Vodník

In Czech, vodník translates simply as “water man”. But in Bohemian folklore, it gets much darker than that: “Water Goblin” might be closer. The Vodník of Dvořák’s symphonic poem comes from a poem in Karl Jaromír Erben’s collection of gruesome folk ballads—one of Dvořák’s favourite books. In 1896, Dvořák transformed Erben’s poem into a wordless horror story for a large orchestra, painting each scene in vivid musical colours. There’s the Vodník himself, scurrying and raging on flutes and strings. And a young woman, warned by her mother (on tender woodwinds) to stay away from his haunted lake. She ignores the advice and tumbles into his watery realm, only to become enslaved as his wife. Only her child provides any consolation (a melancholy lullaby). But when the Vodník lets her return, albeit temporarily, to her mother, Dvořák’s final bars leave little doubt that even this brief consolation carries a chilling price.