní jiných větví slovanských (Selection of Folk Tales and Legends from Other Slavic Branches) (1869)
Prostonárodní české písně a říkadla (Czech Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes) (1864); 5-part collection of Czech folklore
České pohádky (Czech Fairy Tales)
References[edit]
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Karel Jaromír Erben. |
|
 | This Czech biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
LA RUSALKA DI DVORAK -- Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém
Speranza
There's an opera of the same name by Alexander Dargomyzhsky.
Rusalka (Op. 114, is "a lyric fairy tale" by Antonín Dvořák.
The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil (1868–1950) based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová.
Rusalka is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses.
A Rusalka is a water sprite from Slavic mythology, usually inhabiting a lake or river.
Dvořák had played viola for many years in pit orchestras in Prague (Estates Theatre from 1857 until 1859 while a student, then from 1862 until 1871 at the Provisional Theatre).
He thus had direct experience of a wide range of operas by Mozart, Weber, Rossini, Lortzing, Verdi, Wagner and Smetana.
Rusalka was the ninth opera Dvořák composed.
For many years, unfamiliarity with Dvořák’s operas outside Czechoslovakia helped reinforce a perception that composition of operas was a marginal activity, and that despite the beauty of its melodies and orchestral timbres Rusalka was not a central part of Dvorak's output or of international lyric theatre.
In recent years it has been performed more regularly by major opera companies.
The most popular excerpt from Rusalka is the "Song to the Moon" ("Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém") from act 1 which is often performed in concert and recorded separately.
It has also been arranged for violin and used on film sound tracks.
The plot contains elements which also appear in The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen and in Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué,[1] and has been described as a "sad, modern fairy tale", in a similar vein to Kvapil's previous play, Princessa Pampeliška.
The libretto was completed by 1899, when Kvapil began looking for composers interested in setting his text.
His composer friends were engaged with other works, but mentioned that Dvořák was looking for a project.
Dvorak, always interested in Erben's stories, read the libretto and composed his opera quite rapidly, with the first draft begun on 22 April 1900 and completed by the end of November.[4]
Coming after his four symphonic poems inspired by the folk-ballads of Erben of 1896–97, Rusalka may be viewed as the culmination of Dvořák’s exploration of a "wide variety of drama-creating musical techniques".[2]
Růžena Maturová as the first Rusalka
Dvořák's music is generally through-composed, and uses leading motifs for Rusalka, her damnation, the water sprite and the forest.[5]
His word-setting is expressive while allowing for nationally inflected passages, and Grove judges the work shows the composer at the height of his maturity.[4]
He uses established theatrical devices – dance sections, comedy (Gamekeeper and Turnspit) and pictorial musical depiction of nature (forest and lake).[2]
Rodney Milnes (who provided the translation for an English National Opera production) admired the "wealth of melodic patterns that are dramatic in themselves and its shimmering orchestration".[6]
One writer considered the final section of the opera – the duet for the Prince and Rusalka – as
"[twelve] or so of the most glorious minutes in all opera" in their "majestic, almost hymnic solemnity"[2]
while another described the opera as a "vivid, profoundly disturbing drama".[6]
It became an enormous success in Czech lands, and soon gained success also abroad.
The first performance outside Czechoslovakia took place in Ljubljana.[5]
The opera was given in Vienna by a Czech company in 1910.
In German translation it was given in Stuttgart in 1935.
The UK stage premiere was at Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1959.
An 1983 production by English National Opera was filmed and revived several times.[4]
Poster for the premiere of Rusalka in Prague, 31 March 1901
A meadow by the edge of a lake
Three wood-sprites tease the Water-Goblin, ruler of the lake.
Rusalka, the Water-Goblin's daughter, tells her father she has fallen in love with a human Prince who comes to hunt around the lake, and she wants to become human to embrace him.
Rusalka's father tells her it is a bad idea, but nonetheless steers her to a witch, Ježibaba, for assistance.
Rusalka sings her Song to the Moon, asking the Moon to tell the Prince of her love.
Ježibaba tells Rusalka that, if she becomes human, she will lose the power of speech and moreover that, if she is betrayed by the prince, both of them will be eternally damned.
Rusalka agrees to the terms and drinks a potion.
The Prince, hunting a white doe, finds Rusalka, embraces her, and leads her away, as her father and sisters lament.
The Foreign Princess, jealous, curses the couple.
The prince rejects Rusalka.
The Water-Goblin takes Rusalka back to his pond.
The Foreign Princess, having won the Prince's affection, now scorns it.
