A magical, mystical play from the turn of the 20th century dealing with the appeal and disillusionment inherent in a relationship between a spirit creature and a human being. The playwright, Gerhart Hauptmann, subtitled the piece, A Fairy Play, and it is indeed that, with several human characters as well as fanciful creatures. Heinrich, a human bellmaker, has accidentally lost his bell in a lake and fallen deathly ill. The wood sprite Rautendelein pines for the world of humankind. She cures Heinrich, who is already married to Magda, with her magic spells, but the inevitable impossibility of their situation can not be avoided. The two excerpts from this unfinished opera were originally written down in 1961, and performed at that time.
The story is among the sources for Undine, another unfinished opera presented on this website, dealing with the love between a human man and the daughter of a human woman and the water spirit Kuhleborn. The comparison in treatment may prove of interest. Rautendelein’s Lullaby, from 1961, and Undine’s Lullaby, from 1977, share a very similiar dramatic situation. There is something in the unrequited or doomed love of humans with wood or water spirits that inspired the Composer. The unattainable always has great allure.

 The Sunken Bell
Duet of Rautendelein and the Nickelmann high and low voice
Rautendelein’s Lullaby high voice