Shades Of Schade, And Rusalka

Shades of Schade continues today, with the second of four weeks celebrating the marvel that is Canadian tenor Michael Schade. Today, it's the COC production of Dvorak's Rusalka, which also features soprano Julie Makerov. (One review refers to them as "the swaggering Schade and the fearless Makerov.")

For Schade, who spends much of his time performing around the world, it was something of a homecoming. As he told John Terauds in The Star:

"Birds can fly great distances as long as they know in their heads where they can land. You can fly all around the world as a singer, yet it's a phenomenally important thing to know you have a landing pad. This country has provided me with that."

(Did I mention that Schade is also an enthusiastic amateur ornithologist? He is.)

The story of Rusalka, as you may well know, is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid. (Mermaids, in German ondines, and to the Slavic peoples of Eastern and Central Europe, rusalki -- thus the name.) The story is that Rusalka falls in love with a mortal prince, and to be with him she sacrifices her immortality and her voice. Heartbreaking!

For the full synopsis, scroll on down past the cast and character details.

And one final note --if you missed Michael Schade hosting This Is My Music last week, that programme is now available online at Inside The Music Listen Again.

Rusalka
Lyric Fairy Tale in Three Acts

Music by Antonín Dvorák
Text (in Czech): by Jaroslav Kvapil

World Premiere: Prague, National Theater, March 31, 1901
U.S. Premiere: Chicago, Sokol Hall, March 10, 1935
This Production: CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto
recorded February 14 & 17, 2009

Cast & Characters

Cast:

Rusalka: Julie Makerov, soprano
Prince: Michael Schade, tenor
Foreign Princess: Joni Henson
Ježibaba: Irina Mishura, mezzo-soprano
Water Gnome: Richard Paul Fink, baritone
First Wood Nymph: Teiya Kasahara, soprano
Second Wood Nymph: Lisa DiMaria, soprano
Third Wood Nymph: Erin Fisher, mezzo-soprano
Hunter: Niculae Raiciu, baritone
Gamekeeper: Michael Barrett, tenor
Turnspit (kitchen helper): Betty Allison, soprano

Canadian Opera Company Chorus
Canadian Opera Company Orchestra
Conductor: John Keenan
Director: Dmitri Bertman

The Characters

The Three Wood Nymphs (Two Sopranos and Alto): These energetic creatures dance nightly around the lake and tease the Water Gnome, trying to get him to chase them.

The Water Gnome (Bass): Rusalka's father and confidant; he warns her of the dangers of becoming human.

The Water Nymphs (Two Sopranos and Alto): Rusalka's sisters; they reject her for becoming human.

Rusalka (Soprano): A water nymph that has fallen in love with a human prince who often swims in the lake where she lives. Rusalka's desire to be human compels her to visit Ježibaba, the witch.

Ježibaba (Contralto): An ill-tempered witch who lives in the woods, Jezibaba is the only one that can grant Rusalka's wish to be human.

The Hunter (Baritone): One of the hunters that accompanies the Prince; he is suspicious of the part of the woods to which they have been led.

The Prince (Tenor): A royal who becomes enchanted by the newly human Rusalka and takes her back to his castle.

The Gamekeeper (Baritone): Manages the game for hunting on the Prince's land.

The Turnspit (Soprano): The Gamekeeper's nephew, he helps in the royal kitchen.

The Foreign Princess (Mezzo-Soprano): Rusalka's rival. Though she does not love the Prince, she feels that she should be his chosen bride.

Synopsis
Act I

A meadow by a lake, in fairy-tale times. The water nymph Rusalka sits sadly by the water as wood nymphs sing and dance. When the water gnome Vodník asks why she is unhappy she tells him that she has fallen in love with a human-the prince-when he came to swim in the lake. Now she wants to become human herself and live on land to be with him. Horrified, Vodník tells her that humans are evil and full of sin. When Rusalka insists, claiming they are full of love, he says she will have to get help from the witch Ježibaba, then sinks back into the lake in despair. Rusalka calls on the moon to tell the prince of her love ("Mešícku na nebi hlubokém"). Ježibaba arrives and agrees to turn Rusalka into a human-but warns her that if she doesn't find love she will be damned and the man she loves will die. Also, by becoming mortal, she will lose her power of speech. Convinced that her feelings for the prince can overcome all spells, Rusalka agrees and Ježibaba gives her a potion to drink. As dawn breaks, the prince appears with a hunting party and finds Rusalka by the lake. Even though she won't speak to him, he is captivated by her beauty and leads her away to his castle. From the lake, the voices of Vodník and the other water nymphs are heard, mourning the loss of Rusalka.

Act II

At the prince's castle, the gamekeeper and the kitchen boy talk about the approaching wedding of the prince and his strange new bride, whose name nobody knows. The prince enters with Rusalka. He wonders why she is so cold toward him but remains determined to win her. A foreign princess, who has come for the wedding, mocks Rusalka's muteness and reproaches the prince for ignoring his guests. The prince sends Rusalka away to dress for the ball and escorts the princess into the castle for the beginning of the festivities.

In the deserted garden, Vodník appears from the pool. Rusalka, who has become more and more intimidated by her surroundings, rushes from the castle in tears. Suddenly recovering her voice, she begs Vodník to help her, telling him that the prince no longer loves her. The prince and the princess come into the garden, and the prince confesses his love for her. When Rusalka intervenes and rushes into his arms he rejects her. Vodník warns the prince of the fate that awaits him, then disappears into the water with Rusalka. The prince asks the princess for help but she laughs at him and tells him to follow his bride into hell.

Act III

Rusalka sits by the lake once again, lamenting her fate. Ježibaba appears and mocks her, then hands her a knife and explains that there is a way to save herself: she must kill the prince. Rusalka refuses, throwing the weapon into the water. When her sisters reject her as well, she sinks into the lake in despair. The gamekeeper and the kitchen boy arrive to ask Ježibaba for help. The prince, they say, has been bewitched by a strange wood girl he was going to marry. Enraged, Vodník rises from the water, saying that it was the prince who deceived Rusalka. Terrified by the supernatural sight, the two run away. The wood nymphs enter, singing and dancing, but when Vodník explains to them what has happened to Rusalka they fall silent and disappear.

The prince, desperate and half crazy with remorse, emerges from the forest, looking for Rusalka and calls out to her to return to him. She appears from the water, reproaching him for his infidelity, and explains that now a kiss from her would kill him. Accepting his destiny, he asks her to kiss him to give him peace. She does, and he dies in her arms. Rusalka asks for mercy on his soul and vanishes into the water.