This being a romantic opera, you just know things aren't going to go according to plan. Of course the hero can't die – he's already dead, but he can lose his chance at having the curse released, while the heroine can of course croak in the finest opera tradition. The usual trouble ensues because of a jealous boyfriend who intercedes to prevent the lovers from being joined by revealing to her father that his future son-in-law is, in fact, a ghost.
The spectre of his daughter marrying someone not all there, so to speak, overwhelms the stolid middle class burgher and he forbids the marriage. As the Dutchman sets sail and his ship heads towards the horizon line, Senta, in true romantic heroine fashion, breaks away from her daddy dearest and the dotting dotard of a boyfriend and heads to the nearest convenient cliff side overlooking the ocean. She swears undying fealty to the departing Captain and plunges to her death.
The curse is immediately lifted. The Flying Dutchman sinks and the opera ends with the lovers’ shades rising from the depths, clutched in each other's arms, dead, happily ever after. I know what it sounds like — pure 19th century romantic schmaltz, with a storyline that makes the Bronte sisters look like the height of realism and rationality.
In opera, the story is only the framework for the music, not the other way around like its antecedent, musical theatre. Very few operas were written for the purpose of telling a story. They were a means of combining the human voice and orchestra to communicate human emotions. While choral work was the home for spiritual, uplifting vocal music, opera made the radical departure of using the human voice to express the temporal aspects of the human condition.
This was of course especially true of the Romantic period, during which Wagner was creating his work. Think of the poetry of Shelly, Lord Byron, and novels like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights by the Bronte sisters and their extravagant emotions, and you'll get the general idea of what was being attempted by the composers of the day through music
These characteristics are made abundantly clear in Opera D'Oro's digital re-mastering of the 1959 Beyreouth's Festival performance of Der Fliegende Hollander ( The Flying Dutchman). As the Festival's sole purpose is to produce the work of Wagner, there's no finer place to hear a performance of his work. Not only do they perform only Wagner's work here, the maestro himself designed the theatre so it would be acoustically perfect for his work.
![Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen [Box Set]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MC4ZVS0KL._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - Snarkattack
In regards to Wagner and the Nazi association, it isn't just the Nazis to blame - Wagner was actually anti-Semitic, though oddly enough not to those of Jewish heritage that he knew. Of course this was exacerbated by the nationalism trend that seemed to be rising at that time. He also pinched a fair few ideas from Nietzsche, until they stopped being friends. He most likely would have approved of the use of his music in Riefenstahl's films because it continued the propagation of this ideal race myth that Hitler had got everyone else in on.
At least this is what I gather from my modernist/basic musicological study at uni. I might have left out a few things, admittedly I'm a bit rusty (what with getting kicked out of music school while I was in the process of having breakdowns and all. Yeah, I'm bitter...).
2 - Richard Marcus
I always find it funny that as a jew I'm the one always defending Wagner. I've never found anything anti semitic in his music, German nationalist yes, but not anti semitic.
The thing is Germany wasn't even a country for most of Wagner's life, I don't believe unification came about until the time of Bismark amd one other key player whose name escapes me.
Until that time there were only a bunch of independant states, Prussia, Bavaria, all the provinces of Germany now in fact were once countries on to themselves. Europe of the 1800's was awash in nationalism, Italy throwing off the Hapsburgs of the Austro Hungarian empire and uniteing under Garbaldi,the Greeks liberating themselves from the Ottoman Empire etc.
Most people weren't so much anti anyone, but rather so intensly pro-themselves they didn't have time or patience for foriegners. As you said German Jews like Mauler who conducted most of Wagner's music after Wagner's death were close to him.
Both he and Fredrick have been given a bad rap from the boys with the funny armbands and the inferiority complex who ruled Germany from 1933 until 1945. The Nazis were latching on to anything they could find that would justify themselves no matter how much of a strech it was.
German nationalism does not equate to nazism or anti-semitism than any other form of nationalism.
