Sunday Classics: In "The Flying Dutchman" Wagner shows there's more than one way to get from Act I to Act II and from Act II to Act III

by Ken

In our earlier post about Wagner's Flying Dutchman we heard the Norwegian sea captain Daland return home from a perilous voyage bringing a guest, none other than the Flying Dutchman to meet (and hopefully entrance) his daughter, Senta. Then we left the two potential lovers alone for their long scene, and I would have liked to return for the end of Act II, as Daland returns. Here is that little fragment.

DALAND: Forgive me! My people will stay outside no longer;
each time we return home you know there is a feast.
I would enhance it. Therefore I come to ask
if it can be combined with a betrothal.
[To the DUTCHMAN]: I think you've wooed her to your heart's content!
[to SENTA]: Senta, my child, do you too consent?
SENTA [with solemn resolution]:
Here is my hand! And without regret
I plight my troth till death!
DUTCHMAN: She gives her hand! Powers of hell,
through her troth I defy you!
DALAND: You shall not regret this union!
To the feast! Today let all rejoice!

Karl Ridderbusch (bs), Daland; Gwyneth Jones (s), Senta; Thomas Stewart (b), Dutchman; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded live, 1971

Kurt Moll (bs), Daland; Dunja Vejzovic (s), Senta; José van Dam (bs-b), Dutchman; Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. EMI, recorded 1981-83


TRANSFORMATIONS

In Friday's preview we heard the Sailors' Chorus that opens Act III. Now we're going to hear two ways that Wagner put Acts II and III together. Originally he imagined the opera's three acts running together; later he separated them by repeating orchestral material at the ends and beginnings of the interior acts.

As we've heard on numerous previous occasions, one of Wagner's special talents was musically joining wildly different scenes -- different in physical setting, characters deployed, and subject matter. That's well displayed in the "joined" version. My own preference is for the separated version, in part because I think playing the three acts without intermission unnecessarily burdens both the performers and the audience, but also because far from being bothered by the repetition of the musical materials, I love it!

Note that in the two "joined" clips I've gone back to the end of the Dutchman-Senta scene, to give you a little flavor of the scene Daland is interrupting, but also so you can hear the tune that Senta sings at the start of those clips, which becomes important in the inter-act orchestral material.

The Flying Dutchman: Act II end; Act III beginning, Sailors' Chorus and Dance

[SENTA: What is this power I feel within me?
What enchantment is locked in my bosom?
Almighty God, let this which elevates me
be the strength of fidelity.
DUTCHMAN: Star of misfortune, you shall wane;
light of hope, shine anew!
Ye angels, who once forsook me,
now strengthen her heart and keep her true!]
DALAND: Forgive me! My people will stay outside no longer;
each time we return home you know there is a feast.
I would enhance it. Therefore I come to ask
if it can be combined with a betrothal.
[To the DUTCHMAN]: I think you've wooed her to your heart's content!
[to SENTA]: Senta, my child, do you too consent?
SENTA [with solemn resolution]:
Here is my hand! And without regret
I plight my troth till death!
DUTCHMAN: She gives her hand! Powers of hell,
through her troth I defy you!
DALAND: You shall not regret this union!
To the feast! Today let all rejoice!

ACT III

A bay with a rocky shore. DALAND's house to one side in the foreground. The background is occupied by two ships, DALAND's and the DUTCHMAN's, lying fairly close together. The Norwegian ship is lit up; its sailors are on deck, making merry.

SAILORS [drinking]: Steersman! Leave the watch!
Steersman! Here with us!
Ho! Hey! Hey! Ha!
Hoist the sail! Drop anchor!
Steersman! Here!
Fearing neither wind nor dangerous shore
today will be right merry!
Each one has his sweetheart on land.
Splendid tobacco and good brandy wine!
Hussassa hey!
Crag and storm out there --
Yollolo hey! --
we laugh at!
Hussassa hey!
Furl sail! Anchor fast! Crag and storm we laugh at!
Steersman! Leave the watch!
Steersman! Here with us!
Steersman, here! Drink with us!
Hey! Hussa hey! Hallo hey!
[They dance on the deck, accompanying the downbeat of each bar with a heavy stamp of the feet. The GIRLS arrive with baskets full of food and drink.]

