Wagner's Flying Dutchman


Book Description




The Flying Dutchman


Book Description

When the curtain rises, a bevy of Norwegian Girls, among whom are Daland's daughter, Senta and her nurse Mary, are discovered turning their spinning wheels and singing a spinning song. A picture of the "Flying Dutchman" adorns the wall, and Senta, after singing a ballad sketching in incoherent, passionate strains, a story of the subject of the picture, solemnly vows that she will become the means of terminating the torment, to which the "Flying Dutchman" is subjected, and who can only be saved by a woman unwaveringly constant in her love. During the confusion which ensues upon this avowal, the father's arrival is announced. In the time intervening between this announcement and Daland's arrival, Erik, Senta's lover, pleads for his love, and endeavors to persuade Senta that her infatuation for a phantom lover will lead to her irretrievable ruin; but to no avail. Daland arrives and presents the "Flying Dutchman" to his daughter. Senta accepts him as her affianced husband.




Der Fliegende Holländer


Book Description

"The Flying Dutchman" by Richard Wagner joins the Black Dog Opera Library with this book/CD set. Includes a world-class recording of the opera along with a full-color guide featuring the libretto, history, a synopsis, and more.




The Ring of Truth


Book Description

'The ideal interpreter of the Ring ... a fascinating and valuable study ... absorbing and convincing' Sunday Times The Ring of the Nibelung is one of the greatest works of art created in modern times. Roger Scruton's brilliant and passionate exploration of the drama, music, symbolism and philosophy of Wagner's masterpiece - with its themes of love, death, sacrifice and freedom - shows how, ultimately, it expresses the truth about the human condition. 'Highly original and penetrating ... tremendous' Tim Blanning, Literary Review 'A rich, historical account ... After reading this book, only the most unadventurous reader would turn down the chance to see Wagner's masterpiece' Economist 'A brilliant gallop through the master's religious, musical and philosophical contexts' Sue Prideaux, Spectator 'Scruton is one of the finest philosopher-musicians since Schopenhauer' Jonathan Gaisman, Standpoint




Wagner Outside the Ring


Book Description

Designed as a companion volume to 2006's Inside the Ring, which focused on the four operas comprising Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, this new volume features more than a dozen original essays focusing on all of Wagner's non-Ring operas. Part One looks at the individual operas, including Der Fliegende Hollander, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, and Parsifal. Part Two reveals the connections between Wagnerian opera and other arts, including dance, filmmaking, and fiction. Finally, Part Three examines Wagner's operas in performance, featuring interviews with mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung and heldentenor Ben Heppner, both well-known for their Wagnerian performances. The book includes many photographs from current productions by the Metropolitan Opera and other opera companies, along with bibliographies and a discography of recommended performances.




Richard Wagner: Der Fliegende Holländer


Book Description

An opera handbook on one of Richard Wagner's most popular operatic masterpieces.




Richard Wagner and His World


Book Description

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) aimed to be more than just a composer. He set out to redefine opera as a "total work of art" combining the highest aspirations of drama, poetry, the symphony, the visual arts, even religion and philosophy. Equally celebrated and vilified in his own time, Wagner continues to provoke debate today regarding his political legacy as well as his music and aesthetic theories. Wagner and His World examines his works in their intellectual and cultural contexts. Seven original essays investigate such topics as music drama in light of rituals of naming in the composer's works and the politics of genre; the role of leitmotif in Wagner's reception; the urge for extinction in Tristan und Isolde as psychology and symbol; Wagner as his own stage director; his conflicted relationship with pianist-composer Franz Liszt; the anti-French satire Eine Kapitulation in the context of the Franco-Prussian War; and responses of Jewish writers and musicians to Wagner's anti-Semitism. In addition to the editor, the contributors are Karol Berger, Leon Botstein, Lydia Goehr, Kenneth Hamilton, Katherine Syer, and Christian Thorau. This book also includes translations of essays, reviews, and memoirs by champions and detractors of Wagner; glimpses into his domestic sphere in Tribschen and Bayreuth; and all of Wagner's program notes to his own works. Introductions and annotations are provided by the editor and David Breckbill, Mary A. Cicora, James Deaville, Annegret Fauser, Steven Huebner, David Trippett, and Nicholas Vazsonyi.




Richard Wagner in Paris


Book Description

How did Wagner's experiences in Paris influence his works and social character? And how does his sometime desire for recognition by the French cultural establishment square with his German national identity and with the related idea of a universally valid art? Friedrich Nietzsche more than once claimed that Wagner's only true home was in Paris. This book is the first major study to trace Wagner's relationship with Paris from his first sojourn there (1839-1842) to the Paris Tannhäuser (1861). How did Wagner's experiences in Paris influence his works and social character? How does his sometime desire for recognition by the French cultural establishment square with his German national identity and with the related idea of a universally valid art? This book presents Wagner's perennial ambition of an international operatic success in the "capital city of the nineteenth century" and the paradoxical consequences of that ambition upon its failure. Through an examination of previously neglected source materials, the book engages with ideas in the so-called "Wagner debate" as an ongoing philosophical project that tries to come to terms with the composer's Germanness. The book is in three main parts arranged broadly in chronological sequence. The first considers Wagner's earliest years in Paris, focusing on his own French-language drafts of Das Liebesverbot and Der fliegende Holländer. The second part explores his stance towards Paris "at a distance" following his return to Saxony and subsequent political exile. Arriving at Wagner's most often discussed "Paris period" (1859-61), the third part interrogates the concert performances under the composer's direction at the Théâtre-Italien and revisionist aspects of their reception. JEREMY COLEMAN is Lecturer in Music in the School of Performing Arts, Universityof Malta.




De fliegender Hollander


Book Description

Der fliegende Hollaender is the first of Wagner's operas that the author considered to be representative of his mature style. The Dutchman embodies one of the major themes that recur throughout Wagner's work: that of a central character seeking redemption from a loving woman. Originally taken from a story by Heinrich Heine, Wagner extended and enriched his musical and dramaturgical language to produce an opera of extraordinary power.An essay in the guide places the opera in the context of emerging German Romanticism, and another highlights the musical riches of the score. A further article explores the emerging importance of myth to Wagner and his contemporaries. As well as a detailed description of the work's performance history, the volume contains Wagner's own instructions to his performers and his programme note about the overture. Illustrations, a thematic guide, the full libretto with English translation and reference sections are also included.Contains:Behind Der fliegende Hollaender, John WarrackAn Introduction to Der fliegende Hollaender, John DeathridgeLoneliness, Love and Death, William VaughanHow Wagner Found the Flying Dutchman, Mike AshmanOf Storms and Dreams: Reflections on the Stage History of Der fliegende Hollaender, Katherine SyerThe Overture to Der fliegende Hollaender, Richard WagnerRemarks on Performing the Opera Der fliegende Hollaender, Richard WagnerDer fliegende Hollaender: Poem by Richard WagnerThe Flying Dutchman: English translation by Lionel Salter




Wagner and Cinema


Book Description

The contributors discuss films ranging from the 1913 biopic of Wagner to Ridley Scott's Gladiator, with essays on silent cinema, film scoring, Wagner in Hollywood, German cinema, and Wagner beyond the soundtrack.