Nymphomania – Rusalka, at Royal Opera

Armand Laroche, Diana bathing with the nymphs, credit Wikipedia

Nymphomania – Rusalka, at Royal Opera

Rusalka, lyric fairy tale in three acts, music by Antonin Dvorák, libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House conducted by Semyon Bychkov, created and directed by Natalie Abrahami and Ann Yee, Royal Opera 21st February 2023, reviewed by Leslie Jones

Rusalka, as music journalist Kate Molleson has pithily remarked, is “a blend of folk song, luscious nature evocation and Wagnerian epic”. As such, it lends itself to diverse interpretations, including that of feminism. On Radio 3, Freethinking, Feb 1st, the subject up for discussion was Mélusine, another mythic water spirit (nymph), as depicted by the 14th writer Jean d’Arras in the Roman de Mélusine. Doctoral candidate Olivia Colquitt referred pointedly therein to the “male gaze”. For as the story goes, only if Mélusine can find a man who won’t look at her on Saturday, can she live as a human and go to heaven. The Freethinking panel agreed that this represents a demand for women’s space and that it also bespeaks men’s concern about what women get up to in private. A mermaid, we were reminded, can be a temptress and a voracious sexual being.

That “wise, eternal spirit” Ježibaba, played in this new production by Sarah Connolly, tells Rusalka that: “Man is an abomination of nature who has turned his back on Mother Earth”. In a 2022 staging of the work by Jack Furness for Garsington Opera, the set in Act 2 (at the Prince’s palace) was reminiscent of an abattoir. The Prince, evidently obsessed with killing animals, disemboweled a deer and presented its heart to Rusalka’s rival, the Foreign Princess (see Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 19 June 2022; Dominic Lowe, Bachtrack, 20 June 2022; Robert Hugill, Opera Today, June 2022).

In the Official Programme, Oliver Mears and Antonio Pappano refer to “a primal conflict of ever-increasing urgency: the conflict between mankind and nature”. They take comfort from the fact that: “the programme you are holding today is the first to be printed on one hundred per cent recycled paper and uses vegetable-based inks and water-based sealer”. Jessica Duchen, likewise, opines that Abrahami and Yee have created “an ecologically minded, feminist, empathetic interpretation of Rusalka…” (‘A sustainable Rusalka for the Royal Opera house?’ Official Programme). Water sometimes symbolises the comfort and security of the womb. Rusalka’s wish to die, expressed in Act 3, brings to mind Freud’s Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920), a drastic reformulation of his drive theory.

Rusalka was powerfully depicted by Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian. For most of Act 2, however, she must remain mute. Tenor David Butt Philip, much in demand for his handling of “the trickiest roles of Wagner, Strauss and Janáček”, did the heavy lifting in this act as the Prince (see the Times, Feb 16th 2023, ‘My advice to young singers?’). As for Semyon Bychkov, Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, he is renowned for his perfectionism and attention to detail. Under his baton, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera gave an electrifying performance.

Dr Leslie Jones is Editor of QR

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1 Response to Nymphomania – Rusalka, at Royal Opera

  1. Stuart Millson says:

    You receive a free left-of-centre lecture now, whenever you go to a concert or opera!

    But still the greatness of the music shines through.

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