What did Wagner do in Sandvika at Borøy, in

First of all, thank you very much for skerries. The skerries create a space, in being invited here to tell you about the which it is safe to move. Earlier, however, visit of Richard Wagner in Sandvika they represented during storms a danger and the inspiration he got there to his for many a sailing-ship. Within the sker- great opera The Flying Dutchman. On ries there are many sheltered bays with behalf of the The Flying Dutchman Asso- outer harbours. The outer harbours vary ciation I want to express how proud I in size from just few houses to larger am of this beautiful place in our commu- villages. One of these outer harbours, nity and its connection to Wagner. Per- Lyngor, has been chosen to be ‘Europe’s haps you will, after my presentation, best kept village’ in 1992. Sandvika, too, ponder what might have happened if the is one of these outer harbours. It is situ- ship "Thetis" with Wagner onboard had ated on Borøy, an island in the fjord, met the storm earlier in the Baltic Sea, which these days has a bridge connection and then be obliged to seek a harbour of to the main land. Sandvika lies sheltered refuge in another nordic fiord, for examp- within the skerries, however not that far le here in Turku? Would he then have within, that one cannot feel the powers got an inspiration to this great opera? of the sea during storms. Today the is- "Yes, why not," I would say. This beautiful lands, outer harbours and skerries are place here may give such inspiration as favourite holiday targets for recreation. well as Sandvika, not exactly the same Sun, summer and southern are of course, but similar. Therefore I look the dream of a Norwegian summer. The forward to the big event in the harbour landscape must have represented itself here tonight! very differently in those days towards Torleif Haugland’s At first a little presentation of Sand- the end of July in 1839, when the little presentation at the seminar vika, Borøya and Tvedestrand: Tvedest- east Prussian schooner ‘Thetis’, with rand is the name of a local community Richard Wagner on-board, had to seek on Der fliegende Holländer at the coast in , situated for a harbour of refuge on its way from August 19, 2005 approx. 250 km from . Tvedestrand Riga to London. Shipping was the most covers an area , that includes all from important trade in that area during the the ‘Thetis’ came to seek for a harbour the sheltered skerry area with its charac- last century. Ships were built in almost of refuge. It was probably the same with teristic outer harbours, the town of Tve- every bay, and most men in this area had most of the other men of the houses in destrand and the inland with forests, there job tied to the sea. It is not strange, Sandvika: Women and children were at rivers and lakes rich in fish. The coastline that the owner of the house, in which home and the men at sea. The ‘Wagner- is sheltered from the open sea by the Wagner stayed, wasn’t at home when house’ was ripped down already in 1885, however, parts of its foundation walls are visible to these days. After the middle of the last century, many new houses were built and prosperity was high. Today the situation is slightly different. Most of the houses are still standing. However, as in many other outer harbours, times have changed. Other trades have taken over from shipping, the population has moved and most of the houses in Sand- vika are used as holiday houses today. While Sandvika remains well preserved and beautiful, it is swarmed during sum- mer with life and the happy laughter of children rings across the fjord. The echo from Askerflu is as strong as at the time, when Wagner was inspired by it for his sailors' choir in The Flying Dutchman. Sandvika and the southern skerries give the inhabitants as well as the visitor a feeling of roots to long passed times, together with peace, quietness and inspi- ration within a hectic, modern every- day life. ‘It’s Sandvike!’ – But which Sandvike?

