Opera: Magical Lilies, A Family Curse & A Half-Winged Prince Take Center Stage in "The Thirteenth Child"- World Premiere July 27

Composer Poul Ruder is probably best known for his well-received, operatic adaptation of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, which was called “an outstandingly effective piece of music theater” by Opera News and as “a riveting, kaleidoscopic score” by The New York Times. With four operas with serious subject matter already under his belt, Ruder wanted to produce a more positive, less weighty work of fantasy and the Brother's Grimm fairy tale, The Twelve Brothers (a variant of the better known The Six Swans, also a Grimms tale), hit the spot.

CD cover

“In 2010, I finished what I thought would be my last opera,” said composer Poul Ruders. “But being a composer, I knew that somewhere there was a subject lying in wait for me to put my paws on. For a Dane to do a Hans Christian Andersen story would be too obvious! So I went for The Brothers Grimm instead. 

In reading through their stories, I kept coming back to this one, which I think is emotionally very potent.
“As opposed to The Handmaid’s Tale, which is an opera for grown-ups, I would say that The Thirteenth Child is good for all ages, including children, who I hope will find it kind of scary. If not, I haven’t done my job very well. I think if you can sit through a Harry Potter movie and enjoy it and not have to leave the bedroom light on at night, you’ll love this! (SantaFeOpera - season announcement)

Ahead of the world premiere next week at the Santa Fe Opera, in New Mexico, a CD has been released.

From Santa Fe Opera:

QUOTH THE RAVEN, “NEVERMORE” 

Costume board for The Thirteenth Child opera

Forget about magic beans and bowls of porridge—this fairy tale is a “down-to-the-wire” thriller, inspired by the Brothers Grimm. A paranoid king banishes his twelve sons in favor of Lyra, the thirteenth child. When Princess Lyra learns about her long-lost brothers, she embarks on a quest to find them. Like all the best fairy tales, it has an enchanted forest, riddles, a handsome prince, a horrible mistake, and a nearly impossible feat for Princess Lyra to perform if everything is to be put right. 

Don’t miss it, especially if you want to live happily ever after! 

(Synopsis)Act I, Scene 1
The neighboring kingdoms of Frohagord and Hauven are in crisis. Following a warning by his embittered cousin Drokan, Regent of Hauven, King Hjarne of Frohagord is convinced that his twelve sons are plotting to overthrow him. The twelve princes, oblivious to their father’s paranoia, play in the courtyard. The enraged King threatens his sons, telling his pregnant wife, Queen Gertrude, that she must provide him with a female heir, as “only she shall wear the crown”. Gertrude calms Hjarne and they sing of the Lilies of Frohagord, magical flowers that protect the kingdom. When Benjamin, the youngest prince, innocently plucks a lily from the garden, Hjarne flies into a mad rage and strikes Gertrude. Drokan, observing the encounter, admits his love for Gertrude and feels “the trembling of the earth.” 

The Twelve Brothers - first third of a banner illustration by (Phillis) Ming Hai

Act I, Scene 2
Eighteen years have passed and King Hjarne has died. At Hjarne’s funeral, Frederic, the young heir to the throne of Hauven, and Drokan, and the mourners tell of the mysterious disappearance of the King’s thirteen children and the shadows that haunt the kingdom. Queen Gertrude, now mortally ill, and her daughter, Princess Lyra, enter the Royal Chapel. Gertrude is repelled by the sight of Drokan, while Frederic is drawn to Lyra. Drokan plots to usurp the Kingdom of Frohagord and Frederic dreams of the day when Lyra will be his. 

Act I, Scene 3
Queen Gertrude is on her deathbed, attended by Princess Lyra. Lyra asks her mother why she was sent away from Frohagord when she was young. Gertrude instructs Lyra to open a secret drawer where Lyra finds twelve shirts embroidered with the red Lilies of Frohagord. Gertrude reveals that the shirts belong to Lyra’s twelve missing brothers, who were also sent away, taking Frohagord’s lily bulbs with them. Before dying, Gertrude begs Lyra to find her brothers and heal the family’s wounds. Lyra vows to find the twelve Princes. 

