Commentary on Rusalka

The Life Lessons between Measures

It is a common activity for a parent to read or tell their child a fairytale. It’s part of a western childhood to know the common fairytales. But it is uncommon to see a fairytale or supernatural story to be told in an opera. Watching Rusalka was my first fairytale opera experience. Although it isn’t realistic to sing to the moon, or for a water nymph to fall in love with a human and then kill him with a kiss, these stories always teach us a lesson. Rusalka taught me that it is part of growing up to wander away from home, but the lessons are not always the easiest ones to accept.

All fairytales seem to start the same way. The hero or heroine is unhappy with where they start their story whether it is that they don’t fit in, or the person they’ve fallen in love with doesn’t notice them in their current state. A single father attempts to change the mind of his teenage daughter, but no words can change a girl’s mind at that age. Lesson #1: always listen to your parents. The adventure begins by trusting a creepy looking witch to change the heroine’s stature to blend in with the new world. Rusalka lays on as many compliments that she can muster to Jezibaba. What the witches don’t tell you is that the story never ends happily, and that the witch is always right. Lesson #2: never trust a witch with missing teeth.

 Once you find the guy and get him to take you back to his palace without saying a word, beware of the other woman. Lesson #3: there is always another woman, who can talk. The prince in these stories always seem to get distracted at the ball and runs off with the other woman, leaving the heroine standing awkwardly on the grand staircase watching everyone else have fun. The heroine, who is still a teenager mind you, decides that her life is over and that death is the only thing that will stop the agony. Lesson #4: never decide when it’s your own time to die, the supernatural world might agree with you for the story’s sake.

           After returning home and being shunned from her family, Rusalka returns to Jezibaba to be told NOW that the witch is always right. Killing the man she loves isn’t an option, so Rusalka sings a little to try to accept that the rest of her life isn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows. By now, the prince realizes his mistake and has yet to realize that he is too late. Also realizing that there is no life without his princess, the prince decides death with his love is better than life alone. Lesson #5: never listen to the crazy tenor prince. He has a way with words and gets you to do crazy things, like give him the kiss of death. Lesson #6: it’s called the kiss of death for a reason; you don’t feel too good about doing it afterwards.

           So, fairytales require learning from mistakes the hard way. I’m all for learning life lessons, but sometimes these stories takes it a tad too far. But hey, the drama is worth being told. That explains why they make these stories into operas: they fit right into the genre.