Overture Opera Guides

overture opera guides

in association with

The publisher John Calder began the Opera Guides series under the editorship of the late Nicholas John in association with English National Opera in 1980. It ran until 1994 and eventually included forty-eight titles, covering fifty-eight operas. The books in the series were intended to be companions to the works that make up the core of the operatic repertory. They contained articles, illustrations, musical examples and a complete libretto and singing translation of each opera in the series, as well as bibliographies and discographies.

The aim of the present relaunched series is to make available again the guides already published in a redesigned format with new illustrations, many revised and newly commissioned articles, updated reference sections and a literal translation of the libretto that will enable the reader to get closer to the intentions and meaning of the original. New guides of operas not already covered will be published alongside the redesigned ones from the old series.

Gary Kahn Series Editor Sponsors of the Overture Opera Guides

for the 2011/12 Season at ENO

Eric Adler Sir John and Lady Baker Stephen and Margaret Brearley Frank and Lorna Dunphy Richard Everall Ian and Catherine Ferguson Ali Khan Ralph Wells Lord and Lady Young

Eric Adler and Richard Everall are gratefully acknowledged for their assistance in the 2019 reprint of this volume Der fliegende Holländer

Richard Wagner

Overture Opera Guides Series Editor Gary Kahn

Editorial Consultant Philip Reed

OVERTURE Overture Opera Guides in association with

Overture Publishing an imprint of Alma books 3 Castle Yard Richmond Surrey TW10 6TF United Kingdom Articles by John Warrack, John Deathridge and WilliamVaughan first published by John Calder (Publishers) Ltd © the authors, 1982 Articles by Mike Ashman and Katherine Syer first published in this volume © the authors, 2012 Translations from Wagner’s prose writings by Melanie Karpinski © the author, 1982 This Der fliegende Holländer Opera Guide first published by Overture Publishing, an imprint of Alma Books Ltd, 2012. Reprinted 2019 © Alma Books Ltd, 2012, 2019 All rights reserved Translation of libretto © Lionel Salter Library, www.lionelsalter.co.uk Reprinted by kind permission of Graham Salter Cover image: Peter West/Donnington Arts Printed in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY Typeset by Tetragon ISBN: 978-1-84749-851-9 All the pictures in this volume are reprinted with permission or presumed to be in the public domain. Every effort has been made to ascertain and acknowledge their copyright status, but should there have been any unwitting oversight on our part, we would be happy to rectify the error in subsequent printings. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be resold, lent, hired out or otherwise circulated without the express prior consent of the publisher. Contents

List of Illustrations 8 Behind Der fliegende Holländer 9 John Warrack An Introduction to Der fliegende Holländer 17 John Deathridge Loneliness, Love and Death 34 William Vaughan How Wagner Found the Flying Dutchman 42 Mike Ashman Of Storms and Dreams: Reflections on the Stage History 48 of Der fliegende Holländer Katherine Syer The Overture to Der fliegende Holländer 63 Richard Wagner Remarks on Performing the Opera Der fliegende Holländer 65 Richard Wagner Thematic Guide 73 Der fliegende Holländer: Libretto 79 Note on the Versions 81 Act One 85 Act Two 107 Act Three 141 Select Discography 165 Der fliegende Holländer on DVD 171 Select Bibliography 175 Wagner Websites 177 Note on the Contributors 179 Acknowledgements 181 List of Illustrations

1. Richard Wagner (Peter West/Donnington Arts) 2. Heinrich Heine 3. The Royal Saxon Court Theatre, Dresden 4. The Dutchman in the first production 5. Senta in the first production 6. The final scene in the first production 7. The first Bayreuth Festival production 8. The Royal Opera House, Berlin production 9. The Court Opera, Vienna production 10. The Krolloper production 11. Leonie Rysanek and George London (Louis Mélançon) 12. Gré Brouwenstijn and Leonard Wolovsky (Particam) 13. David Ward and Gwyneth Jones (Zoë Dominic) 14. José van Dam and Hildegard Behrens (Daniel Candé) 15. Wolfgang Wagner’s production at the Bayreuth Festival (Siegfried Lauterwasser/ Bayreuther Festspiele) 16. Wieland Wagner’s production at the Bayreuth Festival (Wilhelm Rauh/Bayreuther Festspiele) 17. Joachim Herz’s production at the Komische Oper (Jürgen Simon) 18. Clifford Williams’s production at the Royal Opera House (Reg Wilson) 19. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s production at San Francisco Opera (San Francisco Opera) 20. Ulrich Melchinger’s production at the Staatstheater Kassel (Sepp Bär) 21. Harry Kupfer’s production at the Bayreuth Festival (Siegfried Lauterwasser/Bay- reuther Festspiele) 22. Herbert Wernicke’s production at the Bayerische Staatsoper (Anne Kirchbach) 23. David Pountney’s production at ENO (Reg Wilson/ENO Archive) 24. David Pountney’s production at the Bregenz Festival (Karl Forster/Bregenzer Fest- spiele) 25. Willy Decker’s production at Oper Köln (Paul Leclaire) 26. Dieter Dorn’s production at the Bayreuth Festival (Wilhelm Rauh/Bayreuther Festspiele) 27. Richard Jones’s production at De Nederlandse Opera (Hans van den Bogaard) 28. Peter Konwitschny’s production at the Bayerische Staatsoper (Wilfried Hösl) 29. Calixto Beito’s production at Oper Stuttgart (Sebastian Hoppe) 30. Bryn Terfel (Johan Persson) 31. Martin Kušej’s production at De Nederlandse Opera (A.T. Schaefer)

