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Wagner’s ‘The Flying Dutchman’ chronicles doomed sea captain

by Sally Murdock
| March 12, 2020 1:00 AM

The Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD broadcast of Richard Wagner’s Der Fliegende Hollander (“The Flying Dutchman”) will be shown at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center at 10:55 a.m. Saturday, March 14. A new production by acclaimed filmmaker Francois Girard, it is the earliest of Wagner’s operas still frequently performed today. The total run time is 2 hours 30 minutes with no intermission — short for a Wagner opera. It is sung in German with English subtitles. Tickets are available at the door for $20 adults/$5 students/$10 college students.

Set on the rugged Norwegian coastline in the 19th century, “The Flying Dutchman” is based on a folktale about a Dutch sea captain doomed by Satan to roam the seas until he finds a woman to love him. It features ocean music — but of the violent, somber and all-powerful kind. In real life, a young Wagner was musically inspired by a horrific sea crossing he made from Latvia to London to escape his creditors; his ship nearly went down three times and had to take refuge in a Norwegian fjord — exactly where he later set this opera.

The storyline is a rather grim tragedy featuring characters with some serious issues. The Dutchman has been cursed to roam the seas forever, only being allowed on land every seven years to find a woman to love him and break the curse. Then there’s Daland, the Norwegian sea captain willing to give his daughter Senta to the Dutchman in return for gold. And Senta herself has long been hyper-obsessed by the legend of “The Flying Dutchman,” and she throws away her perfectly nice boyfriend Erik to save the soul of this mysterious Dutchman.

Francois Girard’s staging of this new production of “The Flying Dutchman” is inventive and emotionally poignant, and John Macfarlane’s sets resemble huge oil paintings that evoke the power of the sea and a young woman’s obsession. The first thing the audience sees is a huge eye, which is later revealed to be the Dutchman’s portrait that has long captivated Senta in her home. During the stormy ocean-music overture, a red-dressed dancer (mimicking the red-dressed Senta of later scenes) stares transfixed at the Dutchman’s eye and evokes the crazed obsession the young woman feels for this mysterious legend of the seas. Critics found this opening to be “nothing short of breathtaking.” Other staging effects promise to awe and delight as much as Wagner’s masterful score, conducted by Russian Valery Gergiev.

Acclaimed Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel was supposed to sing the title role, but he broke his ankle not long before rehearsals began and had to cancel. Replacing him only a little over a month ago is Evgeny Nitikin, a bass-baritone who grew up in remote Murmansk, a Russian city on the Arctic Ocean. Nitikin delivers a wonderfully smooth legato line during his aria and again during his duets with Daland and Senta.

The real star of this production is Senta, sung by German lyric-dramatic soprano, Anja Kampe, making her much-anticipated Met debut. She is a Wagnerian specialist and long a favorite of European opera houses and probably overdue for singing at the Met. Critics report that her full, beautifully rounded voice soared over the orchestra. Kampe has unanimously won praise for “her thrilling singing and fierce commitment as an actor.” Salvaging the Dutchman’s soul became Senta’s obsession, and Kampe pulled it off “with desperate longing and fearlessness.” Kampe was born in 1968, yet she convincingly plays a younger woman. In fact, she is old enough to remember growing up in East Germany and not being able to attend the nearby Bayreuth Festival (all about Wagner) because the Berlin Wall was in the way.

Critics at the Met’s opening night of this opera gave high marks to singers in secondary roles. Senta’s father Daland is sung by German bass Franz-Josef Selig, the Steersman is American tenor David Portillo, Senta’s friend Mary is Japanese mezzo Mihoko Fujimura, and Senta’s boyfriend Erik is sung by Russian tenor Sergey Skorokhodov. Apparently, Skorokhodov was so good that he nearly stole the show and made the audience want to shout at Senta, “Don’t leave Erik for the Dutchman — no, Senta, no!”