Dvořák wrote his opera Rusalka in 1900, five years after his return from America and four years before his death, aged 62, in 1904. His rate of composition had slowed; he had turned his attention mainly to tone-poems and operas, of which Rusalka was the last but one. Of his ten stage works it’s undoubtedly the most popular, mainly due to this week’s aria from the first act, Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém [The song to the moon.]
This is the relevant bit of the libretto:
… and here’s the score of the aria:
To set the scene: a rusalka is, in Slav folk culture, a water-nymph, a naiad; and this particular rusalka has fallen in love with a prince who has been hunting around the lake which is her home. In the aria she confides her longings to the moon.
These are the eight interpretations:
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This poll closes at 11.59 pm on Tuesday, 11th July.
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… and this is how it all ends:
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The Art of Listening 