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“Rusalka” by Antonín Dvořák libretto (English)
| Contents: Characters; Act 1; Act 2; Act 3 |
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The wood nymphs: Ho, ho, ho, the moon is standing over the water! Curiously it peers into the depths, flowing over the rock to the bottom, Vodník nods his head, ho, his old green head. Ho, ho, ho, who goes there through the night? Vodník, the moon is rising, swinging into your window. Soon it will sneak in, ho, into your silvery chamber! Ho, ho, ho, the moon is roaming over the water! A breeze is dancing along the lake, Vodník has awoken, that jester, ho, ho, ho. Bubbles are now rising from the bottom, ho, ho, ho, Vodník above the water! Vodník wants a woman, which of you wants to foam the water, comb the old man’s hair, change places, ho, with Vodník’s wife? Ho, ho, ho... The Watersprite: A warm welcome from the wood to the lake! What, do the boisterous girls feel sad there? Down on the bottom I’ve got nothing but splendour, and I’ve got golden fishes there by the sackful. I’ll dash through the reeds, just stretch out my hand, grab a little miss, catch her by the feet, pull her down to our abode. The wood nymphs: Vodník, come on, hey, so catch us! The one you catch, dear man, will give you a nice kiss, but your wife, ha ha ha, will pull your ears! |
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So catch us! The Watersprite: Roguish creatures! How madly they run! Up and down, through the field, well, they’re young! Rusalka: Vodník, daddy dear! The Watersprite: Good grief, child! What are you doing? Drying my nets here in the moonlight! Rusalka: Vodník, daddy dear, until the waters foam up stay with me a while, so I won’t feel sad! The Watersprite: What, you’re sad? Rusalka: I’ll tell you all! The Watersprite: And down below, too? Rusalka: So sad I could suffocate! The Watersprite: Below, where it’s all dancing and play? Impossible! Speak! Rusalka: I’d like to leave you all, to leave the depths, to be human |
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and live in the golden sunshine! I’d like to leave you all, to leave the depths. The Watersprite: Can I believe my ears? To be human? A mortal being? Rusalka: You yourself used to tell strange tales, that they have a soul, which we don’t. And the souls of people go to heaven, when the human dies and vanishes into nothing! The Watersprite: As long as your native wave cradles you, don’t wish for a soul. It’s full of sin. Rusalka: And full of love! The Watersprite: Ye ancient waters! Don’t tell me, child, you love a human! Rusalka: He often comes here and steps into my embrace, throws his clothes on the bank and bathes in my arms. But I’m only a wave; he’s not allowed to see my being. Oh, I know I’d first have to be human, so that as I embrace him and enfold him in my arm he might himself embrace me and kiss me fervently! The Watersprite: Child, night after night your sisters will weep for you! There’s no help for you, once a human has enticed you into his power! Rusalka: |
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Vodník, dearest, he must be made to see me! Tell me, daddy, what am I, sad creature, to do? The Watersprite: Lost forever, lost to the world of humans! It’s futile to entice you below to our merriment. Call Ježibaba, oh poor, pale Rusalka! Alas! Alas! Alas! Rusalka: Oh moon in the deep sky, your light sees far, you roam over the wide world, and peer into human dwellings. Oh moon, stay a while, tell me, where is my love? Tell him, silvery moon, that my arms enfold him, so that for at least a moment he’ll remember me in his dream. Shine for him into the distance, tell him who awaits him here! If the human soul dreams of me, may he awake with that thought! Oh moon, don’t fade! That water chills me! Ježibaba! Ježibaba! The Watersprite: Oh poor, pale Rusalka! Alas! Alas! Alas! Rusalka: Ježibaba! Ježibaba! Ježibaba: Lamenting, sobbing, wailing! Who’s waking me before dawn? Rusalka: |
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Ježibaba, give me a potion, take the watery magic from me! Ježibaba: I hear something, I sniff something, speak up and tell me who you are! Rusalka: I’m Rusalka, a water nymph. Give me a potion, dear aunty! Ježibaba: If you’re a nymph, show yourself nimbly, Show yourself to me, lovely child! Rusalka: I’m fettered by the waves, tangled in water lilies. Ježibaba: Tear yourself out, step, hop, hurry into my hut! Let her go, little wave, let her come to me, let her feet touch the ground! Little feet, carry her, little feet, hold her! Lo, the feet already know how to walk! Rusalka: Ježibaba! Help! Your wisdom of the centuries knows all, you’ve penetrated nature’s mysteries, in the deep nights you dream of people, you understand the age-old elements. From earthly poisons and moonbeams you can brew thousands of potions. You can join, you can demolish, you can kill, you can create. Human into monster, monster into human, you can transform them with your age-old wisdom! In the night the water nymphs tremble before you. For human woes you prepare wondrous cures, for us and for people in the wide world you yourself are a natural element, you yourself are human. An eternity with death is your dowry. |
