FLYING DUTCHMAN, The. A ro mantic opera in three acts by Richard Wagner, who also wrote the hook, first produced at Dresden, 2 Jan. 1843, under the baton of the composer and with Mme. Schroeder-Devrient as Senta. Although measured by Italian opera standards, Wagner may not have been an ex tremely rapid worker, he composed this entire opera, except the overture, in seven weeks. the public, which had looed for another Rienzi," the production a disappointment, and after a few performances it was with drawn and not again heard for 10 years. The legend upon which the story is based was a familiar one and the idea of using it came to Wagner during a storm which had overtaken him in his voyage from 'Riga to Paris. The Flying Dutchman, compelled to sail the seas without a rest until he finds a maiden who will be faithful unto death meets Senta, daughter of a Norwegian captain, who is betrothed to Erik. She is romantic and imaginative and fascinated by the story of the Dutchman, be comes convinced that she is destined to save him. She is reproached by Erik for her faith lessness and the stranger, overhearing this, fears that she will prove untrue to him and decides to leave. As he sails away, Senta rushes to the cliff and hurls herself into the sea. The ,phantom vessel sinks, 'the waters grow calm and in the distance the two are seen rising transfigured into the heavens. With
this work, Wagner broke finally the bonds of tradition and started his uniquely individual series of music dramas. While there are still many instances of the conventional operatic forms — for example, the sailors' chorus, the duets between Senta and Erik and Senta and the Dutchman, the spinning song, Senta's ballad—there are significant manifestations of the Wagner of the future. The overture is a brilliant example of dramatic puissance and the opening solo of the steersman, followed by the storm and the appearance of the phantom ship, the Dutchman's solo in the first act, the choruses in the last, are true and worthy ex pressions of the composer's genius. The sys tem of leading motives is also found here in embryo. In the realism, the richness and the variety of the instrumentation are also evi dences of the greater Wagner. But, viewed as a whole, The Flying Dutchman' is a work of promise, not of attainment. Its interest to day is historical, rather than musical. The first American performance took place at the Academy of Music in New York, 26 Jan. 1877, with Clara Louise Kellogg as Senta. The first German performance followed 12 March 1877 with Eugenie Pappenheim in the same role.