The Water Goblin, Op. 107

• The Water Goblin (also known as “Vodník” or “Der Wassermann”) is a symphonic poem written in 1896 and based on folk poetry by Karel Jaromir Erben–specifically, the story of “The Water Goblin” from A Bouquet of Folk Legends.¹
• Listen for – three distinct themes in the music: the first represents the water goblin, the second represents the young woman, and the third represents the young woman’s mother.
  • ALSO, listen for – How Dvořák portrays specific moments in the story clearly through the music, such as a woman singing a lullaby to her baby, a storm on the lake, and the water goblin’s final vanishing into the lake’s depths.

Synopsis of “The Water Goblin” –

On a moonlit night, a water goblin sits by the lake, sewing his coat and shoes in preparation for his wedding. The following morning a girl sets out for the lake, even though her mother has warned her not to get too close to the water – she says that she had a bad dream during the night, which augured only misfortune. But the girl goes to the water’s edge all the same; she stoops over the surface of the lake, the waves suddenly rise up, and the water goblin pulls her down with him deep below the surface. In the underwater realm, the girl remembers the human world and her only solace is the child she has had with the water goblin. She asks him if he will let her return to dry land, if only for a brief moment, to pay a visit to her mother. After much persuasion, the water goblin finally agrees, but he has two conditions: She may only stay away for one day, and must return to the lake before the evening bell tolls. In addition, she must set out for the shore on her own; the child must stay behind. When evening comes, and it is time to return to the lake, the mother won’t give up her daughter to the Water Goblin, and they lock themselves in the cottage. After nightfall, the water goblin appears in the yard. He tells the girl three times that it is time to go back to the lake, but her mother will not let her go. Suddenly a storm whips up and, to the sound of thunder, the water goblin returns with the child. In front of the door to the cottage, he tears off its head and tosses it onto the threshold.²

1. “Water Goblin (Vodník), Op. 107, B195,” Antonín Dvořák, accessed October 21, 2024, https://www.antonin-dvorak.cz/en/work/tha-water-goblin/.
2. Ibid.