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Help me, wondrous woman! Help me! Ježibaba: I know all about that, such wishes are brought to us! But listen, listen closely, before you taste the potion: You’ve got pearls and you’ve got beauty. If I help you, what will you give me? Rusalka: All that I have you can take, but make me human! Ježibaba: And nothing more? Nothing more at all? That’s why you’ve come snivelling? You’ve had enough of water, and you hunger for a human body? For loving and playing, kisses and sweetness. I know all about that. Such wishes are brought to us! Rusalka: Your wisdom knows all. Give me a human body, a human soul! Ježibaba: I will, I will, by the devil, I will! But you must give me your diaphanous, watery dress. And if you don’t find love in the world, you must live as an outcast back in the depths, accursed. If you should lose the love for which your feelings crave, then the curse of the watery powers will drag you back into the deep! And before you win it you’ll also suffer: to all human ears you’ll remain mute! Do you want to be mute, do you? For the one you love? Rusalka: If I can know his love, gladly, believe me, I’ll go mute for him! |
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Ježibaba: Guard him, guard him, and know this: If you return cursed to Vodník’s realm, you’ll destroy your lover, too! He’ll become forever the victim of your eternal damnation! Rusalka: With a pure human soul my love shall overcome all spells! Ježibaba: Come, then, come quickly, come with me into my hut! We’ll brew up poisons in the fireplace, and give them to Rusalka to drink! But then not a word. Abracadabra! Abracadabra, white mist is rising from the meadows! A drop of dragon’s blood, ten drops of bile, the warm heart of a bird, already the kettle is hissing. Jump, my tomcat, jump, stir the brew in the kettle! Abracadabra, don’t be afraid of greater torments! This is your human dowry, and you must drink it. This brew will make your tongue go wooden. Jump, my tomcat, come on, hey, poor this juice down her throat! Abracadabra, but now not a word! The Watersprite: Oh poor, pale Rusalka! Alas! Alas! Alas! The Hunter: A young hunter rode and rode, he saw a white doe in the forest. Deep eyes she had, will my arrow strike her? Oh, young hunter, hurry on, |
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don’t shoot this white doe, beware her body! Will my arrow strike her? The Prince: Here I glimpsed her and then she vanished! Over hill, over dale, through forest and field, this wondrous creature passes quickly by and here the track has vanished completely! And a mysterious rippling in these waters entices me into their arms, as if inviting me to cool the passion of the hunt in their embrace. My stride falters, i feel a strange yearning, my weapon falls from my weary hand. The hunt has scarcely begun, and suddenly has tired me, that strange magic has seized me again! The Hunter: That was no doe, Hunter, stop! God protect your soul! Your heart is terribly sad, whom did your arrow strike? The Prince: Stop the hunt, return to the castle. Strange magic is wandering in the forest, and stranger magic in my heart. Return home, I want to be alone! Wondrous vision, immensely sweet, are you human or a fairy tale? Have you come to protect that rare creature I glimpsed in the dimness of the forest? Have you come to beg for her life, oh sister of the white doe? Or do you yourself, as you come toward me, want to be the hunter’s booty? Are your lips sealed by a secret, or has your tongue fallen forever silent? If your lips are mute, God knows I’ll kiss an answer from them! An answer to the mysteries that enticed me here, that called me past thorns, past crags, for me finally, on this blissful day, child, to be suddenly enchanted by your gaze! |
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What’s hidden in your heart? If you love me, give me a sign! |
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The Naiads: Sisters, one of us is missing! Sister dear, where have you gone? The Watersprite: Across hills, valleys, and woods! The Naiads: Sister dear, where are you? The Prince: I know you are magic that will pass and dissolve into a play of mist. But while our time lasts, oh my fairytale, don’t flee! My hunt is over, why think of it? You are my most precious doe, you’re a golden star shining into the dark night. My fairytale, come with me! |
| libretto by David R. Beveridge |
| Contents: Characters; Act 1; Act 2; Act 3 |