This week’s “Trove Thursday” features noted Wagnerian Hildegard Behrens revisiting Rusalka, one of her early, lyric roles. This 1981 broadcast from the Bavarian State Opera of Dvorak’s great opera is conducted by Adam Fischer and co-stars Helga Dernesch, Livia Budai, Mikhail Svetlev and Kurt Moll. 

Before she attracted international notice as Leonore and Salome, Behrens was in the ensemble in Dusseldorf where, in addition to small roles like Helmwige, she sang Rusalka. A 1975 performance in German from that time was preserved and available briefly on CD issued by Gala.

In 1980, Behrens appeared in a new production of Tristan und Isolde in Munich, but the next year she returned there as Dvorak’s sad water-sprite again in German in what was, I believe, the premiere of the famed Otto Schenk–Günther Schneider-Siemssen production which would later be seen in Vienna and at the Met. This broadcast provided my first acquaintance with Rusalka, and it fostered a great fondness for this gorgeous, moving opera and Behrens’s heroine.

Dvorak: Rusalka (in German)
Munich 23 March 1981

Rusalka: Hildegard Behrens
Jezibaba: Helga Dernesch
The Foreign Princess: Livia Budai
The Turnspit: Julia Conwell
The Prince: Mikhail Svetlev
The Water-Goblin: Kurt Moll
The Gamekeeper: Raimund Grumbach
The Hunter: Bodo Brinkmann

Conductor: Adam Fischer

Rusalka, long with last week’s Janet Baker Imeneo and all previous “Trove Thursday” offerings are available for download from iTunes or via any RSS reader.

Christopher Corwin

Christopher Corwin began writing for parterre box in 2011 under the pen name “DeCaffarrelli.” His work has also appeared in , The New York Times, Musical America, The Observer, San Francisco Classical Voice and BAMNotes. Like many, he came to opera via the Saturday Met Opera broadcasts which he began listening to at age 11. His particular enthusiasm is 17th and 18th century opera. Since 2015 he has curated the weekly podcast Trove Thursday on parterre box presenting live recordings.

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