Rusalka (opera)
Year Cast ( Rusalka , The Prince , Vodník , Foreign Princess , Ježibaba ) 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
1961 Milada Šubrtová , Ivo Žídek , Eduard Haken , Alena Miková , Marie Ovčáčiková Zdeněk Chalabala , Prague National Theatre Chorus and Orchestra LP : Supraphon Cat : SU 50440 3
1984 Gabriela Beňačková , Wiesław Ochman , Richard Novák , Drahomíra Drobková , Věra Soukupová Václav Neumann , Czech Philharmonic & Prague Philharmonic Choir CD : Supraphon ( re-issue in 2003 ) Cat : SU 3178-2 633
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 CD : Brilliant Classics Cat : 93968
1998 Renée Fleming , Ben Heppner , Franz Hawlata [ de ] , Eva Urbanová , Dolora Zajick Charles Mackerras , Czech Philharmonic & Kühn Mixed Choir CD : Decca Cat : 000289 460 5682 0
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 CD : Chandos , Cat : CHAN 10449 ( 3 )
2008 Camilla Nylund , Piotr Beczała , Alan Held Emily Magee , Birgit Remmert Franz Welser-Möst , Cleveland Orchestra CD : Orfeo , Cat : C792113D
2009 Ana María Martínez , Brandon Jovanovich , Mischa Schelomianski , Tatiana Pavlovskaya , Larissa Diadkova Jiří Bělohlávek , London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Glydebourne Chorus CD : Glyndebourne Festival Opera Cat : GFOCD 007-09
2014 Myrtó Papatanasiu , Pavel Černoch , Annalena Persson , Willard White , Renée Morloc Julian Hubbard , La Monnaie Symphony and Chorus DVD and Blu-ray Disc : EuroArts ( DVD label ) Cat : 2059928
Recordings
Rusalka (), Op. 114, is an opera ('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. A rusalka is a water sprite from Slavic mythology, usually inhabiting a lake or river. Rusalka was the ninth opera Dvořák composed. It is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses. 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. For many years unfamiliarity with Dvořák's operas outside the Czech lands 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 his output or of international lyric theatre. In recent years it has been performed more regularly by major opera companies. In the five seasons from 2008 to 2013 it was performed by opera companies worldwide far more than all of Dvořák's other operas combined. The most popular excerpt from Rusalka is the Song to the Moon () from act 1, which is often performed in concert and recorded separately.