Rusalka rejects this, throwing the dagger into the lake.
Rusalka becomes a bludička, a spirit of death living in the depths of the lake, emerging only to lure humans to their deaths.
The Gamekeeper and the Kitchen Boy consult the witch Ježibaba about the Prince, who, they say, has been betrayed by Rusalka.
The Water-Goblin says that it was actually the Prince that betrayed Rusalka.
The wood-sprites mourn Rusalka's plight.
The Prince, searching for his white doe, comes to the lake, senses Rusalka, and calls for her.
The prince asks Rusalka to kiss him, even knowing her kiss means death and damnation.
They kiss and he dies.
And the Water-Goblin comments that "All sacrifices are futile."
Rusalka thanks the Prince for letting her experience human love, commends his soul to God, and returns to her place in the depths of the lake as a demon of death.
Sources
There's an opera of the same name by Alexander Dargomyzhsky.
| Antonín Dvořák |
|---|
 |
Rusalka (Op. 114, is "a lyric fairy tale" by Antonín Dvořák.
The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil (1868–1950) based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová.
Rusalka is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses.
A Rusalka is a water sprite from Slavic mythology, usually inhabiting a lake or river.
Dvořák had played viola for many years in pit orchestras in Prague (Estates Theatre from 1857 until 1859 while a student, then from 1862 until 1871 at the Provisional Theatre).
He thus had direct experience of a wide range of operas by Mozart, Weber, Rossini, Lortzing, Verdi, Wagner and Smetana.
Rusalka was the ninth opera Dvořák composed.
For many years, unfamiliarity with Dvořák’s operas outside Czechoslovakia helped reinforce a perception that composition of operas was a marginal activity, and that despite the beauty of its melodies and orchestral timbres Rusalka was not a central part of Dvorak's output or of international lyric theatre.
In recent years it has been performed more regularly by major opera companies.
The most popular excerpt from Rusalka is the "Song to the Moon" ("Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém") from act 1 which is often performed in concert and recorded separately.
It has also been arranged for violin and used on film sound tracks.
Kvapil's libretto, based on Erben's and Božena Němcová's work, was written before he had any contact with the composer.
The plot contains elements which also appear in The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen and in Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué,[1] and has been described as a "sad, modern fairy tale", in a similar vein to Kvapil's previous play, Princessa Pampeliška.
The libretto was completed by 1899, when Kvapil began looking for composers interested in setting his text.
His composer friends were engaged with other works, but mentioned that Dvořák was looking for a project.
Dvorak, always interested in Erben's stories, read the libretto and composed his opera quite rapidly, with the first draft begun on 22 April 1900 and completed by the end of November.[4]
Coming after his four symphonic poems inspired by the folk-ballads of Erben of 1896–97, Rusalka may be viewed as the culmination of Dvořák’s exploration of a "wide variety of drama-creating musical techniques".[2]
Dvořák's music is generally through-composed, and uses leading motifs for Rusalka, her damnation, the water sprite and the forest.[5]
His word-setting is expressive while allowing for nationally inflected passages, and Grove judges the work shows the composer at the height of his maturity.[4]
He uses established theatrical devices – dance sections, comedy (Gamekeeper and Turnspit) and pictorial musical depiction of nature (forest and lake).[2]
Rodney Milnes (who provided the translation for an English National Opera production) admired the "wealth of melodic patterns that are dramatic in themselves and its shimmering orchestration".[6]
One writer considered the final section of the opera – the duet for the Prince and Rusalka – as
"[twelve] or so of the most glorious minutes in all opera" in their "majestic, almost hymnic solemnity"[2]
while another described the opera as a "vivid, profoundly disturbing drama".[6]
Rusalka was first performed in Prague on 31 March 1901, with Růžena Maturová as the first Rusalka.
It became an enormous success in Czech lands, and soon gained success also abroad.
The first performance outside Czechoslovakia took place in Ljubljana.[5]
The opera was given in Vienna by a Czech company in 1910.
In German translation it was given in Stuttgart in 1935.
The UK stage premiere was at Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1959.