‘Sandwike ist’s!’ says Daland in the open- The map of the Tvedestrand area. ing scene of Wagner’s opera The Flying Wagneriaani 29 Mitä Wagner teki Sandvikassa ja Tvedestrandissa? Lyhennelmä Torleif Hauglandin esitelmästä Lentävä hollantilainen -seminaarissa 19.9.2005

Tvedestrand on Etelä-Norjassa sijaitseva kunta noin 250 km päässä Oslosta. Sen alueella on useita satamia. Yksi niistä on Sandvika, mistä preussilainen kuunari Thetis, Richard Wagner matkustajan- aan, etsi suojapaikkaa matkallaan Riiasta Lontooseen heinäkuussa 1839. Sandvika-nimisiä paikkoja on Nor- jassa useita, joten on ollut epävarmaa, missä niistä Wagner kävi. Kun Lentävä hollantilainen esitettiin vuonna 1901 ensimmäisen kerran Norjan kansalliste- atterissa, nimimerkki "+" (Assessor Sie- wers) osoitti Morgenbladetin artikkelis- saan yhteyden oopperan ja Wagnerin Norjan-käynnin välillä. Uskottiin, että Wagner oli käynyt Hisøn saarella sijait- sevassa Sandvikassa. Professori Magnus Olsen sanoi kuitenkin 1920-luvulla ole- vansa sitä mieltä, että todellinen paikka oli Borøyn saarella. Laulaja-professori Kapteeni Jens Jensenin talo, missä Wagner oleskeli. Gunnar Graarud tutki asiaa. (Graarud lauloi Bayreuthissa vuosina 1927-31 ja rannikkoa, ja kapteeni päätti etsiä sata- purjeita. Näiden huutojen rytmi rauhoitti levytti siellä Tristanin roolin Karl Elmen- maa. 29.7.1839 Wagner kirjoitti matka- minua kuin hyvä enne. Lyhyen ajan si- dorffin johdolla. Toim. huom.) Hän ver- päiväkirjaansa: "Myrskyn takia meidän sällä huudoista muotoutui miehistön tasi Borøyn Sandvikan satamalaituria oli rantauduttava norjalaiseen satamaan laulun teema Lentävään hollantilaiseen." Wagnerin kirjoituksiin ja julkaisi tutki- lähellä Arendalia. Illalla maissa Minnan Sandvikassa oli kahdeksan taloa. muksensa vuonna 1935 norjalaisissa ja kanssa. Meressä erikoisia kivikuutioita. Wagner vietti kaksi päivää kapteeni Jens ulkomaisissa lehdissä. Vuonna 1947 opet- Paikka: Sandwike." Myöhemmin Wagner Jensenin talossa isännän ollessa merillä. taja Magnus Grønvold löysi alkuperäisen kertoi omaelämänkerrallisissa kirjoituk- Talo purettiin vuonna 1885, mutta siitä lokikirjan. Tällöin varmistui, että Wagner sissaan: "Jossain vaiheessa kapteenin oli on olemassa valokuvia. Dalandin talo oli ollut Borøyn saarella sijaitsevassa pakko rantautua norjalaiseen satamaan. on oopperassa kuvattu täsmälleen tämän Sandvikassa. Matka norjalaisten luotojen välissä vai- talon mukaisesti. Thetis oli pieni itäpreussilainen kuu- kutti oudolla tavalla mielikuvitukseeni. nari, joka kulki säännöllisesti Königsber- Tarina Lentävästä hollantilaisesta ja se, Torleif Haugland on "Lentävä hollan- gin ja Lontoon välillä. Se ei ollut mat- millaisena kuulin sen merimiehiltä, sai tilainen" -säätiön puheenjohtaja ja kustajalaiva, mutta kesällä 1839 tunte- mielessäni uudenlaisen värityksen, jota toimi Tvedestrandin kunnanjohtajana maton säveltäjä Richard Wagner mat- en olisi koskaan keksinyt ilman tätä vuosina 1995-2003. kusti kapteeni R. Wulffin hytissä vai- meriseikkailua." monsa Minnan ja koiransa Robberin "Miehistön kovaääniset huudot kai- Suomenkielinen lyhennelmä: kanssa. Pohjanmerellä kova länsituuli kuivat valtavista graniittiseinämistä hei- Robert Storm toi laivan vaarallisen lähelle Norjan dän laskiessaan ankkuria ja nostaessaan

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Puhelin org/julkaisut/ husband was out of work and penniless, a pale and brilliant German bandmaster and composer with an at the time unk- nown name, Richard Wagner (1813- 1883). His beautiful and indigenous wife was an actress. Her name was Minna Wagner, born Planer (1809-1866). The couple had just left behind a difficult period in the Latvian town of Riga, failed plans, disappointed creditors and a dra- matic escape across the border. However, Wagner only needed to close his eyes, and he could see Paris, the cosmopolitan centre of music, that welcomed him with gold and world-fame. If he then again opened his eyes, he once more awoke to the shameful misery of seasick- ness. In the meantime a terrible west wind had knocked the schooner from its course and brought it dangerously near the Norwegian coast with its storm ruf- fled furrows. Finally, when according