The Twelve Brothers - second third of a banner illustration by (Phillis) Ming Hai

Act II, Scene 1
Lyra wanders through an enchanted forest, coming upon a cottage with twelve lilies in bloom. She encounters Benjamin, whom she learns is the youngest of her brothers. In the distance the older brothers are heard as they return home from a hunt. Benjamin, who fears that his brothers will seek revenge against Lyra, hides her. After his brothers assure him that they will do no harm, Benjamin reveals Lyra, much to the joy of all. Preparing for a celebratory feast, Lyra cuts the red lilies, unintentionally casting a spell that transforms her brothers into ravens. She is devastated by her tragic mistake. 

Act II, Scene 2
Queen Gertrude appears as an apparition and tells Lyra that in order for her brothers to return to human form, she must remain mute for seven years. 

Act II, Scene 3
Almost seven years have passed, and Frederic’s search for Lyra is rewarded. A great wedding celebration is planned by the people of Hauven. Drokan jealously plots to destroy the couple and gain the throne of both kingdoms. Before the wedding is to take place, a violent storm threatens Hauven, sending Frederic and his men away to rescue their countrymen. 

The Twelve Brothers - last third of a banner illustration by (Phillis) Ming Hai

 Act II, Scene 4

In the courtyard of the castle of Hauven, Drokan accosts Lyra and demands that she marry him. When she refuses, he binds her to a bonfire. As Drokan lights it, Frederic and his men return, and the twelve ravens swoop down, forcing Drokan into the fire. Suddenly, the lilies burst into bloom, returning the brothers to human form. In the battle, Benjamin is mortally wounded, his body half human, half raven, as he vanquishes Drokan. Frederic rescues Lyra from the bonfire. As Benjamin is dying, he finds peace, and all sing of the restoration of hope.

You can read about the creation of the opera from a fairly extensive New York Times article HERE, and see how they adjusted the fairy tale story for the opera. While it seems the opera does stick quite close to the source material, there are some updates that creator Poul Ruder felt was needed for the work.

Here's a nice little visual insight from Director, Darko Tresnjak in discussing the set:

Costumes for The Thirteenth Child, showing the "red lily" motif

"What initially struck me about The Thirteenth Child is that every moment in the tight, suspenseful libretto is essential. We are plunged into the dizzying, fearsome story from the opening measure. What follows are seven swift scenes, each one set in a new location, each one introducing a new crisis. 

The set is based on a tower that Alexander Dodge, our set designer, saw as a child. There is a bird’s eye view of the tower, the sensationof staring down the stairwell. It made me think of Hitchcock’s Vertigo, especially the tower scene at the end and the famous dolly zoom effect. 

I think of this upended environment as the interior of King Hjarne’s addled, paranoid head. The nightmare into which he plunges his family and his kingdom. The set will give us the opportunity, through the use of projection mapping, to swiftly move from one location to another and to create moments of terror and of wonder."

The Twelve Brothers - full banner illustration by (Phillis) Ming Hai -  click to view full size

 Here are some musical excerpts from The Thirteenth Child, with subtitled libretto and some lovely drawings, to give you a taste:

There is a special Q&A event with the creative team happening next Friday, July 26th:

Santa Fe Opera Presents: Conversation with Creative Team of The Thirteenth Child

Conversation with Creative Team of The Thirteenth Child

Moderated by Cori Ellison, Santa Fe Opera Dramaturg

Time & Location: Jul 26, 6:00 PM

Collected Works Bookstore and Coffeehous,

202 Galisteo Street, Santa Fe, NM, USA

THE THIRTEENTH CHILD
Poul Ruders, composer
Becky and David Starobin, librettists
New Production. A World Premiere.
Co-commission and co-production with Odense Symphony Orchestra.
July 27, 31; August 9, 14, 21
Click HERE for tickets

ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOTE:

'Banner' illustrations throughout are from The Twelve Brothers by (Phyllis) Ming Hai. Please see her website and social media links below to view more of her lovely work.