An 1983 production by English National Opera was filmed and revived several times.[4]
Roles[edit]
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 31 March 1901 (Conductor: Karel Kovařovic) |
|---|---|---|
| Rusalka, a water nymph | soprano | Růžena Maturová |
| The prince | tenor | Bohumil Pták |
| Vodník, the water goblin | bass | Václav Kliment |
| The foreign princess | soprano | Marie Kubátová |
| Ježibaba, a witch | mezzo-soprano | Růžena Vykoukalová-Bradáčová |
| First wood sprite | soprano | Amalie Bobková |
| Second wood sprite | soprano | Ella Tvrdková |
| Third wood sprite | contralto | Helena Towarnická |
| Gamekeeper | tenor | Adolf Krössing |
| Turnspit/Kitchen boy | soprano | Vilemína Hájková |
| Hunter | baritone | František Šír |
| Chorus: Wood nymphs, guests at the castle, entourage of the Prince. | ||
Act 1
 | 
Performed in German by Czech soprano Emmy Destinn in 1915
|
Three wood-sprites tease the Water-Goblin, ruler of the lake.
Rusalka, the Water-Goblin's daughter, tells her father she has fallen in love with a human Prince who comes to hunt around the lake, and she wants to become human to embrace him.
Rusalka's father tells her it is a bad idea, but nonetheless steers her to a witch, Ježibaba, for assistance.
Rusalka sings her Song to the Moon, asking the Moon to tell the Prince of her love.
Ježibaba tells Rusalka that, if she becomes human, she will lose the power of speech and moreover that, if she is betrayed by the prince, both of them will be eternally damned.
Rusalka agrees to the terms and drinks a potion.
The Prince, hunting a white doe, finds Rusalka, embraces her, and leads her away, as her father and sisters lament.
In Act II, in the garden of the Prince's castle, a Gamekeeper and his nephew, the Kitchen-Boy, note that the Prince is to be married to a mute and nameless bride, suspecting witchcraft and doubting it will last, as the prince is already lavishing attentions on a Foreign Princess who is a wedding guest.
The Foreign Princess, jealous, curses the couple.
The prince rejects Rusalka.
The Water-Goblin takes Rusalka back to his pond.
The Foreign Princess, having won the Prince's affection, now scorns it.
In Act III, in a meadow by the edge of a lake, Rusalka asks the witch Ježibaba for a solution to her woes and is told she can save herself if she kills the Prince with the dagger she is given.
Rusalka rejects this, throwing the dagger into the lake.
Rusalka becomes a bludička, a spirit of death living in the depths of the lake, emerging only to lure humans to their deaths.
The Gamekeeper and the Kitchen Boy consult the witch Ježibaba about the Prince, who, they say, has been betrayed by Rusalka.
The Water-Goblin says that it was actually the Prince that betrayed Rusalka.
The wood-sprites mourn Rusalka's plight.
The Prince, searching for his white doe, comes to the lake, senses Rusalka, and calls for her.
The prince asks Rusalka to kiss him, even knowing her kiss means death and damnation.
They kiss and he dies.
And the Water-Goblin comments that "All sacrifices are futile."
Rusalka thanks the Prince for letting her experience human love, commends his soul to God, and returns to her place in the depths of the lake as a demon of death.
Rusalka is scored for 2 flutes, 1 piccolo, 2 oboes, 1 English horn, 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, percussion, harp and strings.
Recordings[edit]
| Year | Cast (Rusalka, The Prince, Vodník – the Goblin, The Foreign Princess, Ježibaba – the Witch) | Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Ludmila Červinková, Beno Blachut, Eduard Haken, Marie Podvalová, Marta Krásová | Jaroslav Krombholc, Prague National Theatre Chorus and Orchestra | CD: Supraphon Cat: SU 3811-2[8] |
| 1961 | Milada Šubrtová, Ivo Žídek, Eduard Haken, Alena Miková, Marie Ovcáciková | Zdeněk Chalabala, Prague National Theatre Chorus and Orchestra | LP: Supraphon Cat: SU 50440 3[9] |
| 1984 | Gabriela Beňačková, Wiesław Ochman, Richard Novák, Věra Soukupová, Anna Barová | Václav Neumann, Czech Philharmonic & Prague Philharmonic Choir | CD: Supraphon (re-issue in 2003) Cat: SU 3178-2 633[10] |
| 1986 | Eilene Hannan, John Treleaven, Rodney Macann, Phyllis Cannan, Ann Howard | Mark Elder, Orchestra and chorus of English National Opera, (Sung In English; director David Pountney) | DVD: Arthaus Musik (released 2006) Cat: 102 019 |
| 1997 | Ursula Furi-Bernhard, Walter Coppola, Marcel Rosca, Tiziana K. Sojat, Nelly Boschkova | Alexander Rahbari, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra & Ivan Goran Kovačić Academic Choir | Audio CD: Brilliant Classics Cat: 93968[11] |