to Commemorative plaques about Richard Wagner in Sandvika. their plan they should already have been in London, the captain decided to seek Dutchman. Naturally, Norwegians took 1920'ies the Norwegian professor Mag- harbour of refuge. Shortly afterwards the it as an honour, that the poet and com- nus Olsen had expressed some humble emergency flag was being spotted poser chose the Norwegian coast as the words that in his opinion Wagner had by pilot Niels Tallaksen (1789-1865) setting for the musical work, which be- been in Sandvigen on the island of Borøy, from his house in Holmesund in Flotsa. came the break-through piece for a new and not on the island of Hisø. Nevert- It did not take him long to get over to epoch in the world opera. It’s true enough heless, a Borøy-man and photographer the schooner in his big fishing boat with that it took a while, before the local Gustav Norbert Norberg (1870 – c. one of his sons as pilot. However, now music circles became aware of the honour 1954) gave additional information on Wagner shall take the word, and here's being based on a real background: The the matter to Alf Due, who wrote about what he wrote on 29thJuly 1839 in his impression of the southern coast had it in the Norwegian as well as in the travel diary: ‘29 due to storm from the really been a decisive source for Richard German press in the 1930'ies. The deci- west we had to enter a Norwegian port Wagner’s inspiration in that respect. sive words were spoken by the famous close to . Towards evening on There are many places in Norway called Norwegian Wagner interpreter, the Kam- land with Minna. Strange dices of stone Sandvika or in English Sandvike. "Near mer-singer, professor Gunnar Graarud. in the sea. Place: Sand-wike’. Later, Wag- the town Arendal," as mentioned by In 1934 he found, with local help, the ner used a few more words in his Wagner, there are at least three places right ship quay on the island of Borøy. ‘autobiographic accounts’: ‘At one point with the name Sandvika. Earlier on In an article in ‘De vestlandske Tidene’ the captain was forced to enter a Norwe- there were already heated discussions he tells how he compared this informa- gian harbour. The journey through the about the question which Sandvika Wag- tion with Wagner’s papers, where the Norwegian skerries made a strange im- ner really had visited. In an article in name of the vessel was mentioned. Graa- pression onto my fantasy; the saga about "Aust- Arv" Ole A. Aalholm wri- rud published his interim and final results the Flying Dutchman and the way I got tes that the first performance of The in the Norwegian and foreign press in it confirmed from the lips of the sailors, Flying Dutchman at the National Theatre the 1930'ies. In 1947 Norwegian teacher became in my mind of specific personal in Oslo in 1901 was preceded by backg- Magnus Grønvold succeeded in finding colouring, which it would never have round information in the "Morgenbla- the original pilot-report. Grønvold’s got without the sea adventure I just had det", signed by Assesor Siewers. He papers are based on the music archives experienced.’ In his old age, during his established the connection between the of the University library. It is now un- second marriage when he was able to opera and the fact that Wagner ‘had to disputable that it's not the island of dictate to his inspiring wife Cosima Wag- seek harbour of refuge in the Sandviken Hisø, but the island of Borøy in the ner, born Liszt (1837-1930), Wagner bay on Tromøy near Arendal’ in 1839. parish of Dypvåg that is able to proclaim: told in more detail: ‘Finally, on 29 July, These words caught fire in the local It’s Sandviken! the captain was forced by the strongly patriotic and music loving circles in storming westerly gales to seek harbour Arendal. The fact that the highly res- The Skerry – Background to Wagner’s opera on the Norwegian coast. With a feeling pected music-critic of the reliable encouraging me, I saw the stony harbour ‘Morgenbladet’ had mentioned ‘Tromøy’ Thetis is a little East Prussian schooner bay, extending on and on, towards accidentally is, of course, lamentable, with a weight of 106 tons, which was which we were drifting at high