COPENHAGEN OPERA FESTIVAL 2019: RUSALKA (Dvorak), ACT I-4&5, by SLOVAK NATIONAL ORCHESTRA - Aug 2019

As seen through the lens of my old Canon Cam
COPENHAGEN OPERA FESTIVAL 2019: RUSALKA (Dvorak), Act I - Sc 4 (RUSALKA'S SONG TO THE MOON) & Sc5 (RUSALKA DIALOG WITH THE WITCH)
RUSALKA (mermaid) DIALOG WITH THE WITCH by SLOVAK NATIONAL THEATER ORCHESTRA
Conductor: Oliver von Dohnányi
Kødbyen, Copenhagen, August 2019
RUSALKA'S SONG TO THE MOON
RUSALKA (mermaid) DIALOG WITH THE WITCH
RUSALKA, a mermaid, falls in love with a young man she sees on the shore, and wishes to become human to be able to be with her human-sweetheart.
She is advised, by her father, the Merman, not to try because of the dangers she will meet. But she is resolutely prepared to go through all what it takes of trials to achieve her dream.
She is introduced to a witch that can help her, at the price of not being able to express her love in human words.
In these two scenes, Rusalka is singing to the moon, voicing her desires, what she is ready to sacrifice, etc... Then enters her father the Merman with the witch that will dictate conditions and what Rusalka is going to face!!
MY INTERPRETATION:
The MERMAID MYTH, belongs to the countries around the Mediterranean sea, emanating from Phoenicia (todays Lebanon) and other countries , as it later is made even more famous through the Greek mythts that we all love.
It has nothing to do with central Europe, and even less with Denmark, where the little Mermaid is the Icon of Copenhagen. No wonder then, that Danish chauvinists have, so far, de-capitated that icon three times, arguing it has nothing to do with Denmark, as Hans Christian Andersen, the world famous Danish story teller was inspired while visiting Italy.
Etiologists, who study what lies behind the Myths, and surely also psychologists, can explain the story as the hallucinations of those sex-starved seafarers/sailors, who have left their wives behind for long time, and phantasming about the DOLPHINS, that follow the ships, wistling at the same time, as if they were half humans, with all it takes, in solitude, to privately satisfy their sexual needs!
Another variant exists among the Caravans drivers who crossed the deserts and took GAZELLES for a dream woman!
No need to add more details!
Cheers, Mermaids & Icecold Beers!
MO