Rusalki, in Slavic Mythology, are unquietly dead and generally inhabit watery places such as lakes and rivers, but come ashore during the night to cause trouble, especially to bachelors, singing them to their doom, just like selkies and mermaids.
English: Růžena Maturová as the first Rusalka (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The opera is by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904). Song To The Moon is from Act 1 and is the opera’s most popular aria.
So far, my rendition has not attracted any bachelors. I’ll keep at it.
Ann
Related articles
- Song to the Moon (Rusalka), by Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) (musiqdragonfly.wordpress.com)
- Rusalka at the Royal Opera House (intermezzo.typepad.com)
Those Selkies have powerful magic mythologically. Do you know about Lethe? My husband used to curate at a museum that has a beautiful cast of Lethe asleep among the poppies aside the river. Her beauty is almost unparalleled in my opinion.
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Very interesting. No, I hadn’t heard of Lethe. I understand Lethe is also a river, from which ‘all those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness’. (Source: Wikipedia). I have a bottle of this in my fridge right now. I’ll look up the cast of the goddess. Thanks for writing. Ann
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