WEBSITE: phyllisminghai.com 

TWITTER: @CloudieNine

INSTAGRAM: cloudienine

'Sleeping Beauty' Puppet Opera Brought to Life (Size) by 'King Kong' s Joe Blanck

Victorian Opera stages Respighi's Sleeping Beauty with full size puppets designed & built by Joe Blanck

When I look at what's happening in the world right now, it just seems to me that there is no better time to have a kind of narrative that says 'things are awful, but they will get better'.

[Director, Nancy Black]

We first saw mention of this new version of Ottorino Respighi's Opera some time ago but the poster (pictured at bottom of post) just didn't grab our attention. It wasn't until we realized there was a unique and new puppetry element to this opera that we became intrigued.

When we found out Joe Blanck (of the impressive King Kong musical and the award winning Walking with Dinosaurs stage show) was involved, and that these puppets (originally marionettes) were now larger than life, we took a closer look. What ultimately sold us on the production was hearing and reading what Director Nancy Black had to say about the themes of the tale she intended to bring out, and what she felt Sleeping Beauty had to offer us in this current social climate. That her approach was also intriguing, being inspired by Kay Neilsen's work and incorporating newly designed larger-than-life puppets by Blanck, became a bonus. 

Blanck himself also shed an interesting light on their interpretation of the tale: 

“Sleeping Beauty is not your typical love story,” Blanck says. “It’s more about the tragedy, and how people deal with that. Those are the things we’re trying to bring to the surface of the story.” 

Director Nancy Black has conceived a production which sees a group of people joining together to tell a story after some kind of traumatic event. They conjure up the tale of Sleeping Beauty out of thin air.“ 

We’ve kind of left it open to interpretation, creating a community of people come together — whether they’re poor or refugees or something else, it’s not really said,” Blanck says.“ 

That happens at so many events, whether it be at a funeral, or in the aftermath of something else entirely — people come together and tell stories.” (Daily Review)

Nancy Black goes into a little more detail in the video below (it gives a wonderful overview and sneak peeks at the visuals in motion). 

The educational materials Victorian Opera are making available online for free, lead on well from her introduction. (Link at the end so you can download the whole package for yourself.)

(The whole Education Resource is available to download HERE.)

An interview Victorian Opera posted with Director Nancy Black explains further why she's so passionate about this version of Sleeping Beauty. Here are some excerpts:

In 2017, you’ll be returning to Victorian Opera to direct another forgotten gem of the early 20th century with Respighi’s The Sleeping Beauty. What have you enjoyed about discovering this opera? 

Oh my goodness.  So much.  First of all the music is beautiful, very lyrical, and also funny. The opera is filled with interesting characters- from the lovers to animals to satirical representatives of capitalism. It is romantic but also lightly nuanced with philosophical and even political references.  At the beginning Respighi seems to be taking us through a traditional rendition of a well known fairy tale, but then his narrative leaps forward in time to what he imagined would be 1940, and he incorporates mid- 20th Century dance rhythms. Our vision for the work needs to incorporate all of those elements!  What an exciting challenge! 

 

You’ve worked extensively with puppetry in the past and will be working alongside production designer Joe Blanck to create this fascinating blend of opera and puppetry. How are you planning to approach the production? 

After reading the libretto, I knew I wanted to approach this work as though it was a community of people telling a story.  It is a village. Maybe they have come through hard times.  When Respighi wrote this Italy was still struggling with the aftermath of WWI and the devastation of the Spanish Flu. In setting the celebratory end in 1940, he could not have known what lay ahead. 

I am fascinated by our human need for story. Even before mankind had written language, we have used stories as a tool for bringing order out of chaos, for giving us meaning when reason has failed, for instilling hope. 

