[Shaughnessy]

Round 1 - Dvořák - Rusalka, Op. 114, Act 1: Du lieber Mond, so silberzart, "Song to the Moon" (Sung in German)

Note: There are five contestants represented here.
It's recommended that they be sampled at the rate of one or two per listening session.
It is not advisable to attempt to listen to all five consecutively.

Emmy Destinn

Mafalda Salvatini

Eleanor Schneider

Inge Borkh

Elfriede Trötschel

The Context of "Song to the Moon"

This particular aria is sung by the title character, Rusalka, in the opera's first act. Rusalka is the daughter of a water-goblin who wants nothing more than to be human after she falls in love with a hunter/prince who frequents the lake in which she lives.
Rusalka sings this song asking the moon to reveal her love to the Prince.

German lyrics - Note: This aria has four different titles with at least two separate German translations from the original Czech - Despite intensive searching, only the lyrics to "Lied an den Mond" have been found - and these are used in only one of the recordings - that by Inga Borkh.
The content and context appear to remain the same despite the two differing translations.​

LIED AN DEN MOND

Silberner Mond du am Himmelszelt,
strahlst auf uns nieder voll Liebe.

Still schwebst du über Wald und Feld,
blickst auf der Menschheit Getriebe.

Oh Mond, verweile, bleibe,
sage mir doch, wo mein Schatz weile.

Sage ihm, Wandrer im Himmelsraum,
ich würde seiner gedenken: mög' er,
verzaubert vom Morgentraum,
seine Gedanken mir schenken.

O leucht ihm, wo er auch sei,
leucht ihm hell, sag ihm, dass ich ihn liebe.

Sieht der Mensch mich im Traumgesicht,
wach' er auf, meiner gedenkend.
O Mond, entfliehe nicht, entfliehe nicht!

Der Mond verlischt
Wie es mich schauert, schauert!
Ruft wehmütig
Jezibaba, Jezibaba!​

 

[ewilkros]

... This aria has four different titles with at least two separate German translations ...

​

I think it's five different translations! You might need to dig up some old scores for the first three.

i found the Trötschel one but it's altered as she sings it compared to the citation I found. I'm posting it twice, the second time with alterations as I heard them underlined:

As prinred:

Gleitender Mond du, so silberzart
sendest weithin deine Blicke,
auf deiner lichten Wanderfahrt
siehst du der Menschen Geschichte.
Auf deiner lichten Wanderfahrt
siehst du der Menschen Geschichte.
O Mond, sei nicht so in Eile,
sage mir, wo mein Schatz weile?
O Mond, sei nicht so in Eile,
sage mir, wo mein Schatz weile?

Sage ihm, Pilger im Himelsraum,
wie ich ihn herze und küsse,
dass er, umsponnen von Morgentraum,
meiner gedenken auch müsse.
O lecht' ihm, wo er auch gehe,
leuchte ihm, sage ihm, wer hier seiner harrt voll Wehe!

Sieht mein Schatz mich im Traumgesichgt,
wach' er auf sehnend beim Morgenlicht,
o Mond, erlisch mir nicht! erlisch mir nicht!
O Mond, erlisch mir nicht!

* * * * *
As I heard it:

Du lieber Mond, so silberzart
sendest weithin deine Blicke,
auf deiner lichten Wanderfahrt
siehst du der Menschen Geschichte.
Auf deiner lichten Wanderfahrt
siehst du der Menschen Geschichte.
O Mond, sei nicht so in Eile,
sage, o, sag' mir, wo mein Schatz weile?
O Mond, sei nicht so in Eile,
sage, o, sag' mir, wo mein Schatz weile?

Sage ihm, silberner Wand'rer du,
das ich mein Herz ihm nur schenke,
Flüstre ihm sachte im Traume zu,
dass er auch meiner gedenke.
Flüstre ihm sachte im Traume zu,
dass er auch meiner gedenke.
Leucht' ihm, wo er auch sei,
leuchte ihm, sage ihm, wer hier seiner harrt in Treu'!

