Ivette Torres
Professor
RoundTree
Art and Technology
February 13, 2018
Rulsaka was composed by Antonin Dvorak in the ending stages of his
career, a period in which he focused more on mythical themes. The opera
premiered March 31st, 1901 in Prague (Rusalka). The Opera follows the story of
Rusalka, a water nymph who falls in love with a human prince. Rusalka visits a
witch who gives her a potion to transform her into a human so that she may be
with the prince but at the cost of her voice and should the prince betray her
they will both be damned eternally. Upon seeing Rusalka the Prince falls in
love with her beauty and takes her as his bride. Rusalka’s sisters cry in the
distant as their sister is taken away from them. At their wedding reception,
the fickle Prince becomes enamoured by a foreign princess and betrays Rusalka.
Despite Rusalka’s attempts to try and win him back the Prince casts her aside
and she runs off to the lake to mourn. Not wanting to be damned Rusalka soon
asks the witch if there is anything she can do to prevent her cruel fate to
which the witch replies that if she kills the human who betrayed her she will
be free of damnation. Rusalka refuses and accepts her fate and becomes a death
spirit. She sinks to the bottom of the lake, only allowed to come up to the
surface at night to lure humans to their death. The Prince, now cursed and
deathly ill, returns to the forest to beg Rusalka for forgiveness - wanting
Rusalka to end his suffering through death. Rusalka kisses the Prince, her kiss
being fatal, and he dies in her arms (Green)(Rusalka).
The story’s plot is extremely similar to that of The Little
Mermaid, referring to the actual folktale and not the Disney movie. But the
biggest difference I find is that despite all the suffering and sacrifice
Rusalka goes through both she and the Prince end up in misery by the end of the
play. Instead of killing the Prince when given the chance by the witch Rusalka
refuses to, even though through betraying her he was now cursed and destined to
be damned anyway. Rusalka continuously sacrifices herself and by the end of the
play her sacrifices have given birth to nothing but pointless misery for many
of the characters, herself included.
The mise-en-scene for the Rusalka opera uploaded by Canal22 was
very elaborate and extravagant, specifically referring to the set design and
costumes. The opera is played out in technically only two different sets. The
first if that of the lake, and the second of the Prince’s boat. The opening of
the opera shows sets of blue curved flats tied together (sort of like window
blinds) with wire descending down onto the stage. Nymphs dance in the
background making it look like they are dancing in the water. The ‘waves’
descend all the way down onto the stage, revealing green platforms that look
like hills which are center of the stage, the waves placed in the front of the
stage and the back make the hills looks as if it is surrounded by water. A
giant blue light is casting on the back wall with the outlines of trees to set
the stage setting as a lake within a forest. A good majority of the opera takes
place within this setting. The green platforms are moveable and rise and lower
depending on what the scene demands for and the ‘waves’ continuously bob up and
down to give the impression of movement. The entire set itself is gorgeous and
very mystical, which suits the setting since it is a lake filled with magical
creatures. The second set design is that of the Princes boat which, in contrast
to the lovely blue and greens of the lake and forest, is a raised platform with
a grey checkered floor, grey railings lining the side with red undertones
caused by the light at times - the blue waves in the back and front also
look much darker. Which I think is meant to remark on the different auras
between the two worlds Rusalka has been set in. Although the Prince’s
boat does not look as extravagant as the other design, it has more moving
pieces that are interactive with the cast. Meaning that the cast was able to
move pieces around to change the space that they were in (Canal22)( Rusalka)(Green).
The costumes were all beautiful. Especially the gowns of the various
nymphs. The wood nymphs were dressed in brown dresses covered in gold lines
that resembled a sort of bark pattern which I think was to emphasize that they
were nymphs of the forest. This contrasts the dress of Rusalka, and her many
sisters, who wear long ocean blue gowns that cover their feet. Which emphasizes
how they are unable to walk on land. The skirts of the dresses were ruffled and
change from blue to white at the end to give the appearance of waves breaking
against the shore and, just as with the wood nymphs, further emphasizing that
they were nymphs of the lake. The Witch and the Foreign princess also had
extravagant gowns that were colored in a way to emphasize their roles. The
witch was one of the few characters to have a fully painted face with markings.
She wore a black lace gown of sorts underneath a bright red robe, with red
branches sticking out from her back - the design and color of her dress, as
well as her makeup, definitely emphasis how she is a character who possess a
frightening sort of power. The Foreign princess wore a sort of purplish red
gown, made of fabric that looked very silky. This not only set her apart from
the other background characters dressed in grey tones, but also helped in
emphasizing the sort of temptress role she was going to play within the opera.
Overall the opera itself felt very over the top, in a good way. The way things
were designed were not only extravagant but also done so for a certain purpose
and I imagine the audience was amazed(Canal22)(Rusalka)(Green).
If I were to try and turn the opera of Rusalka into a type of
video game I would probably create a game that takes place after the original
story. It would be a story based game that focuses more on the magical world
Rusalka was born into because I find that would provide for a way more interesting
storyline. I would have the player chose to play as one of Rusalka's sisters
and try and save Rusalka from eternal damnation by stealing and or acquiring
magic from the moon or some other greater power within nature. I would also
create it so that depending on what choices the player makes the game’s
storyline would change along with those choices and should the player make too
many wrong choices their story would end with the worst possible outcome, which
would be them becoming eternally damned just like Rusalka. The most favorable
outcome, and goal, of the game would be to save Rusalka and return her to her
previous form of a water nymph.
Works Cited
Green, Aaron. “Rusalka Synopsis.” ThoughtCo,
ThoughtCo, 18 July 2017. Web. 10 February
“Rusalka.” Antonín Dvořák, Všechna Práva
Vyhrazena, 2005. Web. 10 February 2018.
Moura, Gabriel.
“Mise-En-Scène.” The Elements of Cinema , Gabriel Moura, 1 July 2014. Web.
“Rusalka (Opera).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia
Foundation. Web. 10 February 2018.
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