8 Thematic Guide

Themes from the opera have been identified by the numbers in square brackets in the article on the music, pp. 17–33. These are also printed at corresponding points in the libretto, so that the words can be related to the musical themes.

Overture

[1] Allegro con brio >™ ™ ˙ ˙ j ™ j ™ j ™ > >˙ >˙ > >˙ >œ œ ˙ œ œ >˙ œ >˙ œ >˙ ? 6 œ œ ™ b4 & ˙ molto marcato

[2] > ™ b 6 #˙ Ó & 4 #œ. œ.

[3] nœ #œnœ ™ ? 6 #œ œ#œ œ#œ #œnœ#œnœ#œnœ b4#œ#œ œ#œ œ#œ œ#œnœ#œ #œ Œ Œ Ó f ﬀ [4] ™ ˙ ? 6 œ œ#œ œ œ œ œ b4 œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ ∑ ﬀ staccato

[5a] Andante 6 ™ ˙ œ œ ˙ &b4 ˙ ˙ œ ˙ œ œ œ. Œ p dolce . . œ œ ˙ œ . œ. . œ. .

[5b] ™ T 6 ˙ ™ ™ ˙ ™ &b4 ˙ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ ˙ Œ p œ pp ˙

73 Der fliegende Holländer

Note on the Versions

There is still some confusion about whether Der fliegende Holländer should be performed in one act or three. While a penniless exile in Paris (1839–42), Wagner was persuaded that, if he turned his existing sketches for Le Hollandais volant into a one-act curtain-raiser, there might be some chance of the work being put on at the Opéra, but there was no Paris performance at this time. The premiere production in Dresden in 1843 was given in three acts, and every subsequent production in Wagner’s lifetime followed this scheme. He also made revisions to the score in 1844, 1846 and 1852, toning down the weight of the brass and the use of tremolando criticised by Berlioz. In 1860 he replaced the original forte ending of both the Overture and Act Three with a quiet, transfigured quotation from Senta’s Ballad followed by a motif from Tristan und Isolde; in the case of the Overture this was preceded by a remarkable passage of Tristan-like melodic development and harmonies. In 1864 he started (but never finished) a completely new sketch for the melody of Senta’s Ballad, in addition to making minor adjustments to stage directions, libretto and score. Through all these changes, however, the work remained in three acts until, in 1901, Wagner’s widow Cosima presented its first staging at Bayreuth. The striking manner in which the music for Acts Two and Three begins precisely where the previous act had finished makes this dovetailing simple to achieve and many subsequent productions and recordings of the work have followed this practice.

81 THE CHARACTERS

Daland, a Norwegian sea captain bass Senta, Daland’s daughter soprano Erik, a hunter tenor Mary, Senta’s nurse mezzo-soprano Steersman tenor The Dutchman bass-baritone

Norwegian sailors, the Dutchman’s crew, women of the village

The Norwegian coast Der fliegende Holländer

Romantic opera in three acts by Richard Wagner

Libretto by the composer

English translation by Lionel Salter

Der fliegende Holländer was first performed at the Royal Saxon Court Theatre, Dresden, on 2nd January 1843. It was first performed in Britain at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (in Italian, as L’Olandese dannato) on 23rd July 1870. The first performance in the United States, also in Italian, was at the Philadelphia Academy of Music on 8th November 1876.

