Who sings Rusalkas "Song to the moon" best? 20 sopranos from 1916-2021 

RIP Lucia Popp.

she was wonderful taken too early.

Lucia is my all-time favourite! ❤💔

@@nellwackwitz same 🤩

Popp had such a pathos in her voice. Captivating!

check out patricia janeckova's brilliant version of this

After I read your comment, I went to find Price's version. It was indeed sublime. I imagined that it would be brilliant because of the crystal like tones in her soaring upper register. Amongst these - and it's only because I would have had to forgo dinner if I didn't choose - my favorite was Gabriela Benackova. How does one choose a favorite from a bouquet of different flowers. The first person I hear singing this aria though was

@@iancaldeian CHECK OUT PATRICIA JANECKOVA'S RECENT VERSION OF THIS SONG!!!

Согласна.

MEZZO. PORÉM CONCORDO

Dobrý den, dnes jsem objevil tohle video, mně se nejvíce líbí hlas paní Domanínské a hned za ní je paní Vykopalová. Paní Šubrtová je samozřejmě také skvělá!

Coudn't agree more.

I found it to be the best version I've heard.

Yep! and how 'bout the young Asmik Grigorian!

Much agreed. Flicka's performance is flawless and beautiful.

Von Stade was a (short) soprano trained as ”lyric” mezzo.

She was the first one I heard singing this gem, and this was at a time when Rusalka wasn't that well known outside eastern Europe. My father had made a trip to Prague sometime in the late 1960s and brought with him home (to Sweden) an LP with highlights from Rusalka (issued on Supraphon, a later recording than the one here). That album opened my eyes to the colourful music of this opera (the overture with its sense of brooding nature mysticism!). It was many years before I would get to see it in full on stage, in a live transmission with Renée Fleming, who picked up on the song very early in her career and did the role very well too. :) One singer I'm missing here is Valentina Nafornità, from Moldova. During a beautiful concert gala from Palace Square in St.Petersburg, filmed live in May 2015, she did an outstanding version of this aria, with liquid mellow tone and great support from the orchestra. I wish that gala would be released on dvd, it was such a great show with many great singers and ballet groups - topped by the great Dmitry Hvorostovsky! :)

Aha ---& yes, Czech & authentic..-I have often thought that Artistes , no matter how great must find it a challenge to to express the subtleties of a lyric inherent in the language of the Composer- when their mother tongue is far removed. In this case ( the quality of the voice & other considerations aside for a moment ) A deep & thorough conviction of a song and it's ancient resonance to the heart & mind of a Czech audience by a Czech singer, could really only best be expressed by a Top Czech singer !...but there again, that is not to say there are those highly developed musicians of any race, colour or creed who could or might have an intuitive comprehension ( and have a good working knowledge of the lyric's language ) plus the various elements of Excellence required.

Now then - Just Who was overseeing my post & striking through the most important consideration ???

@@ericashmusic8889 Very strange, but I've noticed before that on-site moderation can sometimes lead to odd results.

@@louise_rose It happens instantly so must be AI screen/filter of some sort, but, it does not have a heart, ! so therefore it is an insult to Liberty & Serendipity.

Brilliant!

Could not agree more with Frederica von Stade!

Couldn't agree more about von Stade, Grigorian, and Opolais! And also agreed about Popp's treasurable performance.

Von Stade is absolutely wonderful in this aria, too.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. The song in itself is a beauty to withhold. The interpretation leaves so much to the mood one is in at any particular time. All of them beautiful in their own way. For the love of music ... karin

@@mmbmbmbmb 💚

@@sigridsimml7440I think that’s the main intention of this video! To present and not to vote

I did not take it as a competition. It was a chance to listen to great artists and decide which one was my favorite.

WELL SAID.....

I agree!

Benackova is wonderful. I watched her in Mefistofele in 1989!

Very beautifully singing both of them

2005 Netrebko was quite something. Then a monster swallowed her and... well, everybody know what happened next.

The best authentical can be just Czech or Slovak interpret. But I respect your opinion.

@@vratislavbenes2815 And I yours Vratislav.

