Popular Netflix series featured Ukrainian folk song: what Peter's aria from Natalka Poltavka operetta sounds like. Video

In the second season of the popular Netflix series The Empress, the Ukrainian folk song "The Sun is Close, the Evening is Low" was performed. The composition is also known as Petro's aria from Mykola Lysenko's operetta Natalka Poltavka.

Ukrainian motifs can be heard in the first episode of the new season. The plot takes viewers back to the times of the Austrian Empire, ruled by the Habsburg dynasty. The scene depicts how duchies from all over the empire arrive at a reception at the Viennese court to see the new ruler, Elizabeth of Bavaria, known as Empress Sisi. One of the invited delegations came from Bukovyna.

A group of girls dressed in embroidered authentic clothes and flower wreaths sang "The Sun is Close, the Evening is Low" in front of the Princess of Bavaria. Sisi was pleased with the performance and expressed her gratitude to the children by applauding.

The song was introduced to the general public as Petro's aria from the Natalka Poltavka operetta in 1819. The lyrics were composed by Ivan Kotliarevskyi, and the music was written by Mykola Lysenko. There are several adaptations of the folk text, but Lysenko's version is considered canonical. The composition conveys a conversation between lovers and celebrates the love of a couple who are waiting for the evening to see each other.

The Empress, a historical romantic drama by Netflix, tells the story of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph. When he meets his future bride Helene, the ruler falls in love with her younger sister Elizabeth, and their feelings are mutual. After the wedding, however, Sisi's life ceases to resemble a fairy tale, as she has to confront her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie. Franz's brother Maximilian hatches his own plan to seize the throne and Elizabeth's heart.

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