Acts II and III separated

Josef Greindl (bs), Daland; Annelies Kupper (s), Senta; Josef Metternich (b), Dutchman; RIAS Chamber Chorus, RIAS Symphony Orchestra (Berlin), Ferenc Fricsay, cond. DG, recorded 1952

Martti Talvela (bs), Daland; Anja Silja (s), Senta; Theo Adam (bs-b), Dutchman; BBC Chorus, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Feb.-Mar. 1968

Acts II and III joined, starting back near
the end of the Dutchman-Senta scene

Elisabeth Grümmer (s), Senta; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Dutchman; Gottlob Frick (bs), Daland; Berlin State Opera Chorus, Staatskapelle Berlin, Franz Konwitschny, cond. EMI, recorded 1959

Lisbeth Balslev (s), Senta; Simon Estes (bs-b), Dutchman; Matti Salminen (bs), Daland; Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra, Woldemar Nelsson, cond. Philips, recorded live, 1985
UPDATE: I don't know how the original version of the Nelsson-Philips clip got cut off, but the new version should be okay.


NOW WE GO BACK TO THE JOIN BETWEEN ACTS I AND II

We've already heard most of what we hear here as the end of Act I (what we heard began at Daland's "Hey, how the sails are already filling!" We're going to here it first with the full stop that Wagner composed for the version in three independent acts. Then we'll hear the two acts joined, as Wagner originally composed them.

The Flying Dutchman: Act I end, from Steersman, "Südwind! Südwind" ("South wind! South wind!") . . . Act II beginning, Spinning Song

STEERSMAN [on board]: South wind! South wind!
SAILORS [waving their caps]: Halloho!
STEERSMAN: Ah, dear south wind, blow once more!
SAILORS: Halloho! Hohohe! Halloyo!
DALAND: You see, fortune favors you:
the wind is fast, the sea calm.
Let us weigh anchor forthwith
and sail bent for home.
STEERSMAN and SAILORS [weighing anchor and hoisting sail]: Hoho! Hallojo!
DUTCHMAN: May I ask you to sail on ahead?
The wind is fresh, but my crew are weary.
I'l let them rest awhile, then follow on.
DALAND: Yes, but the wind?
DUTCHMAN: It's set to blow from the south.
My ship is swift, and will overtake you!
DALAND: You think so? Well, so be it!
Farewell! You may yet see my daughter today!
DUTCHMAN: For sure!
DALAND [going aboard his ship]:
Hey, how the sails are already filling!
Hallo! Hallo!
[He gives a signal on his whistle.]
Quick, lads, cast off!
SAILORS [as they sail off]:
Through thunder and storm, through distant seas
I draw near, my lass! Hurrah!
Through towering waves, from the south
I am here, my lass! Hurrah!
My girl, were there no south wind,
I could never come to you:
Oh, dear south wind, blow once more!
My lass longs for me!
Ho! Ho! Ho, yo-lo-ho!
Ho ho ho ho ho!
Ho! Ho! Ho, yo-lo-ho! Ho ho ho ho ho ho!

ACT II

A spacious room in DALAND's house. MARY and the girls are seated around the hearth, spinning.

GIRLS: Whirr and whirl, good wheel,
gaily, gaily turn!
Spin, spin a thousand threads,
good wheel, whirr and whirl!
My love is out there on the seas,
thinking of his dear at home;
good wheel, roll and roar!
Ah, if you could raise a wind,
he'd soon be here.
Spin, girls, spin busily!
Whirr and whirl, good wheel!
Tralarala la la la la!

Acts I and II separated

Ernst Häfliger (t), Steersman; Josef Greindl (bs), Daland; Josef Metternich (b), Dutchman; RIAS Chamber Chorus, RIAS Symphony Orchestra (Berlin), Ferenc Fricsay, cond. DG, recorded 1952

Gerhard Unger (t), Steersman; Martti Talvela (bs), Daland; Theo Adam (bs-b), Dutchman; BBC Chorus, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Feb.-Mar. 1968

Acts I and II joined

Fritz Wunderlich (t), Steersman; Gottlob Frick (bs), Daland; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b); Dutchman; Berlin State Opera Chorus, Staatskapelle Berlin, Franz Konwitschny, cond. EMI, recorded 1959

Graham Clark (t), Steersman; Matti Salminen (bs), Daland; Simon Estes (bs-b), Dutchman; Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra, Woldemar Nelsson, cond. Philips, recorded live, 1985


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