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The Flying Dutchman
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|
Wagner, ca. 1840
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Genre
| Opera
in 3 acts
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Native title
| Der fliegende Hollander
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Librettist
| Richard Wagner
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Language
| German
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Based on
| Legend
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Premiere
| Semper Oper,
Dresden
,
Germany
1843
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Der fliegende Hollander
(
The Flying Dutchman
) is an
opera
by
Richard Wagner
. Wagner wrote the
libretto
himself. The story comes from the
legend
of the
Flying Dutchman
, which is about the captain of a ship. It is his
fate
that he has keep sailing the sea, without ever going on to land, until
Judgment Day
.
The most important idea in the story as told by Wagner is
redemption
through
love
. It was a favourite idea of Wagner, who used it a lot in his later operas.
Wagner conducted the first performance at the
Semper Oper
in
Dresden
, in
1843
. It is an early opera of Wagner, but it shows his mature style. It is very different from the previous opera
Rienzi
which is still quite similar to operas that other composers were writing. In
Der fliegende Hollander
the drama is very important. Wagner uses a number of
leitmotifs
: musical ideas associated with particular characters and themes in the story. The leitmotifs are all introduced in the
overture
. We hear the famous leitmotif of the
ocean
and then those of the Dutchman and of Senta, the girl he falls in love with.
Wagner originally wrote
Der fliegende Hollander
to be performed without any breaks (
intermission
). Sometimes it is performed like that today, but Wagner also made a version with three acts.