In our production, a group gathers around a fire; it’s a lovely night.  An ember leaps into the air. It becomes a nightingale puppet, whose song is picked up by one of the singers.  The story unfolds as a combined effort with some taking the singing parts, others the puppetry. Together they tell a story that initially takes them away from their present into a beautiful fantasy, but then weaves itself back into their reality.  

I don’t want to give away too many details, but our creative team that includes Joe, Ben Cobham, Philip Lethlean and Michelle Heaven are devising a production design that draws inspiration from the exquisite illustrations of Kay Nielsen and organic shapes from our forests.  The puppetry will use several forms, always provoking and teasing the imagination, with circus and dance skills adding to what we hope will be a visual delight.

(FTNH Ed: Puppetry, circus and dance?! We're in!)

Nancy Black, from the Victorian Opera Educational Material

 Phoebe Briggs is the conductor for the show (there is a live orchestra, as well as singers) and shared in a different interview with Limelight Magazine, why she thinks this production is likely to appeal. Respighi apparently composed the opera with a young audience in mind and though it has some darker themes, as fairy tales tend to, it's designed to have family appeal. Here are some excerpts from that interview, the whole of which will particularly appeal to those with music training:

Is this something that a child today could attend? 

Yes, absolutely. Each character is clearly defined musically and children will certainly be able to follow the story very easily, and will be swept along by the storytelling of the puppets and singers.

Many audience members are only really familiar with Respighi through his tone poems. What might surprise them about the composer of this opera? 

I think what will surprise the audience is Respighi’s ability to jump effortlessly from style to style and from mood to mood. He inserts a Cakewalk or Foxtrot in amongst the neoclassical Marches and Minuets to keep the audience on their toes and this really shows Respighi’s sense of humour shining through. The tone poems are large expansive works whereas his writing here is more compact. He uses styles that are familiar but inserts unexpected harmonies and syncopations to give a modern feel to the work. 

Respighi notably had a real sense of humour when composing The Sleeping Beauty. There are plenty of musical allusions and parodic elements in the score – what has it been like discovering them with the orchestra? 

I’ve had a few laugh-out-loud and ‘oooh’ moments when I realised what Respighi was quoting, as well as the slow recognition of more subtle moments that he has borrowed from other works. I feel that rather than being direct parodies they are compliments to other composers and intended to trigger memories and emotions for the audience.

Here's the official trailer, which gives you a very brief preview of the music as well, though it doesn't grasp the range of Respighi's accessible score:

To further pique your interest, here's a list of characters for the story:

Characters & Cast

The Nightingale Zoe Drummond

The Cuckoo Shakira Tsindos

The Frog/The Spindle Kirilie Blythman

The Ambassador Timothy Newton

The Blue Fairy Elizabeth Barrow

The Jester/Mister Dollar Timothy Reynolds

The Green Fairy Juel Riggall

The King Raphael Wong

The Queen/The Cat Sally Wilson

The Old Lady/The Duchess Liane Keegan

The Princess Jacqueline Porter

The Woodcutter Stephen Marsh

The Prince Carlos E. Bárcenas

A Villager Tomas Dalton

Note: For those local to this production, please note there are also Audio Described Performances and Tactile Tours which are kid friendly too.

You can download a copy of the program, detailing the synopsis and each of the performers, along with letters from the Director, Artistic Director and the Conductor HERE.

We've included a lot of detail and behind-the-scenes, since many of our readers won't have the opportunity to visit Melbourne, Victoria (Australia) to see this production, which is a shame, since we think it would be well received wherever it traveled. (We hope a tour is on the cards!) 

If you're fortunate enough to see this opera and would like to write a review for OUABlog, please let us know. We'd love to hear what an audience member thought of this production.

