Template:Wagner operasDer fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner. The story comes from the legend of the Flying Dutchman, about a ship captain condemned to sail until Judgement Day. Wagner claimed in his autobiography "Mein Leben" that he had been inspired following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but a more likely source is Heinrich Heine's retelling of the legend in his 1834 satirical novel "The Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski" (Aus den Memoiren des Herrn von Schnabelewopski).[1]
The central theme is redemption through love, which Wagner returns to in most of his subsequent operas.
Wagner conducted the premiere at the Semper Oper in Dresden, 1843. This work marks the first major shift in Wagner's oeuvre away from conventional opera and towards music drama. That is, rather than relying on a series of individual songs with clear boundaries, he created an uninterrupted melody filled with leitmotifs (literally, "leading motifs") associated with the characters and themes. The leitmotifs are all introduced in the overture, which begins with a well-known ocean or storm motif before moving into the Dutchman and Senta motifs.
Wagner originally wrote Der fliegende Holländer to be performed without intermission — an example of his efforts to break with tradition — and, while today's opera houses sometimes still follow this directive, it is also performed in a three act version.
The title
The opera is referred to in English by its original title or in translation. Flying here means "rushing", not "travelling by air".
Composition
By the beginning of 1839 Richard Wagner was employed as a conductor at the Court Theatre in Riga. His extravagant lifestyle and the retirement from the stage of his actress wife, Minna, meant that he ran up huge debts. Wagner was writing Rienzi and hatched a plan to flee his creditors in Riga, escape to Paris and make his fortune by putting Rienzi on to the stage of the Paris Opéra. However this plan quickly turned to disaster: his passport having been siezed by the authorities on behalf of his creditors, he and Minna had to make a dangerous and illegal crossing over the Prussian border, during which Minna suffered a miscarriage.[2] Boarding the ship Thetis their sea journey was hindered by storms and high seas. The ship took refuge in the Norwegian fjords at Sandvika, and a trip that was expected to take 8 days finally delivered Wagner to London 3 weeks after leaving Riga.
Wagner's experience of Paris was also disastrous. He was unable to get work as a conductor, and the Opéra did not want to produce Rienzi. The Wagners were reduced to penury, relying on handouts from friends and from the little income that Wagner could make writing articles on music and copying scores. Wagner hit on the idea of a one-act opera on the theme of The Flying Dutchman, which might be performed before a ballet at the Opéra.
"The voyage through the Norwegian reefs made a wonderful impression on my imagination; the legend of the Flying Dutchman, which the sailors verified, took on a distinctive, strange colouring that only my sea adventures could have given it."
Wagner wrote the first prose draft of the story early in May of 1840, and by the end of that month he had completed the libretto or poem as he preferred to call it. Composition of the music began during May - July 1840, and by November the score was complete.
Roles
| Premiere, January 2nd, 1843 (Wagner conducting) | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Dutchman | bass-baritone | Johann Michael Wächter |
| Senta, Daland's daughter | soprano | Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient |
| Daland, a Norwegian sailor | bass | Friedrich Traugott Reinhold |
| Erik, a huntsman | tenor | Carl Risse |
| Mary, Senta's nurse | contralto | Thérèse Wächter |
| Daland's Steersman | tenor | Wenzel Bielezizky |
| Norwegian sailors, the Dutchman's crew, young women | ||
Plot
Place: on the coast of Norway.
Act I
On his homeward journey, the sea-captain Daland is compelled by stormy weather to seek a port of refuge. He leaves the helmsman on watch and he and the sailors retire. (Song of the helmsman: "With tempest and storm on distant seas.") The helmsman falls asleep. A ghostly vessel appearing astern is dashed against Daland's vessel by the sea and the grappling irons hold the two ships together. Invisible hands furl the sails. A man of pale aspect, dressed in black, his face framed by a thick black beard, steps ashore. He laments his fate. (Aria: "The time has come and seven years have again elapsed")
Having broken his troth, he is cursed to roam the sea forever without rest. An angel brought to him the terms of his redemption: at the end of every seven years the angry waves cast him upon the shore; if he can find a wife who will be true to him he will be released. Daland meets him. The ghost offers him treasure, and when he hears that Daland has an unmarried daughter, he asks for her as his wife. Tempted by gold Daland consents, and favoured by the south wind joyfully acclaimed by Daland's men (repetition of the song of the helmsman and chorus), both vessels set sail.
Act II
Girls are singing and spinning in Daland's house. (Spinning chorus: "Spin, spin, fair maiden") Senta dreamily gazes upon the picture of the Flying Dutchman, whom she desires to save. Against the will of her nurse she sings the story of the Dutchman (Ballad with the Leitmotiv), how Satan heard him swear and took him at his word, she declares she will save him by her fidelity. Erik arrives and hears her; the girls depart, and the huntsman, who loves the maiden, warns her, telling her of his dream, in which Daland returned with a mysterious stranger, who carried her off to sea. She listens with delight, and Erik leaves her in despair. Daland arrives with the stranger; he and Senta stand gazing at each other in silence. Daland is scarcely noticed by his daughter, even when he presents his guest as her betrothed. In the following duet, which closes the act, Senta swears to be true till death.
Act III
Later in the evening the crew of Daland invite the men on the strange vessel to join in the festivities, but in vain. The girls retire in wonder; ghostly forms appear at work upon the vessel of the Flying Dutchman, and Daland's men retreat in fear. Senta arrives, followed by Erik, who reproves her for her desertion, as she had formerly loved him and vowed constancy. When the stranger, who has been listening, hears these words, he is overwhelmed with despair, as now he is forever lost. He summons his men, tells Senta of the curse, and to the consternation of Daland and his crew declares that he is the "Flying Dutchman." Hardly has he left the shore when Senta plunges into the sea, faithful unto death. This is his salvation. The spectral ship disappears, and Senta and the Dutchman are seen ascending to heaven.
See also
References
The plot is taken from Leo Melitz (1921). The Opera Goer's Complete Guide.
Notes
External links
- Richard Wagner - The Flying Dutchman. A gallery of historic postcards with motives from Richard Wagner's operas.