Yes, Renée Fleming learned Rusalka phonetically-at the time the singers did not learn Czech. You can hear where the switch is, the Czech is much clearer. What I love about Renée is how her interpretation is so vocally flexible. Her voice spins both soft and loud; she always sounds like herself, and her quieter notes still ring. Some of the singers seemed to swallow their quieter notes. My only criticism here is that the final high note is held perhaps a little too long, but I like how she steps down so the ending does not seem too abrupt. I’m not sure which performance this is; she sang Rusalka at the Met in the early 2010s, and that performance is undoubtedly more nuanced than something so early in her career. I can’t believe I listened to all 20! Much to recommend among them all.

Paul, I beg to differ, Renée has produced some awful renditions of Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém. (Moon, my friend, in the Heavens deep). I don't think that, to this very day, she understands the words or understands Rusalka's state of mind at this point in the opera. I have heard a number of her recordings of this. It is worth watching the recording on RU-vid of her appearance at the London Proms singing this. She makes some attempt at showing emotion but what she shows is all wrong. Rusalka, a water spirit, is touched by "love", an emotion that she should not be feeling. She is bewildered. She is appealing to the Moon, her familiar, her friend, to look into the homes of humans, to find him, to look after him and then, finally, that if it is possible for humans to dream that "maybe, he may dream of me". At this point the Moon, her friend begins to disappear behind clouds, the crescendo is Rusalka pleading "Don't go ! Don't GO !! DON'T GO !!! She then feels something else that is new, something unpleasant, For the first time, she experiences, ""Ta voda studí !" (The water chills). She knows that her love, the prince knows nothing of her. Shortly before this, she has talked and pleaded with her father, the Vodník He comes here often, He throws his clothes on the bank He swims in my embrace, But to him ..... I am just a ripple Too many sopranos show off their voices, Renée is one of those. Great delicacy is required for this aria. There are a number of the renditions on this video that come close, Maria Croonen, Pavla Vykopalová and Olga Bezsmertna, but my favourite all-time Rusalka is Eva Dřízgová - Jirušová, a powerful soprano in appropriate parts but here, she is Rusalka, that lovely, pensive, delicate water spirit. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UamoftVPvtA.html On the 18th December, I shall attend a performance of Rusalka put on by Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava. A new Rusalka that I have never heard before. It will be interesting. See this from the film made by Czechoslovak Television in 1975, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nxYptmFWliw.html in my view, the best recording ever of the opera with Eduard Haken, the finest bass baritone that the World has never heard of. Eduard, the Vodník has discovered that things are going wrong for Rusalka in her attempt to be human. He laments, "Alas, Poor Rusalka pale" and "You may be human a hundred times but you are forever bound to the water". He is interrupted by the wedding march, "Flowers white along the way" Almost at the altar, Rusalka is jilted for the foreign princess. Eduard plays and sings the Vodník. Rusalka is played by an actress, although not singing in THIS excerpt the voice of Rusalka is Milada Šubrtová. In 1975, Milada was already a touch too broad on the beam to play a credible Rusalka on film, and also, in my view, a voice a touch too powerful. Here she is voicing over the actress in "Měsíčku". ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rvzB_teIpnE.html Best wishes.

Terry, i can't let thi one pass. Renee flemming sings the story better than any of them. I find astonishing that subjectivity can produce such polar opposite views, amazing !!!@@terryhoath1983

Two of the best dramatics ever

@G Saturn Yes, well remembered!

Nobulelo Yende sings it as well so beautifully I prefer it from these two you mentioned

Both Yende sisters are truly wonderful performers!

She does sing it beautifully. Her "Casta Diva" performance brings tears!

I can absolutely agree ❤

I See Here Most Agree of the ladies who sing it Best ! 😄

Janeckova? A kde je Benackova, ci Karita?

@@adeeo Zjavne ste ju tú Rusalku ani spievať nepočul. Vypočujte si nahrávku s Jihočeskou filharmóniou, možno zmeníte názor. A Beňačková tam bola 🤗

@@monikaslovakova2507 Tak hovorime o velikanovh hudby. Tam este Patricia musi len prist aj ked talent jej absolutne nechyba. A momentalne verim, ze sa da coskoro zdravotne do poriadku. :)

Je to len môj názor, či skôr dojem. Nie som vôbec kompetentný niekoho hodnotiť, a už vôbec nie takéto speváčky.

I agree with your last sentence

Good analysis! I love Popp's version, but although strong, I actually adore Urbanova's rendition. While it may not fit the personality of Rusalka (to some at least), to me it fits the dignity and greatness of this song. Anyway, thanks to the uploader for this wonderful collection. Nice to hear different interpretations of Dvorak's masterpiece.

No