What is "rusalka"

n. In Slavic mythology, a female water spirit that leads handsome man to their deaths underwater.

Rusalka may refer to:

• Rusalka, a water-nymph in Slavic mythology
• Rusalka (opera), an opera by Antonín Dvořák
• Rusalka (play), a major though unfinished verse play by Alexander Pushkin
  • Rusalka (Dargomyzhsky), an opera by Alexander Dargomyzhsky based on Pushkin's play
• Rusalka (book), a fantasy novel by C.J. Cherryh
• Mermaid (2007 film) (Russian: Rusalka), a Russian film by Anna Melikian
• Rusalka (1996 film), a 1996 Russian animated short film
• Rusalka, Bulgaria, a resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
• Lake Rusałka, a lake in Poznań, Poland
• "Rusalka", a song by Radarmaker
• Russian monitor Rusalka, a Russian ironclad which sank near Helsinki, Finland on September 7, 1893
  • Russalka Memorial in Tallinn, by Amandus Adamson
• Rusalka Planitia, a surface feature of the planet Venus
• Rusalka, a Soviet ship from Call of Duty: Black Ops

Rusalka , Op. 114, is an opera ('lyric fairy tale') by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil (1868–1950) based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. Rusalka is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses. A Rusalka is a water sprite from Slavic mythology, usually inhabiting a lake or river.

Dvořák had played viola for many years in pit orchestras in Prague ( Estates Theatre from 1857 until 1859 while a student, then from 1862 until 1871 at the Provisional Theatre). He thus had direct experience of a wide range of operas by Mozart, Weber, Rossini, Lortzing, Verdi, Wagner and Smetana. Rusalka was the ninth opera Dvořák composed.

For many years unfamiliarity with Dvořák's operas outside Czechoslovakia helped reinforce a perception that composition of operas was a marginal activity, and that despite the beauty of its melodies and orchestral timbres Rusalka was not a central part of his output or of international lyric theatre. In recent years it has been performed more regularly by major opera companies. In the five seasons from 2008 to 2013 it was performed by opera companies worldwide far more than all of Dvořák's other operas combined.

The most popular excerpt from Rusalka is the "Song to the Moon" ("") from act 1 which is often performed in concert and recorded separately. It has also been arranged for violin and used on film sound tracks.

Rusalka is a fantasy novel by American science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. It was first published in October 1989 in the United States in a hardcover edition by Ballantine Books under its Del Rey Books imprint. Rusalka is book one of Cherryh's three-book Russian Stories trilogy set in medieval Russia in forests along the Dnieper River near Kiev in modern day Ukraine. The novel draws on Slavic folklore and concerns the fate of a girl who has drowned and become a rusalka. It is also an exploration of magic and the development of a young wizard.

Rusalka was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1990 and was a third-place runner-up.

Cherryh self-published a revised edition of Rusalka in e-book format in October 2010 at Closed Circle Publications.

Rusalka is an opera in four acts, six tableaux, by Alexander Dargomyzhsky, composed during 1848-1855. The Russian libretto was adapted by the composer from Pushkin's incomplete dramatic poem of the same name. It premiered on 4 May 1856 ( Old Style) at the Theatre-circus, conducted by Konstantin Lyadov (father of Anatoly Lyadov), choreographed by Marius Petipa and Nikolay Goltz, but was badly received predominantly by the aristocracy.

In 1859, the opera was again presented at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, but it was not until 1865, when it was staged at the Mariinsky Theatre, that it was finally well received. The conductor was Eduard Nápravník; the Prince was sung by Fyodor Petrovich Komissarzhevsky, the Princess by Darya Leonova, Miller by Osip Petrov, and Natasha by Yulya Platonova.

Although much of Dargomyzhsky's Rusalka is fairly conventional in musical form and style, its singular innovation for the history of Russian music in particular is the application of "melodic recitative" at certain points in the drama. This type of recitative consists of lyrical utterances which change continuously according to the dramatic situation, with likewise varied accompaniment in the orchestra. Dargomyzhsky was to apply this technique of vocal composition on a small scale in his songs and on a large scale in his final opera, The Stone Guest.

A rusalka is a water nymph, a female spirit in Slavic mythology and folklore. The term is sometimes translated from Bulgarian, Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian as " mermaid".

Mermaid'' (, translit. Rusalka'') is a 1996 Russian animated short film directed by Aleksandr Petrov and showcasing the paint-on-glass animation technique for which Petrov is known. The story is based on traditional Slavic folklore about the rusalki, river-dwelling mermaids said to be "born" from the unhappy souls of young women who had committed suicide by drowning—usually after being mistreated by a man. The Russian "mermaid" is, for this reason, a dangerous creature more akin to the Greek sirens than to Disney's cute and lovable Ariel.