This arrangement was commissioned by Sapporo Kiyota Junior High School, Japan, 2012.
Rusalka, a water nymph who lives in a lake deep in the forest, falls in love with a human prince. She asks a sorceress to transform her into human form, on the condition that she will be unable to speak while she is human, and that if her lover betrays her, both he and she will sink to the bottom of the lake. Transformed into a beautiful young woman, Rusalka catches the prince's eye, and he takes her back to his castle, where they marry. However, when Rusalka remains silent even during the wedding festivities, the prince grows dissatisfied, calling her a cold woman, and turns his affection to a foreign princess. Enraged, Rusalka's fellow water spirits place a curse on the faithless prince and force Rusalka to return to her forest lake.
The sorceress gives Rusalka a knife, telling her that the only way to return to her original form is to take the prince's life, but Rusalka throws it away. Eventually, the prince - unable to live without her - comes to the forest lake. Fully aware that "kissing Rusalka will cost him his life," he kisses her and dies in her arms. Singing of her love for the prince, Rusalka then sinks to the bottom of the lake.
I chose and connected the following excerpts from the opera Rusalka: the opening through "Act I: Prelude," section B from "Ho, ho, ho,the moon is standing over the water!", section J from "Song to the Moon," and section Q through "Act II: White flowers along the way." For the vocal lines and rehearsal purposes, please referernce recordings from the original opera.
If cuts are unavoidable due to time constraints, the passage in section B from "Ho, ho, ho, the moon is standing over the water!", where key and harmony continue, is relatively easy to edit. In addition, the section in E major from section Q onward in "Act II: White flowers along the way." tends to be difficult to produce with wind band instruments, so cutting this portion may result in a more reliable performance.
(Hirokazu Fukushima)
