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Der fliegende Holländer
Richard Wagner 1813 1883
Romantische Oper
in drei Aufzügen
libretto by
Richard Wagner
worldpremiere
2 January 1843
Königliches Sächsisches
Hoftheater
Dresden
An episode from Heinrich Heine’s ‘Aus den Memoiren des Herrn Schnabelewopski’ forms the basis for the opera that established Richard Wagner’s reputation worldwide. The opera’s focal point is Senta’s ballad about the legendary Flying Dutchman, a sea captain condemned to sail the sea in perpetuity. Senta’s unswerving love could release him from the curse. For the first time Wagner introduces a philosophical idea as a fundamental aspect of his work: the concept of redemption that would continue to occupy him throughout his life. Senta yearns for earthly happiness, while her seaman longs for salvation in order to die: this is the irreconcilable conflict of two worlds, that of the genius and that of the ordinary man, in this case linked to the typical Romantic contrast between the mortal world and the realm of the spirits.
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