“Rusalka” by Antonín Dvořák libretto (English)

Contents: Characters; Act 1; Act 2; Act 3

Act 2

The Gamekeeper:

Do tell, dear boy,
what else?
What kind of entertainment
is being prepared in the palace today?
So many guests in the banquet hall,
work in the kitchen,
fabulous dishes
on the tables and shelves!

The Pantryboy:

We’re in a rush now,
dear uncle VanÄ›k,
from dawn to dusk,
we never stop working!
Just imagine, uncle,
have you ever heard such a thing?
The Prince found in the forest
a strange creature,
and it seems - can you believe it? -
he might marry it!
They say he found her in your woods,
in your deep forest.
But wherever he got her,
uncle, I’d be scared of her!
The girl is mute
and has not a drop of blood,
She walks about as though stunned!
What a fine wife she’d make!

The Gamekeeper:

Is it really true,
what they’re saying everywhere?
My poor, dear boy,
it seems that it is!
May the Lord God protect us.
As an old huntsman I say
that in this loving
lies strange magic!
My forest is haunted
by sinister powers,
in the forest strange comrades
walk about at midnight.
If the soul in the body is weak,
JeÅ¾ibaba will hex it,
beneath the banks of the lake
it can easily happen,
the water gnome will drag you
to the bottom!
And whoever sees the wood nymphs,
without blouse, without skirt,
will be dazed by a craving for love.
The Lord God be with us,
and away with evil!

The Pantryboy:

Uncle, I’m afraid!

The Gamekeeper:

Well, it’s no wonder.
May the Lord God have mercy
on your sinful soul!

The Pantryboy:

Our prince was always so handsome,
how he’s changed now!
He’s not as he was, no,
he wanders about as in a trance,
the old woman Háta has prayers
said for him every day.
And when the priest heard about it
he came to warn the prince.
But the prince would hear none of it –
the girl is to stay!

The Gamekeeper:

That’s why the guests are here!
That’s why everything’s being taken from the cupboards!
That’s why I hurried to bring
lots of game to the palace!

The Pantryboy:

Luckily it seems
it wasn’t meant to be:
another woman
may spoil everything!
Old Háta tells
how the prince is fickle.
She says his love is already fading,
that he has another woman on his mind,
that some foreign princess
has now caught his eye!

The Gamekeeper:

Oh Lord God, may it be so.
Preserve him in good health!
If I were the prince, without ado
I’d chase out that strange girl,
before she entangles me in hell.
Let that good-for-nothing get out of here!

The Pantryboy:

Ugh, here comes the prince leading that creature!

The Gamekeeper:

And I’m not going to wait for her!

The Prince:

For a week already I have you by my side,
I see you before me like a vision from a fable,
and vainly in your deep eyes
I seek your mysterious being.
Am I to find only in marriage
what love has long craved?
That your ardour might be ignited
and you might be my woman completely?
Why does your embrace chill me,
why is it afraid of passion?
Why is a pang of anxiety all
that I feel in your arms?
And vainly I suppress a feeling of sadness;
from your arms there’s no escape.
However cool you are, and timid,
I must have you, possess you completely!

The Foreign Princess:

No, it’s not love, it’s a feeling of rage,
that another dwells where I wanted to be,
and that I was not destined to have him.
Let happiness die completely for both of them!
Will the prince remember for a moment, after all,
that the lover is also a host?
This happiness the world bestows on you:
should a guest only gaze on it silently?

The Prince:

Oh, a truly timely reproach,
and from your dear lips I bear it gladly!
Even the bridegroom, lovely princess,
is above all only your servant!

The Foreign Princess:

And your beautiful bride, mistress of your emotions,
has not a word of reprimand for you?
Or has she so much tenderness in her gaze
that she speaks to you only with her eyes?

The Prince:

But her eyes forgot to say
that the host has become negligent.
Let him now quickly compensate, if you allow,
for his absent-minded, momentary neglect.
Why your anxiety?
And why do you tremble so?
Hasten to your chamber
and dress for the ball!

The Foreign Princess:

Oh, don a fabulous gown!
I have his courtesy,
but you have his heart.