| 1998 | Renée Fleming, Ben Heppner, Franz Hawlata, Eva Urbanová, Dolora Zajick | Charles Mackerras, Czech Philharmonic & Kühn Mixed Choir | Audio CD: Decca Cat: 000289 460 5682 0[12] |
| 2002 | Renée Fleming, Sergei Larin, Franz Hawlata Eva Urbanová, Larissa Diadkova | James Conlon, Orchestra and chorus of the Opéra de Paris | DVD: Arthaus Musik (re-issue in 2009), Cat: 107 031 |
| 2007 | Cheryl Barker, Rosario la Spina, Bruce Martin, Elizabeth Whitehouse, Anne-Marie Owens | Richard Hickox, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Opera Australia Chorus | Audio CD: Chandos, Cat: CHAN 10449(3)[13] |
| 2008 | Camilla Nylund, Piotr Beczała, Alan Held Emily Magee, Birgit Remmert | Franz Welser-Möst, Cleveland Orchestra | CD: Orfeo, Cat: C792113D[14] |
| 2009 | Ana María Martínez, Brandon Jovanovich, Mischa Schelomianski, Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Larissa Diadkova | Jiří Bělohlávek, London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Glydebourne Chorus | Audio CD: Glyndebourne Festival Opera Cat: GFOCD 007-09 [15] |
References:
Notes- ^ Šíp, Ladislav; (transl. Kohoutová, Joy) (2005). "Beloved National Opera by Dvořák". Rusalka (Prague National Theatre Orchestra, cond. Jaroslav Krombholc) (CD). Prague: Supraphon. pp. 8–15. SU 3811-2.
- ^ Loppert M. Catching up with Rusalka. Essay in programme book, Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2009, p86.
- Lemariová M.: "Rusalka – its dramatic conception and philosophy" (summary). In: Antonín Dvořák Dramatik / Antonín Dvořák the Dramatist, ed Jitka Brabcová and Jarmil Burghauser. Theatre Institute, Prague, 1994.
- ^ Smaczny J. "Rusalka". In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.
- ^ Vrkocová L. Antonín Dvořák and his Rusalka. Booklet notes for Supraphon LPs 50440 3, 1963.
- ^ Milnes R. A centenary love letter – Rodney Milnes celebrates Dvořák. Opera, July 2004, pp. 780–85.
- Burghauser, Jarmil (2006). Antonín Dvořák. Prague: Koniasch Latin Press. p. 102. ISBN 80-86791-26-2. (Czech)
- Review in Classical Recordings Quarterly, Spring 2007, Vol 48, p96.
- Review in Classical Recordings Quarterly, Autumn 2005, Vol 42, p63.
- "On-line catalogue entry Neumann CD". Supraphon. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- "Brilliant Classics – Dvorák: Rusalka". Brilliant Classics. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
- "On-line catalogue entry Mackerras CD". Decca Classics. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- "On-line catalogue entry Hickox CD". Chandos Records. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- CD review. Diapason, Vol 598, January 2012.
- ^ As announced on Glyndebourne Opera's website Retrieved 6 November 2010
- Cheek, Timothy. Rusalka, a Performance Guide with Translations and Pronunciation, Lanham: Scarecrow, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8108-8305-5
External links
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rusalka (opera). |
- Rusalka (opera): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Czech (and Spanish) libretto
- English (and German) libretto
- "Song to the Moon", Czech lyrics with phonetic IPA transcription
| ||
Speranza
Witold Pruszkowski "Rusałki" 1877
In Slavic mythology, a rusalka (plural: rusalki or rusalky) is a female ghost, water nymph, succubus, or mermaid-like demon that dwells in a waterway.
Other terms for these spirits include:
vila (plural: vily)
wiła
willy (plural: willies)
samovila
samodiva
rusavka, and
mavka.
According to most traditions, the rusalki were fish-women, who lived at the bottom of rivers.
In the middle of the night, they would walk out to the bank and dance in meadows.
If they saw handsome men, they would fascinate them with songs and dancing, mesmerize them, then lead them away to the river floor to their death.
According to Zelenin, people who die violently and before their time, such as young women who commit suicide because they have been jilted by their lovers, or unmarried women who are pregnant, must live out their designated time on earth as a spirit.
In Slavic lore especially, rusalka are the spirits of girls who died before their time and return to live as spirit being in our world, near where they had once lived and died.
The ghostly version is the soul of a young woman who had died in or near a river or a lake and came back to haunt that waterway.
