Lurline is a grand romantic opera in three acts composed by William Vincent Wallace to an English libretto by Edward Fitzball.

Wallace may have conceived the idea for Lurline during a trip on the Rhine river[1] and began writing the opera while he was in Vienna in 1847 to supervise the production of Maritana.

Lurline premiered in its full version on 23 February 1860 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, conducted by Alfred Mellon.

The Illustrated London News of 3 March 1860 wrote "this piece is not only the chef d'oeuvre of the composer but may challenge a comparison with the best German, Italian or French dramatic music of the present day", although it also noted that "the simplicity and wild horror of the tale are entirely lost amid the melodramatic absurdities of the cockney school.

In 1858, two years before its premiere, Wallace sold the English performing rights for the opera to the Pyne and Harrison company for 10 shillings[6] which he then handed over to the widow of a carpenter in the Covent Garden Theatre.

[11] Act 1 In his underwater grotto, King Rhineberg laments the absence of his daughter, Lurline, and berates the gnomes for allowing the beautiful nymph to wander in the upper world.

Meanwhile, Count Rudolph, an extravagant young man, is hoping to improve his fortunes by marrying Ghiva, the daughter of Baron Truenfels.

While Lurline laments Rudolph's broken promise, his friends, envious of his new wealth, plot to murder him and plunder his castle.

Ghiva, desperate to win back Rudolph, tells him of his friends' plot and urges him to flee with her and the Baron instead, but he refuses.

Rudolph, wearing the magic ring again, is spared and when the waters subside, he is carried back down to Lurline's palace where they are to live happily ever after.