speed. but however pardonable. The name of built in 1831 in Pillau. It sailed somewhat After a Norwegian pilot, who had met the place was instantly corrected to regularly between its hometown, the us in a small boat, had taken over the ‘Hisø’. Speculations and Arendal’s Wag- harbour town of Königsberg, and Lon- helm of Thetis, I should soon experience ner traditions were created on this basis. don. The draught was 8 feet and 9 inches. one of the most remarkable and beautiful However, let us not disregard the ship- On the 19th July 1839 Thetis sailed, impressions of my life. What I had taken ping-town, that not only had a good with 99 loads of oats and 2 loads of peas, for a continuous chain of rocks across sense for trade, but also for music. Na- away from home-port. However, this the beach, dissolved itself - the closer turally enough, Wagner was a popular time it did not reach London on the we got - and a row of small rocky islands topic in the music society as well as at 12th August 1839. Apart from the cap- and skerries projecting cone-shaped from tea-parties, in the clubs and many homes tain, R. Wulff, there was a crew of six the sea. After we had passed them we at Arendal. It did not occur to anyone men on board. Although the schooner noticed, that we were not only surroun- to doubt what stood in black on white: was everything but a passenger boat, this ded by these riffs from the front and sides, that Wagner had been in Sandvigen near time the captain’s cabin was occupied but also from behind. Behind us they Arendal. by a married couple with an enormous closed tightly together again, so that It was left unnoticed, that in the Newfoundland dog called Robber. The once again they gave the impression of

30 Wagneriaani Marthe Jensen’s own lips, that among the many guests that had been in the house had been the Wagners- there was not the smallest hint of a doubt about the identity. ‘They were well received, and they took a tour inland to have a look around’. Accordingly it has been totally cleared that it was Jensen’s house that received Wagner. The house does not exist any longer. However, there remain some excellent photographs of it. The house was built by captain Eyner Bjørnsen (1737–1789), who settled there in 1762. Because he was one of those who were better off and liked to live on a grand scale, the house was ‘tolvlaftet’, which means it had three times four corners or log-house-units, and three new houses were built out of its materials Wolfgang Wagner in Tvedestrand with Bjørn Simensen, when the house was pulled down in 1885. the artistic director of Den Norske Opera. When Wagner takes into his opera a ‘sea-bay with stony coast’ and ‘to the a connected chain. However, these mas- July to 30th July 1839 in Sandviken, side in the foreground’ ‘the house of ses of rock broke the gales, and the more Borøy, when he gives his instructions for captain Daland’ - ‘a Norwegian skipper’, we penetrated into this permanently the stage setting of The Flying Dutch- then there is barely a word that does not changing maze of stone cubes, the calmer man. Isn’t it his voice too, that resounds fit Jensen’s house and its surroundings. the sea got. At the end, when we were in the libretto about the Sandviken kno- Yes, if it now is ‘ a rocky reef sticking driving into a long street of water bet- wn to him: In exactly that way do I know out’, from which the daughter of the ween a gigantic rock-valley – this was the bay. Three further vessels that had house is throwing herself into the sea, how a Norwegian fjord appeared to me sought shelter by Borøy, were lying there so the stones on land or the ledge of the – the sea was totally flat and calm around during his stay. There were two German Digernes-fell will have to be used for this the ship. An unspeakable sense of well- ships, Thetis and a hannoverish mer- purpose. In his opera, Wagner also takes being came over me when the immense chant ship Anna, indigenous to Papen- us into the spacious living-room of the walls of granite threw back the echo of burg. The third was a Norwegian brig, skipper-house with its grandfather-chair, the crew’s strong calls while dropping Anne Birgithe Marie. It was correct as