The Watersprite:

Alas! Alas!
Oh poor, pale Rusalka,
sent by a spell into the dazzling world!
Alas!
The whole world will not give you
what blooms in the realm of water!
You could be a human a hundred times,
but you’re bound to the ancient yoke.
A human could love you a hundred times,
but you can’t bind him forever!
Oh poor, pale Rusalka,
captured by the magic of human fetters!
Your water seeks you everywhere,
in vain wanting to embrace you!
When you return to your sisters
you’ll be only an element that brings death.
You’ll return faded by living;
you’ve fallen victim to the curse of the elements.
Poor, pale Rusalka,
sent by a spell into the dazzling world!

Chorus:

White flowers along the way,
all along the way they bloomed.
A lad rode and rode to see his bride
and the day smiled so brightly.
Don’t tarry, lad, hasten to your beloved.
Soon you’ll grow up to be a man.
When you come back this way
the blooms will be red roses.
The white flowers were first
to wilt in the hot sun.
But these fiery roses
adorn the wedding bed.

The Watersprite:

Poor, pale Rusalka,
sent by a spell into the dazzling world!
Alas!
On the waters a white water lily dreams;
it will be your sad companion.
For your wedding bed
no red roses bloom!

Rusalka, do you recognize me, do you?

Rusalka:

Vodník, daddy dear!

The Watersprite:

Have I come to your palace
to see you grieving so soon?

Rusalka:

Daddy, Vodník, save me, save me;
horrible anxiety has seized me!
Oh, that I wanted to betray you all!
Wretched is the one who knows humans!
Alas! Alas!
Another woman’s beauty ensnared him at once:
wild, human beauty.
As for me, he no longer knows me,
Rusalka with her flowing hair!

The Watersprite:

What, he rejected you? The one who loved you?
You must now persevere!

Rusalka:

Oh, it’s futile, it’s futile,
and my heart is empty.
Futile are all my charms,
when I’m only half human!
Oh, it’s futile, he know longer knows me,
Rusalka with her flowing hair.
Her eyes blaze with the force of passion,
that accursed human passion!
Whereas I am born of cool water,
and lack that passion!
Accursed by all of you, for him lost,
a faint echo of the ancient elements!
Neither woman nor fairy can I be;
I cannot die, and cannot live!
I cannot die, and cannot live!

Do you see them, do you? They’re here again!
Daddy, save me, save me!

The Foreign Princess:

I see a strange glow in your eyes
and listen to you dumbfounded.
You’re ever more ardent and sweet!
Oh prince, what does this mean?
Where has your chosen one fled?
The one without speech and without name?
Where has she fled? She should see
that the prince has changed completely!

The Prince:

Where has she gone? Dear God knows!
But this change is your own fault!
And the summer night won’t tell
that a different has captured me!
Oh, call it a whim
that I loved another for a while.
And be a blazing fire,
where till now burned the white light of the moon!

The Foreign Princess:

When my fire has seared you
and horrified all your passions,
when I leave you and travel far away,
what will you do with the lustre of the moon?
When you are embraced by the lovely arms
of that mute, somnambulant beauty,
what will warm you to passion?
What a waste of that passion!

The Prince:

And if the whole world
should condemn my longing,
you are the glowing blossom,
even if it bloomed for a moment only!
Only now do I realize
why my body was languishing,
when in the mystery of love
it sought a cure!
What will remain of that love
in whose snares I became entangled?
I’ll gladly throw off all bonds
to be able to love you!

The Foreign Princess:

Oh, only now do I realize
that courting suddenly beckons to me.
The groom, it seems, does not himself know
whether he’s wooing me or another!

The Prince:

Your shoulders freeze me,
you white beauty, white and cold!

The Watersprite:

Rush into the arms of another, rush, rush.
From the embrace of this one you’ll never escape!

The Prince:

From the embrace of a mysterious power
save me!

The Foreign Princess:

Into the nameless abyss of hell
hurry after your chosen one!

libretto by David R. Beveridge

Contents: Characters; Act 1; Act 2; Act 3