Thu, 1. 11. 2018, 7.00 p.m.

C1 RUSALKA

Venue: Zlín Congress Centre  |  Organizer: Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinů, o.p.s.  | 

Rusalka, one of Dvořák's most successful and best-loved works, is a lyrical tale about a water nymph who pays the price for her unhappy love for an earthly prince. The opera, written in November 1900, was first performed at the Prague National Theatre in March of the following year. Since then it has become far and away the most frequently attended musical performance on the Czech stage, and its performances in the most prestigious opera houses around the world have often received rave reviews. The poetic libretto is the work of the poet Jaroslav Kvapil, who approached a number of composers with a view to setting the piece to music including Oskar Nedbal, Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Karel Kovařovic and Josef Suk, but none of these showed a serious interest in Kvapil's work. It was only when he spotted a newspaper advertisement saying that Antonín Dvořák was looking for a libretto for a potential opera that Kvapil summoned up the courage to put the idea to Dvořák. The finely honed compositional technique in the opera combined with its exceptional inventiveness and skilful instrumentation reminiscent of French impressionist music provides ample evidence of the composer's mastery. Without departing from the conventional orchestral set-up, Dvořák uses carefully thought-out combinations of instruments singly or in groups to create colourful musical tableaux summoning up very convincing impressions of waves splashing on a lake, of the mysterious sounds of the forest at night, and of the glimmer of silvery moonlight on the water's surface.

In tonight's performance directed by Ladislav Miko and conducted by Radim Dvořák, the soloists and the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra are joined by the Prague-based professional dance company Pop Balet.