Victorian Opera
An all-new production of Ottorino Respighi's 1922 reimagining of Sleeping Beauty

11 – 18 March

Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse

11, 14, 15, 17 March 7:30pm18 March 1:00pm

Philip Glass' Rescore of Cocteau's "La Belle et la Bête" Performed Live to the Film in Santa Barbara This Wednesday

One of the most celebrated and unique works in Philip Glass’ recent career, his live interpretation of Jean Cocteau’s masterpieceLa Belle et la Bête is also his most deeply personal and romantic. For this production, Glass removed the film’s soundtrack and replaced it with his own musical score played live by the Philip Glass Ensemble. The dialogue is also performed live by the vocalists who are synchronized with the actors in the film. This mythical, lush and sweeping love story is a tale for the ages.

Oh wow. I would LOVE to see/hear this! Although Beauty and the Beast isn't my absolute favorite fairy tale of all time, and I pick and choose my opera viewing rather carefully, I'd go to this performance in a heartbeat. Cocteau's film is one of my absolute favorites ever (I have, I think four? five? slightly different presentations of it... and I can't get rid of a single one) and seeing/hearing the different score and vocal track, inspired by the film and made for the film, to match mood, action and dialogue and meant to be heard ONLY as you see the film (ie it's not supposed to be a separate work) and to hear it being played and sung LIVE? Well, that's just.. goose bump worthy.

From The Independent:

“No one had ever done this before: take a talking film, turn off the soundtrack, and create a new one from start to finish,” said Michael Riesman, who has been part of the project since its inception in 1995. He will conduct the Philip Glass Ensemble in a live performance of the score — accompanied by the film, of course — this Wednesday at the Granada Theatre. 

The film is the 1946 classic La belle et la bête, directed by Jean Cocteau — a genius whose work Glass found continually inspiring. As Riesman noted in a recent interview, the composer turned one Cocteau screenplay into a more conventional opera and another into a ballet/opera. For this one, he decided to overlay new music onto the ethereal imagery. 

“It was quite a complicated process,” Riesman recalled. “[After we received the first draft of the score] we found there were lots of problems. The bed of music was okay, but the vocal parts weren’t close enough [to the actors’ dialogue] to be convincing. I thought we needed to at least do as good a job as a badly dubbed film. The right person’s mouth had to be moving!
“Sometimes we shifted the vocal line; in other cases, we threw it back to Philip, who would totally rewrite the section. This went on for weeks. We were already in rehearsals, so it was pretty scary. Fresh pages were coming in daily.” 

However hurried, the results were magnificent. In the New York Times, Allan Kozinn praised the way Glass’s music reflected the film’s “visual and atmospheric touches.” 

Here's a brief video explaining this new production (fresh cast, I believe), premiering this coming Wednesday at The Granada Theater:

Although Philip Glass will not be appearing with The Philip Glass Ensemble for this event in Santa Barbara at The Granada Theater, (at the University of Santa Barbara) Michael Riesman, who has led over one hundred live performances of the score to the film since 1995, will be conducting.

For more information and tickets, please see HERE.

Buster Keaton Meets David Lynch in LA Opera's New "Magic Flute" (Multimedia-fest & Silent Era Tribute Spectacular!)

If Mozart's fairy tale opera, The Magic Flute was a silent film, animated by David Lynch it might look rather like LA Opera's special production Magic Flute...

I LOVE this! Coming from theater, I can't help but get excited by innovative staging and multimedia presentations of old works. When it freshens a fairy tale I'm about ready to do backflips!

This production, currently being premiered and performed by the LA Opera, originated with the Komische Oper in Berlin and uses silent film devices, projected animation for the artists to interact with, a lot of humor and parodies the pre-talkie era with great panache. 

