Rusalka:‘Song to the Moon’

Rusalka, which was first performed in Prague in 1901, is the one Dvorak opera with a regular place in the present-day repertoire. It owes its lasting success in no small way to the “Song to the Moon” in which Rusalka, a water nymph who has had the misfortune to fall in love with a human - a Prince who comes to bathe in her lake - appeals to the moon to tell him of her love for him. A ravishing, magically orchestrated aria of great melodic beauty, it is inspired in its use of the soprano voice in every way, from its two lyrical climaxes to its line of monotones at the end.