Musicology Annotation << Back «Undine» by Albert Lortzing: to the Question about the Main Image of the Opera Natalia I. Verba “Undine” by Albert Lortzing occupies a special place among the many operas about the sea maiden, written in the age of romanticism. On the one hand, the composer follows the tradition in ways of implementing images of the main characters. Lortzing appeals to a certain circle of intonational, timbral and orchestral solutions that characterize Sea Maiden, her rival, the Lord of water spirits and the knight. Expressive means used by the composer in the characterization of the main characters of his Opera, quite comparable with those resorted to by Hoffman, L’vov, Dargomyzhsky and other authors of various genres of works on similar subjects. Such a similar vector of composers’ creative searches is due to the archetypal nature of images and displayed in the numerous and extensive intertextual connections between “the mermaid” music. On the other hand, Lortzing puts his own accents, showing his special treatment of the story about Sea Maiden and demonstrating the paramount importance of the image of Kuleborn in the opera’s dramaturgy. The present article is devoted to the analysis of the image of the Lord of water spirits in the Lortzing’s opera, as well as the reasons which led the composer to such dramatic “shifts”. Attention is given to intonation, timbre and dramatic means of realization in the opera that the most important character. Keywords: archetype, images of artwork, archetypal images of the sea maiden, ways of implement of archetypal image in the music art, the intertextual links between the works of implementing similar images. Contacts: E-mail: verba.natalia@yandex.ru Pp. 09-15.