The concept for the production was developed by Australian director Barrie Kosky and the British theater company 1927, founded by animator/filmmaker Bill Barritt and writer/performer Suzanne Andrade. Emerging in 2005 from the London cabaret scene, 1927 specializes in mixing live performance and music with pre-recorded animation and film. The company's aesthetic has been described as "a perfect combination of all the things worth loving: silent movies, Weimar cabaret, David Lynch and the Brothers Grimm" (The Guardian, UK - quoted on the official video)

Take a look at this wonderful trailer showcasing some of the inventiveness of the production:

✒ ✒  ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line for lots more pics & a review excerpt) ✒ ✒ ✒  ✒ 

Dvořák's "Rusalka"

Lovely poster from Opera Lyon's 2001 Production of Dvořák's Rusalka

Note: There's LOTS of "linky goodness" in this post, especially good for those who love Russian tales like I do, so go explore and fill your fairy tale soul today. :)

Also: Stars like this: * indicate a corresponding additional note at the bottom of the page.

UPDATE/CORRECTION 12/28/11: Božena Němcová was Czech, not Russian. Thank you to Janu Banu who commented with the correction and Judika who emailed me as well. My sincere apologies! Being mistaken for English and other nationalities myself all the time, I'm embarrassed I rushed finishing my post without double checking - and correcting! - all my facts before going live. Thank you again Janu and Judika for reading and for caring enough to let me know and correct the post.  :)

There is a fairy tale opera scored by famous composer Czech Antonin Dvořák (in 1899) that has recently made a comeback in operatic circles and in February 2012, UBC (University of British Columbia) will be mounting their own beautifully lavish production.

From the UBC promotional copy:

In Dvořák’s version, Rusalka is a water sprite that dwells in a lake. Rusalka has fallen in love with a mortal, a Prince who comes to the forest to swim in the lake. Since she is invisible to the Prince, she desires to take on human form in order to leave the cool waters and live in the sunlight with him. Rusalka’s father, the wise ruler of the lake’s underwater realm, warns her against such a transformation. Despite her father’s warnings, she seeks out the witch, Jezibaba, to fulfill her wish. 

Renee Fleming during a performance of Rusalka by the NY Met

 Rusalka’s desperate longing to experience true love plunges her into an emotional storm heightened beautifully by majestic melodies, including the famously stunning aria, Song to the Moon. In the end, she must choose to make the ultimate sacrifice for love. Rusalka is not only Dvořák’s finest and most enduringly popular opera but also one of the most deeply moving operas of all.

 There is, however, a point of confusion here. The opera has been officially called "Rusalka: The Little Mermaid Story" and the apparent background for it (from the promotional copy) is this:

Rusalka is based on the original Slavic fairy tale of the Little Mermaid. The story was later adapted by Hans Christian Andersen and then by Walt Disney Studios into the 1989 film.

The problem here is that a rusalka is NOT a mermaid and should never be confused with one. There are similarities, such as rusalki (plural) are female water beings (or demons, since their agenda is usually seducing and drowning boys and men) which at first seem to have a lot in common with sirens, though they don't have fish/water animal tails.

Rusalki are actually a type of ghost (ie. they used to be human) and the water-version of willis (another Slavic fairy/spirit seen in the story Giselle, the popular ballet first performed in 1841****). Willis and rusalki are essentially both female ghosts looking for revenge specifically against the men who did them wrong in life, though any man is considered fair game. Rusalka are not completely malicious though. They can find peace and stop their haunting once justice (or revenge) is carried out on their behalf.

From an Australian production of Rusalka

Andersen's Little Mermaid story (first published in 1837), however, is a lot closer to Undine* (or Ondine), than the beings of slavic folklore.


I just looked up Heidi's research on Andersen's Little Mermaid at SurLaLune and she notes this:

While The Little Mermaid contains common fairy tale and folklore elements, especially those about mermaids, this fairy tale is the literary creation of Hans Christian Andersen. The tale has no direct oral predecessor in folklore. 

The closest percursor of the tale is Undine, a story by Friedrich de La Motte Fouque***. Andersen admits to his familiarity and consideration of Undine while writing his Little Mermaid. In many ways, his tale is a direct reaction to the earlier story.

You can read even more on the tale with annotations and many more goodies on The Little Mermaid at SurLaLune with this in mind - in fact, please do!

