Superconductor Audio Guide: Der Fliegende Holländer

The series sails forth with Wagner's high seas ghost story.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

The legendary ghost ship The Flying Dutchman inspired Wagner's 1843 opera.
Digital image is © UbiSoft.

This is the first outing, the maiden voyage if you will of a new feature on Superconductor focusing on classic (and some modern) recordings of the great "canon" operas. We're going to start with a series on the ten major operas of Wagner and whether it will continue beyond that will depend on how many of you all click and read. Sounds good? OK. Let's go.)

Der Fliegende Holländer is Richard Wagner's fourth opera, but the earliest of his works to be considered "canon" by the Bayreuth Festival, the German opera festival that was founded by the composer himself in an opera house of his own design in the tiny Franconian spa town of Bayreuth. Holländer (referred to hereafter by its English title The Flying Dutchman) was written in 1842 as the struggling Wagners lived in Paris and Richard tried (and failed) to get Rienzi staged at the Paris  Opera.

DVD Review: Call in the Swiss Navy

Opernhaus Zürich presents Der Fliegende Holländer.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Heart of darkness: Bryn Terfel (center) is the Dutchman in Opernhaus Zürich's
Der Fliegende Holländer. Photo © 2013 Opernhaus Zürich/DG/UMG.

With the 1843 premiere of Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) Richard Wagner created the first of ten operas that constitute the canon of his work. He also created a serious problem for stage directors, as the romance between a ghostly ship's captain and an obsessive young woman ends with the latter hurling herself off a nearby cliff and the reunited couple "ascending to Heaven" as the opera's final bars crash home.

DVD Review: The Wreck of the Flying Dutchman

Der Fliegende Holländer from the Netherlands Opera

Juha Uusitalo in the title role of Der Fliegende Holländer.
Photo from the Netherlands Opera © 2010 Opus Arte

This brilliant, occasionally terrifying production of Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer comes, appropriately enough, from the Netherlands Opera. It is conducted by Hartmut Hänchen, who led an interesting Dutch DVD set of The Ring a few years ago. In fact it's really good until it sinks (with all hands) in the final scene.

Things start promisingly. Director Martin Kusej moves the action to a cruise ship, perhaps somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle. Daland is a "Love Boat"captain in naval whites and mirror shades. The Steersman puts on a gold lamé jacket before singing. Daland's crew and the Sandwyk villagers are re-imagined as vulgar tourists, scurrying about in life vests, carrying suitcases, bathing poolside, and wearing "party wigs" in the final act. The Dutchman's crew are strange and shadowy, monk-like in dark cowls.


In the middle of all this we find the Dutchman, played with intensity by Finnish bass Juha Uusitalo. Mr. Uusitalo is a hulking, intimidating presence, under a bald pate and glaring through ice-blue eyes. It doesn't hurt that he has a voice to match, billowing and blustery when needed and bringing the power when needed to fight over the orchestra. He is in the position of a refugee seeking asylum, but is treated as an unwelcome intrusion of reality into the insulated world of Captain Daland's cruise ship.

Senta (Catherine Naglestad) is his ideal match, the one serious (old-fashioned?) woman on a ship full of frivolity. It is significant that she is the only one spinning in the second act. The other girls bully her and try to play "keep-away" with her wheel. The soprano sings with power, delivering a fine ballad and engaging in a powerful duet with Mr. Uusitalo helped by the conductor's crisp tempos. Their love affair is like the meeting of two high school nerds with limited social interactive ability. The big duet in Act II is both delicious and painful to watch.


Things come to a head in the Act III trio, with Marco Jentsch making a marginally sympathetic figure out of Erik. In a brilliant moment, this ensemble is performed with Mr. Uusuitalo onstage, and his emotional reactions at the dialogue between Senta and Erik is visceral, almost painful to watch. The trio that follows is everything it should be, the emotional core of the drama and Senta's conflict laid bare even as Wagner's orchestra batters at the senses. However, the unbelievable, altered ending (Erik shoots the Dutchman and Senta dead) kills the final act and leaves a sour taste.

Hartmut Haenchen opts for an energetic reading of the score, with the famous salt-spray figures and charging horns prominent in the famous overture. He takes the three acts without an intermission, but opts for Wagner's revised "redemption" music, both at the end of the Overture and the finale of the third act. The choral singing (all-important in this opera is tight and snappy, leading to a virtuoso moment in the third act when the two worlds collide. If it weren't for that ending, this Dutchman would be highly recommended.

Watch a trailer for Der Fliegende Holländer here.

Opera Review: Der Fliegende Holländer (again!)

Monday night's sailing of The Flying Dutchman at the Met marked the house debut of an impressive singer. Soprano Lori Phillips, substituting for an ill Deborah Voigt in the key role of Senta, sang the role with formidable power and passion. She was complemented by Juha Uusitalo in the title role, sounding much more sure of himself than at the season premiere.

Perhaps it was due to better personal health, (or maybe just that the Dutchman's enormous gangplank worked correctly) but Mr. Uusitalo was a much improved (if still doomed) Dutchman. The top of the voice had regained its fierce growl and the high notes rung with confidence. He also managed an impressive entrance with "Die frist ist um," carrying off this difficult aria in such a way as to provide momentum to the rest of his performance.



Ms. Phillips is an American singer with a powerful, dramatic voice and good acting ability. She takes a different approach to the role, singing with more consistent volume throughout. And yet, she sings the notes accurately. Unlike Ms. Voigt, Ms. Phillips opened up the voice at the start of the Ballad, narrating the story of her ghostly obsession and sounding just slightly over the edge. Real romantic dementia set in with the arrival of Mr. Uusitalo. Their slow-building Act II duet rose to a mighty climax that foreshadowed the powerful third act.

This is an opera where the Met chorus really gets to shine. Whether they're portraying the capering Norwegian sailors, the ghostly mariners trapped aboard the Dutchman's ship, or the spinning, sail-making women-folk of the tiny nautical town, the choristers were on exceptional form on Monday night. Their finest moment came in Act III, where the three aforementioned groups battle it out on the docks. Also worth mentioning is bass Hans-Peter König as Daland. His bumptious sea captain-turned-pimp-daddy is one of the chief pleasures of this current run.

Out to sea: Juha Uusitalo as the Flying Dutchman.
Photo © 2010 Corey Weaver/The Metropolitan Opera