This undead rusalka is not invariably malevolent, and will be allowed to die in peace if her death is avenged.
Rusalki can also come from unbaptized children, often those who were born out of wedlock and drowned by their mothers for that reason.
Baby rusalki supposedly wander the forest begging to be baptised so that they can have peace.
They are not necessarily innocent, however, and can attack a human foolish enough to approach them.
Rusalki in folklore can also be beneficial.
As spirits of young girls who died early, they were sometimes believed to confer their unused fertility on fields, helping crops to grow.
Rusalki were believed to often exist in groups:
Willies generally live in little groups in the wild, particularly around water, where they love to swim, dive, splash, and play together in lakes, pools, rivers, and millraces.
Unmarried girls from a particular neighborhood, while alive, went around in little bands, socializing together at working bees and singing and dancing together at important festivals.
The willies, also mostly young girls, were assumed to do likewise.
Though in some versions of the myth, their eyes shine like green fire, others describe them with extremely pale and translucent skin, and without visible pupils.
The rusalka's hair is sometimes depicted as green or golden, and often perpetually wet.
The rusalka could not live long on dry land, but with her comb she was always safe, for it gave her the power to conjure water when she needed it.
According to some legends, should the rusalka's hair dry out, she would die.
Rusalki like to have men and children join in their games.
They can do so by enticing men with their singing and then drowning them, while the children were often lured with baskets of fruit sprinkled with nectar.
Men seduced by a rusalka could die in her arms, and in some versions hearing her laugh could also cause death.
Alternatively, they would attract men, mainly bachelors, and tickle them to death.
Specifics pertaining to rusalki differed between regions.
Although in most tales they lived without men, in Ukraine they were often linked with water, while in Belarus they were linked with the forest and field.
Where land was fertile, the maidens appeared naked and beautiful.
In harsher areas of Russia, they appeared as "large breasted amazons".
Often, in the north, they were ugly and covered in hair.
At this time, they were supposed to have left their watery depths in order to swing on branches of birch and willow trees by night.
Swimming during this week was strictly forbidden, lest mermaids would drag a swimmer down to the river floor.
A common feature of the celebration of Rusal'naia was the ritual banishment or burial of the rusalka at the end of the week, which remained as entertainment in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine until the 1930s.
The novel Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay features beings called riselka that are based on rusalki.
The Rusalka trilogy of novels by C. J. Cherryh feature and revolve around a rusalka named Eveshka.
Rusalka is an opera by Antonín Dvořák, staged at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.
Rusalka is an opera by Alexander Dargomyzhsky.
The third tale "May Night, or the Drowned Maiden" from the short story collection Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka by Nikolai Gogol. Turned into an opera by N. R. K.
The video game Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia features a boss called "Rusalka", who attacks the player with water and giant waves.
The video game Quest for Glory 4 features a "rusalka" who the player (only as Paladin) can choose to set her soul to rest by destroying the spirit of the man who murdered her (found out to be a miserly wraith guarding his treasure).
One of Alexander Pushkin's short tragedies (the basis for the second "Rusalka" opera above) is titled "Rusalka".
It features a young woman who, drowning herself after being jilted by her lover the prince, becomes the rusalkas' queen.
The play is unfinished; the title was given by editors after Pushkin's death.
Ivan Kramskoi, The Mermaids, 1871.
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In Slavic mythology, a rusalka (plural: rusalki or rusalky) is a female ghost, water nymph, succubus, or mermaid-like demon that dwells in a waterway.
Other terms for these spirits include:
vila (plural: vily)
wiła
willy (plural: willies)
samovila
samodiva
rusavka, and
mavka.
According to most traditions, the rusalki were fish-women, who lived at the bottom of rivers.
In the middle of the night, they would walk out to the bank and dance in meadows.
If they saw handsome men, they would fascinate them with songs and dancing, mesmerize them, then lead them away to the river floor to their death.
In most versions, the rusalka is an unquiet dead being, associated with the "unclean force".
According to Zelenin, people who die violently and before their time, such as young women who commit suicide because they have been jilted by their lovers, or unmarried women who are pregnant, must live out their designated time on earth as a spirit.
In Slavic lore especially, rusalka are the spirits of girls who died before their time and return to live as spirit being in our world, near where they had once lived and died.
The ghostly version is the soul of a young woman who had died in or near a river or a lake and came back to haunt that waterway.
This undead rusalka is not invariably malevolent, and will be allowed to die in peace if her death is avenged.
Rusalki can also come from unbaptized children, often those who were born out of wedlock and drowned by their mothers for that reason.