The German libretto has been laid out in accordance with the one printed in vol. 1 of Wagner’s Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen (Collected Writings) prepared under the composer’s supervision and first printed in Leipzig in 1871. The English translation follows the same layout. Ouvertüre [1–12]

ERSTER AUFZUG

Steiles Felsenufer. Das Meer nimmt den größeren Teil der Bühne ein; weite Aussicht auf dasselbe. Finsteres Wetter; heftiger Sturm. Das Schiff Dalands hat soeben dicht am Ufer Anker geworfen: die Matrosen sind mit geräuschvoller Arbeit beschäftigt, die Segel aufzu hissen, Taue auszuwerfen usw. Daland ist an das Land gegangen; er er steigt einen Felsen und sieht landeinwärts, die Gegend ist zu erkennen. Nr. 1 Introduktion

Matrosen (während der Arbeit) [10, 13, 14] Hojoje! Hojoje! Hallojo! Ho! Daland (vom Felsen herabkommend) Kein Zweifel! Sieben Meilen fort trieb uns der Sturm vom sich’ren Port. So nah’ dem Ziel nach langer Fahrt war mir der Streich noch aufgespart! Steuermann (von Bord, durch die hohlen Hände rufend) Ho! Kapitän! [2] Daland Am Bord bei euch, wie steht’s? Steuermann (wie zuvor) Gut, Kapitän! Wir sind auf sich’rem Grund! Daland Sandwike ist’s! Genau kenn’ ich die Bucht. [15] – Verwünscht! Schon sah am Ufer ich mein Haus, [16] Senta, mein Kind, glaubt’ ich schon zu umarmen!

84 Overture [1–12]

ACT ONE

A steep rocky shore. The sea occupies the greater part of the stage: a wide view over it. Foul weather; a violent storm. Daland’s ship has just cast anchor near the shore; the sailors are noisily occupied in furling the sails, casting ropes, etc. Daland has gone ashore: he climbs a cliff and looks landwards to get his bearings. No. 1 Introduction

SAILORS (at work) [10, 13, 14] Hoyoye! Hoyoye! Halloyo! Ho! DALAND (coming down from the cliff) No doubt of it! Seven miles the storm has driven us off from safe haven. So near our goal after this long voyage this trick was saved up for me! Steersman (on board, shouting through his cupped hands) Ho! Captain! [2] DALAND How goes it with you on board? Steersman (as before) All’s well, Captain! We have firm moorings. DALAND This is Sandvika: I know the bay well. [15] – Damnation! I saw my house on the shore, [16] and thought to embrace Senta, my child!

85 Note on the Contributors

Mike Ashman is a writer on music and an opera director whose productions include Parsifal, three of Der fliegende Holländer and the Norwegian premiere of Der Ring des Nibelungen. He writes regularly for Gramophone and has contributed to Wagner in Performance, The Cambridge Companion to Wagner and The Cambridge Wagner Encyclopedia.

John Deathridge is King Edward VII Professor of Music at King’s College London. He is the co-author of The New Grove Wagner. Recent publications include a new critical edition of Lohengrin (Eulenburg, 2007), Wagner beyond Good and Evil (University of California Press, 2008) and a new translation of Der Ring des Nibelungen (Penguin Classics, 2018).

Lionel Salter was a broadcaster, lecturer and writer on music. At the BBC he held a large number of posts, including Assistant Controller of Music. He contributed to numerous encyclope- dias and journals, including regular reviews in Gramophone for over forty years, as well as translating the libretti of over one hundred operas.

Katherine Syer teaches opera history at the University of Cali- fornia (LA), and is a professional dramaturg. Her work on Wagner’s creative development and legacy has appeared in Wagner and His World, A Companion to Wagner’s ‘Parsifal’ and her monograph Wagner’s Visions (University of Rochester Press, 2014).

179 Der fliegende Holländer

William Vaughan is Emeritus Professor of History of Art at Birkbeck College, University of London. His main area of research is Romanticism, particularly British and German art around 1800. His publications His publications include Caspar David Friedrich 1774–1840 (Tate Gallery, 1972) and German Romanticism and English Art (Yale University Press, 1979).

John Warrack was formerly Artistic Director of the Leeds Festival and Lecturer in Music at Oxford University. His publications include the Cambridge Opera Handbook on Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Cambridge University Press, 1994) and German Opera: From the Beginnings to Wagner (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

180 Acknowledgements

We would like to thank John Allison of Opera, Mike Ashman, Charles Johnston, Lionel Friend and Barry Millington for their assistance and advice in the preparation of this guide.

181

other titles in the overture opera guides series all at £12.00

Vincenzo Bellini – Norma

Georges Bizet – Carmen

Benjamin Britten – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Don Giovanni

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Idomeneo

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Le nozze di Figaro

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Così fan tutte

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Die Zauberflöte

Giacomo Puccini – Tosca

Giacomo Puccini – La bohème

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Eugene Onegin

Giuseppe Verdi – Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi – La traviata

Giuseppe Verdi – Simon Boccanegra

Giuseppe Verdi – Otello

Richard Wagner – Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Richard Wagner – Parsifal