portraits on the walls in the back-ground, the anchor and hoisting in the sails. The well as possible to let the picturesque maps and paintings on the walls to the short rhythm of these calls set itself fast southern Norwegian brig Anne Birgithe sides, and an open fireplace by which within myself and in a way comforted Marie sail on the opera-stage of The the women sit at their spinning-wheels. me like a good sign. Thus, within a short Flying Dutchman as the almost authentic One does not need a magnificent fantasy period of time the theme for my crew- Wagner vessel: ‘The Norwegian ship’. to imagine a madam Jensen, sitting to- song in The Flying Dutchman had formed. gether with her grown-up daughter, mai- I had long been wandering with the idea The skipper-house in Sandviken and den Vilhelmine Sophie Jensen (1820- itself and thanks to my new impressions in Wagner’s opera 1863), having the same first name as it now had reached a new concrete poetic Wagner’s wife, and the young maid ser- musical colouring. Here we also went on Richard Wagner himself wrote that he vant, ‘the girl’, in the large corner-parlour land. I got to know, that the little fishing- stayed in Sandviken from 29th - 30th with all four windows, while spinning so channel, which had taken us in, was July 1839 in the house of a ship-captain that the spinning-wheels were humming called Sandwike and was situated some who was away. At the time the Wagners and whirring, while ‘he’ was out and 10 km away from the bigger place of came to Sandviken, they must have been could be awaited home: Arendal. We could recover in a house enraptured by the prospect of being able ‘My boy, he is on waves so blue. - Oh which belonged to a sea-captain who to rest in a properly erected four-poster spinning-wheel, now you have to spin, was out sailing. Meanwhile the gale con- bed. All in all there must have been So that you give wind So that he flies tinued on the open sea and kept us for eight houses in Sandviken at the time. in! Spin! Spin! Carry on, girls! Hum! two days, which we indeed needed to Amongst them were two large skipper Whirr! Dear Spinning-wheel! recover our strength’. These are Wagner’s befitting houses, with a stone-landing- own words, and he was so precise, that stage directly at the water-line. It was Opera on original site: The Flying he, when Mrs. Cosima in agreement with cleared up that captain Jens Jensen Dutchman at Sandvika? her husband’s soft pronunciation of con- (1791-1842), the owner of the house, sonants wrote the name of the place with had been home in the middle of July We hope, and we are working on it; A ‘g’ -Sandwige-, corrected this with pencil 1839, but that he had been as usual full-scale production of this opera in to Sandwike, which was closer to the towards the end of the month been at Sandvika, but of financial reasons, we local Norwegian pronunciation and sea with Ceres, a sloop he himself have not managed it yet. In the meanti- which he still had fresh in his memory! owned. This emerges from the ship-lists. me, we produce smaller parts of it out- Askeflu is the name of the immense From madam Marthe Dorothea Jensen doors in Sandvika and indoors in Dypvåg granite walls with the echo resounding (1790-1854) it is said that she was ext- church. We, together with all Wagner- in Wagner’s music. remely effective, and that she neither fans, have a dream! lacked place in her house nor in her But again: Our congratulations for ’The Norwegian ship’ in the Wagner heart. She told many stories to her your production here in Turku! I look opera, the southern Norwegian brig daughter-in-law, Evine Amalie Jensen forward to seeing it! Anne Birgithe Marie (1823-1905). The daughter-in-law went on living in the same house, as well as Thank you very much! No reasonable arguments exist to doubt her grandchildren, and especially her that it was totally natural to Wagner to eldest granddaughter remembered a lot By Torleif Haugland, mayor of Tvede- reconstruct the sensation that stood in of what the old woman had told them. strand 1995-2003 and chairman of front of his eyes from his stay from 29th Amongst that was, as she had heard from The Flying Dutchman Association. Wagneriaani 31