I've never seen any proof of Wagner having been an anit-semite except for unsubstantiated rumour and supposition on the part of people who see what was done with his work fifty years after his death. He was a typical middle class nationalistic European of his day, which of course meant he would have some anti Jewish feelings - most Christians at that time did, especially Cathlics I'm sorry to say.
He was a man of his times, which if we judged all figures in history by would certainly lessen their prestige - George Washington owned slaves as did most of the people who signed the decleration of independance in the United States, even though the paper they signed said something about all men being created equal.
cheers
Richard Marcus
3 - Baronius
Richard, I don't know The Flying Dutchman, but I've found Wagner to be pretty challenging. I would suggest some Mozart or Rossini for a starter. (I'm really an opera rookie myself. Maybe early Wagner isn't quite so Wagnerian. I'll have to check it out.)
As for the anti-Semitism, I've heard Wagner fans dance around the issue, and they seem able to explain everything except for one essay, "Judaism in Music". Even the staunchest Wagnerians shuffle their feet and avoid eye contact when that essay is mentioned.
Personally, I don't care. It's not like 5% of the sales go to the creep.
4 - David Dalto
This comes from a committed Wagnerian: ex-Pres of the Wagner Society of Northern California, several trips to Bayreuth, many performances around the US and Europe... Also a Jew. And a Deadhead, to clarify where I am coming from.
Sorry, it is not rumor, supposition, or in any way iffy; Wagner was a horrendous anti-Semite, way beyond any kind of question. "Jewishness in Music" (a better translation of "Das Judentum in die Musik" than "Judaism...") has some of the worst of it, but there is vile stuff all through his vast prose writings, his volumes of letters, and his personal talk as reported in his wife's endlessly detailed diary. (That wife--Franz Liszt's daughter--was even worse than he was.) There was indeed plenty of anti-Semitism around at that point, but Wagner was way beyond any normal limits. He really was a fanatic. And Wagner, BTW, was not by any stretch "a typical middle class nationalistic European of his day" in almost any way you can think of. He was one outsized guy. The bio is as extraordinary as the art, ranging from time on the barricades in Dresden (1849) with the Anarchist hero Bakunin, to exile from Germany under threat of a death sentence, to a just-short-of-homoerotic relationship with the king of Bavaria (the guy who built those Disney castles), and considerably more.
It is embarrassing enough that Wagner was a major link in the history of the German anti-Semitism that climaxed in the Third Reich, but Winifred Wagner, Richard's daughter-in-law who was running the Bayreuth Festival by the 30s, was a personal friend (and sometimes rumored lover) of A. Hitler and a very early party member. Hitler was a patron of the Festival, went each year, stayed in the Wagner family house, and insured that all through the War the theater had plenty of resources. He even bent some rules so that a few people who might otherwise have been taken away (gay, distantly Jewish) were allowed to stay if they were essential to he Festival. (It was in Bayreuth that Goebbels said, "It is up to me to decide who is a Jew.") The man who runs the place to this day, Wolfgang Wagner (Richard's grandson), knew Hitler as "Uncle Wolf."
None of this is arguable. What we Wagnerites do debate is to what extent, if any, his attitudes are reflected in the artworks. Crudely, are the operas themselves anti-Semitic? Short answer: No. In fact, given what the works say about the nature of power in the world it is hard to understand how Hitler could have so badly misunderstood them.
[One thing is a myth, though, and that is that Wagner was the favored composer of "the Nazis." The members of the Party were on the whole crude, anti-intellectual thugs. Hitler loved the stuff, but the rest went only if Hitler required it, and then would drink and sleep.]