Sieht mein Schatz mich im Traumgesichgt,
wach' er auf sehnend beim Morgenlicht,
o Mond, erlisch mir nicht! erlisch mir nicht!
O Mond, erlisch mir nicht!

source:

https://www.sieberspace.ch/resources/CD_booklets/PerSempre.pdf

page 5

 

[Woodduck]

I found none of these satisfying, but two somewhat interesting and affecting. Those were Mafalda Salvatini's and Elfriede Trötschel's. Salvatini is fervent, more so than we generally hear in the aria, and that is certainly valid. The tempo is a bit rushed, probably to fit the music on the record, and we have to wonder, as so often, what she'd have done with the piece minus that time constraint. Trötschel presents Rusalka as young, sweet and innocent, perhaps shy, and at first I found this touching. I got slightly bored with it, but at least it was a point of view. I see that she's in a complete German-language performance of the opera on YouTube:

(17) Elfride Trötschel Gottlob Frick Lisa Otto Rusalka [Dvořák] full opera (1948, in German) - YouTube

Bork and Schneider are unimaginative and do nothing for me, and Destinn, though she sings expressively, had a voice that didn't record in a way that falls pleasantly on my ear.

I guess I'll go with Salvatini, despite some crudities of execution.

 

[MAS]

Destinn is the first dramatic soprano I’ve heard in this aria, and I was initially thrown by the different language; it seemed like it didn’t quite fit. Now that @ewilkros has discovered the different texts, I realized why I wasn’t able to follow the lyric. But Destinn’s voice is rather plain in tone, though that may be the recording, and she sings straightforwardly and her diction is, as far as I can tell, very good - you can tell there are words…

Salvati i is pleading quite noticeably; there is a plaintiveness to the sound of her voice, and she sounds young, which Destinn does not.

Schneider’s voice is silvery, which fits the piece, but in a faster tempo than the others so far. I don’t detect any real connection to the piece, other than some sadness. It’s a beautiful voice.

Borkh’s slender voice sounds like it would suit this piece, and as she usually makes much of the words, but I don’t think she adds what I expected to the aria.

Trötschel has a smoother approach to the text, an overall serenity, that doesn’t suit the text - she seems too calm, as if she’s already got her wish.

Of the five, Salvati seems that she got the aria’s intent.

 

[ewilkros]

Trötschel has a smoother approach to the text, an overall serenity, that doesn’t suit the text - she seems too calm, as if she’s already got her wish.

She seems to have altered her text from her waiting "full of woe" to "in faithfulness".

 

[Shaughnessy]

Now that @ewilkros has discovered the different texts, I realized why I wasn’t able to follow the lyric.

He didn't just "discover" the different texts - He actually re-wrote the lyrics based on what he had heard - That's talent - On my best day I couldn't do that - At some point I had listened to everything three separate times and it never occurred to me that each was singing an entirely different translation - No wonder I couldn't find the alternative lyrics - They were probably re-writing them in the studio - Not actually being able to speak a word of the language can greatly hinder one's comprehension... to put it mildly...

 

[MAS]

He didn't just "discover" the different texts - He actually re-wrote the lyrics based on what he had heard - That's talent - On my best day I couldn't do that - At some point I had listened to everything three separate times and it never occurred to me that each was singing an entirely different interpretation - No wonder I couldn't find the alternative lyrics - They were probably re-writing them in the studio - Not actually being able to speak a word of the language can great hinder one's comprehension...

Trying to follow German singing without the proper text is frustrating. Add to that I have the sound of the Czech version in my ears, and you get total confusion.
Like you, I don’t speak German, so… 🤪

 

[ewilkros]

At some point I had listened to everything three separate times and it never occurred to me that each was singing an entirely different translation

Worse -- multiple singers started off with or close to "Silberner Mond du am Himmelszelt" and then veered off from it--everybody may have been jiggering texts around to find something that worked better for them. Trötschel makes a notable improvement on the second verse, but sei nicht so in Eile is still awkward as it slips an extra syllable in.

 

[ColdGenius]

All these water nymphs are quietly languishing in their ponds overgrown with duckweed. The only exception is a raving rusalka Mafalda Salvatini. But it's not what is expected from her melancholic and self-destructive character, it's rather appropriate in the beginning of the opera, nymphs' trio. So the circle becomes smaller. Emmy Destinn sings as if she remembers about her dream after a half century since she has denied Jezibaba's offers. Among others I chose according to a beauty of timbre. Today it's Inge Borkh. I also had in mind that it was a voice of Elektra.