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Der fliegende Holländer is unusual among Richard Wagner's mature operas for the brevity and relatively recent appearance of its source material. Compared to the rich web of medieval narratives and legends upon which Der Ring des Nibelungen, Tristan und Isolde, or Parsifal are based, the Flying Dutchman is a typically modern legend that did not achieve a definitive form until the nineteenth century. As Wagner acknowledged in an autobiographical sketch written contemporaneously with the opera,1 he found all the material he needed in a tale published by Heinrich Heine in 1834. Heine's text, and his presentation of the tale as an ironic interlude within a larger narrative, is clearly modern, yet the story of a doomed individual condemned to an existence of eternal wandering is strongly grounded in the related traditions of older narratives and mythologies that intermingle to form complex layers of meaning. Heine alludes to these traditions by identifying the Dutchman as "that Wandering Jew of the ocean," and Wagner further expands the relationships by associating the Dutchman with hunting music to link him to the legends of the Wild Hunter. Although the Dutchman, in both Wagner's and Heine's versions, exists as a separate entity, much can be gained by considering this figure through a wider historical and narrative lens. This allows for an examination of the meanings accrued from the related legends and traditions while also defining how both Heine and Wagner perceived the Dutchman within these larger narratives. In the case of Wagner, it also provides insight into the narrative choices he made in developing the opera, particularly in his addition of the character of Erik.
Since all three legends are far less familiar today than they were for Wagner and his audience, I begin by reviewing them and establishing the relationships among them. I then move to Der fliegende Holländer to show how certain aspects of the legends provide structural and dramatic coherence in the opera while informing Wagner's changes and enhancements to the story. The result is a deeper awareness of the socio-cultural meanings of the opera and the cultural context in which it was first presented by Wagner and experienced by his audience.
THE LEGENDS OF THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, THE WANDERING JEW AND THE WILD HUNTER
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