Baby rusalki supposedly wander the forest begging to be baptised so that they can have peace.
They are not necessarily innocent, however, and can attack a human foolish enough to approach them.
Rusalki in folklore can also be beneficial.
As spirits of young girls who died early, they were sometimes believed to confer their unused fertility on fields, helping crops to grow.
While her primary dwelling place was the body of water in which she died, the rusalka could come out of the water at night, climb a tree, and sit there singing songs, sit on a dock and comb her hair, or join other rusalki in circle dances (Polish: korowody) in the field.
Rusalki were believed to often exist in groups:
Willies generally live in little groups in the wild, particularly around water, where they love to swim, dive, splash, and play together in lakes, pools, rivers, and millraces.
Unmarried girls from a particular neighborhood, while alive, went around in little bands, socializing together at working bees and singing and dancing together at important festivals.
The willies, also mostly young girls, were assumed to do likewise.
Rusalka by Ivan Bilibin, 1934
Though in some versions of the myth, their eyes shine like green fire, others describe them with extremely pale and translucent skin, and without visible pupils.
The rusalka's hair is sometimes depicted as green or golden, and often perpetually wet.
The rusalka could not live long on dry land, but with her comb she was always safe, for it gave her the power to conjure water when she needed it.
According to some legends, should the rusalka's hair dry out, she would die.
Rusalki like to have men and children join in their games.
They can do so by enticing men with their singing and then drowning them, while the children were often lured with baskets of fruit sprinkled with nectar.
Men seduced by a rusalka could die in her arms, and in some versions hearing her laugh could also cause death.
Alternatively, they would attract men, mainly bachelors, and tickle them to death.
Specifics pertaining to rusalki differed between regions.
Although in most tales they lived without men, in Ukraine they were often linked with water, while in Belarus they were linked with the forest and field.
Where land was fertile, the maidens appeared naked and beautiful.
In harsher areas of Russia, they appeared as "large breasted amazons".
Often, in the north, they were ugly and covered in hair.
The rusalki are believed to be at their most dangerous during the Rusalka Week (Rusal'naia) in early June.
At this time, they were supposed to have left their watery depths in order to swing on branches of birch and willow trees by night.
Swimming during this week was strictly forbidden, lest mermaids would drag a swimmer down to the river floor.
A common feature of the celebration of Rusal'naia was the ritual banishment or burial of the rusalka at the end of the week, which remained as entertainment in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine until the 1930s.
The Rusalka trilogy of novels by C. J. Cherryh feature and revolve around a rusalka named Eveshka.
Rusalka is an opera by Antonín Dvořák, staged at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.
Rusalka is an opera by Alexander Dargomyzhsky.
The third tale "May Night, or the Drowned Maiden" from the short story collection Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka by Nikolai Gogol. Turned into an opera by N. R. K.
The video game Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia features a boss called "Rusalka", who attacks the player with water and giant waves.
The video game Quest for Glory 4 features a "rusalka" who the player (only as Paladin) can choose to set her soul to rest by destroying the spirit of the man who murdered her (found out to be a miserly wraith guarding his treasure).
One of Alexander Pushkin's short tragedies (the basis for the second "Rusalka" opera above) is titled "Rusalka".
It features a young woman who, drowning herself after being jilted by her lover the prince, becomes the rusalkas' queen.
The play is unfinished; the title was given by editors after Pushkin's death.
See also
References[edit]
- Jump up ^ Zelenin, D.K, cited in Ivanits, Linda J. (1992). Russian Folk Belief. M.E. Sharpe. p. 76. ISBN 0765630885.
- Jump up ^ Barber, Elizabeth Wayland. The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance. W.W. Norton and Company, 2013, p. 18.
- Jump up ^ Barber, Elizabeth Wayland. The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance. W.W. Norton and Company, 2013, p. 18.
- Jump up ^ Barber, Elizabeth Wayland. The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance. W.W. Norton and Company, 2013, p. 18.
- Jump up ^ Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, "Rusalka," Encyclopedia of Ukraine (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993).
- Jump up ^ Hubbs, Johanna (1993). Mother Russia: The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture. Indiana University Press. p. 29. ISBN 0253115787.
- Jump up ^ Linda Ivanits, Russian Folk Belief, p 80
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rusalka. |
- Hilton, Alison. "Russian folk art". Indiana University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-253-32753-9
- Д.К. Зеленин. Очерки русской мифологии: Умершие неестественною смертью и русалки. Москва: Индрик. 1995.
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