Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman (Der fliegende Holländer‪)‬

In Senta’s ballad, she tells of the Flying Dutchman,‘the Wandering Jew of the ocean’, whose picture hangs in her Norwegian home and has mesmerised her. He has been condemned by the devil to sail on forever, but is allowed to land every seventh year to search for a woman who will honour her marriage vow to be faithful until death. Such a woman, if found, will be the means of his redemption. That will be Senta.

When he arrives in her house, she ditches her impoverished fiancé and pledges herself to the rich Dutchman. But he sails away when he suspects that her pledge was insincere. She rushes to the cliff top, pledges herself to him and jumps into the sea, as his ship is engulfed by the waves. They are last seen in each others’ arms rising heavenwards.

This early opera of Wagner was premiered in Dresden in January 1843. It is full of good tunes, the spinning chorus, Senta’s ballad, Daland’s aria, the Sailors’ and Phantom choruses. The Flying Dutchman Overture is a well- known concert piece. Wagner made use of recurring musical themes which, in his later operas, he developed into his elaborate ‘system’ of leitmotifs.

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