This gives me stronger footing to be skeptical of this opera's claim on Andersen as in all my reading on Hans Christian Andersen I'd never seen reference to him adapting a rusalka story into The Little Mermaid.

But that doesn't mean Rusalka (by Dvořák) isn't worth seeing/listening to. On the contrary! Wikipedia states this:

The Czech libretto (for Dvořák's "Rusalka") was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil^[1] (1868–1950) based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová.

You can find a synopsis of the story the opera uses HERE and you can learn a little more about one of the fairy tale collectors, Božena Němcová, whose work the libretto was based on HERE. (This is something new to me: a female Russian Czech fairy tale writer and collator/collector from the early 1800's. I have to go find my Russian Slavic fairy tale books and see if her name is on any of them. Considering her list of published works, I'm betting "yes".)


See? Fairy tales and Russian tales and Slovak folklore and legends. :) There are a lot of other elements for fairy tale people to enjoy in this opera too - the story, the costumes and the beautiful score, which includes the famous aria "Song to the Moon". (The link takes you to YouTube where you can hear Sarah Brightman sing a beautiful Italian version of it "La Luna"- I suggest ignoring the visuals for the video though - just listen.)

Bavarian State Opera 2011 version of Rusalka

For a completely different variation on the theme how about this one presented at the Munich Opera Festival this past July, which features a girl in a fish tank? This version has been updated and interestingly twisted in the retelling, causing quite the stir. Rather than distract further from the current post I'll just let you find out for yourself if your interested. The link is HERE.

NY Met production of Rusalka

Dvořák's Rusalka is one of the more romantic stories I've seen involving a rusalka. Usually they're a little more blood thirsty and dark but the emphasis here is definitely more toward "girl from one world seeks to be with her love from another", rather like some selkies (though not all), swan maidens and, yes, little mermaids. 

Opera appears both recent and Russian - source HERE

I have a feeling that although there was some influence between writers and artists at the time, it doesn't seem to account for all the various being produced in different places. It's one of the reasons I've put in so many of the connected dates for various works - to see if you can "unriddle this riddle" a little yourself. Looking at the timeline is very interesting. Perhaps it's a case of "1800's fairy tale zeitgeist" specifically centered on tragic rusalka figures and other water beings such as mermaids. Considering what we're seeing happening in 2011 and 2012 in TV and movies (and even more specifically with Snow White), I wouldn't be at all surprised.

This is not an illustration. It's a "still frame capture" from the 1998 Oscar nominated animated short film "Rusalka", detailed below.

There is one other important related video I'd like to bring to your attention and that's the 1997 gorgeously done animation of Aleksandr Petrov using an incredible (and almost unbelievable!) technique of oil paints on glass for his separate images.  The story is based on a work by Alexander Pushkin from 1819 (it is thought - Pushkin wrote two different Rusalka poems**) and the title is simply "Русалка" or "Rusalka", though it's been mistranslated as "Mermaid" in many places and is completely mesmerizing. It's easy to see why this short had an Oscar nomination in 1998.

There is a wonderful and in-depth blog post HERE about Aleksandr Petrov's film and about rusalki which I highly recommend. It includes Pushkin's poem and explains things in a very easy-to-read manner.


Performances of the UBC production Rusalka begin on February 9th, 2012 at the Chan Center for Performing Arts in Vancouver. You can find more information about it and the artists involved HERE.

*Which was beautifully illustrated by Sir Arthur Rackham. Some of my favorite fairy tale illustrations of all time are Rackham's Undine drawings. Today's bonus: a video of Rackham's Undine drawings, including the cover of the book. Enjoy.

** Pushkin's second but unfinished poem bears a strong resemblance to the opera which is the subject of today's post.

*** Undine, a story by Friedrich de La Motte Fouque is from 1811.

**** The ballet Giselle debuted in 1841 and was based on at least two other works: De l'Allemagne by Heine, written in 1833 and Victor Hugo's Orientales published in 1829).