Eileen Gilligan Flute – Song to the Moon

Song to the Moon by Anton Dvorak is excellent for soft dynamic projection, tone, and quality. The tone has to ring, resonate, have depth of colour and emotion at a p dynamic level. It is demanding but very worthwhile putting in the time. I chose this aria to help develop a soft tone on the flute without it being dull and lifeless which is too often heard in flute players. Control of the airstream and harmonics are paramount in this aria.

Song to the Moon is from Act 1 of the 1901 opera Rusalka by Anton Dvorak. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. Rusalkais is a water sprite from Slavic mythology. Rusalka was the ninth opera Dvořák composed.

Kvapil’s libretto was written before he had any contact with the composer. The plot contains elements which also appear in The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen and in Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. The libretto was completed by 1899. Dvorak always interested in Erben’s stories, read the libretto and composed his opera quite rapidly, with the first draft begun on 22 April 1900 and completed by the end of November, coming after his four symphonic poems.

Act 3: A meadow by the edge of a lake 

Rusalka returns to the lake and laments about her fate. She meets Ježibaba and asks for a solution to her woes. Ježibaba gives her a knife and tells her that she can save herself if she kills the prince with it. Rusalka rejects this, throwing the dagger into the lake. Rusalka becomes a will-o’-the-wisp, a spirit of death living in the depths of the lake, emerging only to lure humans to their deaths. The gamekeeper and the kitchen boy are worried about the deteriorating condition of the prince and comes to the lake in order to get rid of Rusalka. They meet Ježibaba and lash out on Rusalka’s betrayal, but are rebutted by the water goblin, who says that it was actually the prince that betrayed Rusalka. The wood sprites mourn Rusalka’s plight. The prince, searching for his white doe, comes to the lake, senses Rusalka, and calls for her. Rusalka appears and is now able to speak to him. He asks her to kiss him, even knowing her kiss means death. They kiss and he dies; and the water goblin comments that all sacrifices are futile. In her final song, Rusalka tells the prince, “For your love, for that beauty of yours, for your inconstant human passion, for everything by which my fate is cursed, human soul, God have mercy on you!” 

Lyrics to “Song to the Moon” 

Moon, high and deep in the sky 
Your light sees far, 
You travel around the wide world, 
and see into people’s homes. 
Moon, stand still a while 
and tell me where is my dear. 
Tell him, silvery moon, 
that I am embracing him. 
For at least momentarily 
let him recall of dreaming of me. 
Illuminate him far away, 
and tell him, tell him who is waiting for him! 
If his human soul is, in fact, dreaming of me, 
may the memory awaken him! 
Moonlight, don’t disappear, disappear! 

To practice this: 

Whistle tones over the full range of the flute. The lower the pitch and more holes closed off the harder it is. If struggling, super relax the lips and make sure the cutting edge of the embouchure hole can be felt. 

1. Starting a note with a whistle tone then crescendo slowly to ff and back to pp, then out to a whistle tone. Try to do full range but can start with just the low register if starting to learn this technique or teach it. 
2. Pitch bend low note chromatic exercise. Take this exercise over the full range to C3 when the lower register is mastered. 
3. Pitch bends the full range of the flute to D3 
4. Pitch bend arpeggios over the full range. 
5. Harmonic exercise to third register using third register fingerings. Start low and go to pitch note then dying away to pp. This is from the Gilbert Legacy.  

This exercise is demonstrated by me in the Foundation Tools section. 

1. Soft slow scales over the full range. 
2. Sonorite by Marcel Moyse as well as the dynamic exercise in it and the interval exercise. 
3. Tone Development Through Interpretation exercise E1234 
4. Harmonics essential: here is a warmup exercise by Gasper Hoyos. Great for warming up before a concert or to introduce players and teachers to harmonics but does not replace the full workout on the website. 

In essence anything that will get the speaking point and hold it at a soft dynamic level over the full range of the flute. It is assumed that harmonic exercises have been mastered as well as the vocalisation harmonics. 

Listening is probably the most important tool here. It gives the player a good basis to launch from. 

Historical recordings

Open the description, it has the 20 singers listed with times. This is a must to listen to, it’s wonderful, very helpful in deciding what one wants to do with this aria. 

Raphaela Gnomes

Very beautiful and inspiring, phrasing is magnificent. 

Orchestral back track, lovely to practice with. 

Singing warmup channel that is fun to do before practice. It frees up the throat and chest. Need to pick one that resonates with the player. Don’t be afraid to sing, this channel means the player can experiment in the privacy of their home.