The question of the Jewish Wagnerians, both during his lifetime and ever since, is not a simple one. He insisted that "Parsifal", the opera of transcendence and salvation and pseudo-Christian symbolism, be conducted by a Rabbi's son, Hermann Levi, because he was the best possible conductor for it. He was never a man to let his principles stand in the way of his self-interest. But he also made Levi's life hell, trying to pressure him to convert, making a constant stream of anti-Semitic attacks and mockery. The fact that Levi, eminent himself, was so convinced of Wagner's genius that he would put up with this treatment is the really interesting bit. Then Mahler, as you point out, Thomas Mann, many others.
The music, though, is incredible. Mark Twain is supposed to have said that "Wagner's music is much better than it sounds". But after all this is the guy who wrote "Here Comes the Bride". There is something of a learning curve--all the music that matters is opera, which are in German, and run on up towards five hours long. But there are great payoffs--"Tristan and Isolde", which is about sex and death with very little plot to get in the way, and ends with an extended orgasm (known as the "love-death"); and "Parsifal", which is also about sex and death but also about salvation and enlightenment (and even has singing flowers), are very intense experiences. Right up there with a great Grateful Dead second set. I did a "Parsifal" on acid a few years ago, and that was almost scary. But it is also like the Dead in that some people will "get it" and others be unable to tolerate it at all. (In fact a couple of the Dead were themselves Wagnerians, especially Phil the bass player, and the band once cancelled a run so they could go to a "Ring" performance--6 days long--in SF. Tells you something.)
Good taste you have there, Richard, to catch at first go how great London and Rysanek are. Two of the all-time greats.
You did slip a bit on the plot summary. Eric (the fiance) does not talk to Senta's dad. He tries to dissuade her from running off with this obvious creepy nutcase and staying with him; the Dutchman overhears and thinks that she is betraying him; he returns to his ship in rage and despair; she hurls herself into the sea to prove that she is in fact true unto death. Wagner did that to his heroines distressingly often.
Also one nit about the Bayreuth orchestra--it is not a permanent dedicated orchestra. Each year the orchestra is made up from the cream of all the major orchestras of Europe--the Festival is in the summer and the rest of the opera houses and symphony halls are closed for the season.
I hope a person or two is inspired to check this out; it is the real stuff. You can start with any of a zillion records of orchestral excerpts (The Ride of the Valkyries, the aforementioned Love-Death, etc.) It might catch your attention.
5 - Baronius
David, you've blown my mind. My mind: where is it? It's been blown.
As I've been learning about classical music, the only way I ever understood Wagner was by thinking of the Grateful Dead. If you ask 10 rock fans who was the greatest band of all time, 9 would say The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, but the one who would pick The Grateful Dead is fanatical. He'd schedule his vacation around the band. He has dozens of friends whom he knows only through the shared experience of the Dead.
Then there's the material itself. It's long. The Dead may have a few neat pop hits, but the performances are extended and intricate. Love it, hate it, or go insane during it (some people do all three), you'll never confuse it with "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". The concerts last hours, and take up days. So maybe I understand Wagner better than I realized.
6 - godoggo
Really fascinating comment, David. Readers might be interested in this New Yorker article that the author, Alex Ross, posted on his (excellent) blog: The Unforgiven: Wagner and Hitler
7 - Bliffle
Aw, who cares about Wagners politics!? He's just a damn artist, and all that matters is the music, which is splendid. Big, fat, gloriously romantic music.
Nice article, Richard.
8 - Bliffle
I LOVE the sound of French Horns in the morning!
With rock music asymptotically approaching drivel, and rap music already relentlessly tedious, opera sounds better every day.
9 - Snarkattack
Uh, Richard, yeah I didn't think it was rumour because I've read some of blasted man's writings (god, some of it is insanely boring) and he's pretty upfront about it. I only wish I had the academic reference to quote in hand. Him and Nietzsche are partners in crime when it comes to that ranty philosophy stuff.
I wouldn't have commented on this article if I thought Wagner's anti-Semitism was a rumour. Gosh, I didn't even know people considered it a rumour.
But back to the music: I've not heard this opera in full, but I do love Tristan und Isolde. Even if it does take Wagner hours to resolve his cadences, haha.