American Music: Seattle Opera’s Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman
Richard Wagner
Seattle Opera
Marion Oliver McCaw Hall
May 7–21

Like so much art and literature of the 19th century, Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman is a tale of the supernatural, the conflicts between nature and the individual, as well as an attempt to find some sort of redemption through a melding of the cerebral, the physical and the spiritual. It delves into the same concepts as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

The opera can be seen as an outline of Wagner’s ideas about religion and society and the search for truth along with a quest for true love. In his later operas, that search for love moves from the individual search to a cosmic and mythological quest.

The opera follows the fortunes of the Dutchman who has been cursed by himself as well as the devil to wander the world on his boat until he finds a woman who will love him. Every seven years he is allowed onto land to see if that woman exists.

He makes an arrangement with Daland, a ship’s captain who sells his daughter, Senta to The Dutchman. She has had a fixation on the sailor’s story all her life and, despite being engaged to Erik, she elects to marry The Dutchman. However, he realizes she is not fully committed to him and leaves with his ghostly crew.

In most productions at this point Senta throws herself into the sea so the two characters can be united in the spirit world. This production takes a more pragmatic approach and has Erik shooting Senta.

Seattle Opera’s latest production of the opera is given a German Expressionist setting with the portrait of the Dutchman, which Senta worships and which hangs in front of the stage before the curtain goes up is an actual block print “ Man on a Plain” by Erich Heckel, which is influenced by works such as Munch’s The Scream.

The set itself seems to be derived from German Expressionist films such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari” and some of the costumes and staging have a Brechtian appearance. The set is a huge rectangular construction which is tilted and works well as the raked deck of the ship and is used brilliantly in the opening scene where the ship’s crew fling themselves from side to side giving the impression of the ship in rough weather. The scene is enhanced by Wagner’s music, which sounds like crashing waves.

When the opera opens, the lighting is used to create expressionist shadows and the sailor’s party in Scene III has elements of a German beer hall of the1930’s.

All of the main characters are flawed in their understanding of love and commitment. In particular The Dutchman and Senta are captured by unrealistic dreams that lead ultimately to their ruin. But Erik, Senta’s boyfriend and Senta’s father Daland also lack an understanding of how love develops.

Wagner seems to be almost Freudian in the way he creates his characters with damaged personalities when it comes to matters sexual. He also uses a Freud-like approach with the characters talking about their dreams. In portraying their characters the principals  display their flawed natures admirably. Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley, as The Dutchman, created some electrifying moments from his opening “The Time is up” to his final “Once more to the sea.” He created a brilliantly flawed character with a dramatic intensity. His urgent, rumbling voice filled with rage and abrasiveness, took on the quality of the roiling sea from whence he came, and conveyed both his otherworldly and human dimensions.

Daniel Sumegi’s rich dense vocals provided a Daland whose deep voice at times fused with that of the Dutchman while at other times took on a more conflicted timbre.

Wendy Bryn Harmer’s Senta conveyed the mixed emotional connections she had with The Dutchman, his portrait, her father and Erik with a voice filled with joy which then became infected with a sense of suffering and anxiety.

Colin Ainsworth as the Steersman played the part of a one-man Greek chorus, observing The Dutchman and Senta’s marriage. At first his clear light voice is a nice contrast to those of The Dutchman and Daland while later his voice is filled with despair and his maniacal laughter near the end brilliantly exposes the futility of the couple’s actions.

Erik, sung by David Danholt had a forceful voice and his final declaration of love for Senta was sung with supreme earnestness. He brought out some of the comic aspects of his predicament, earning him a bit of laughter from the audience, a not very common response in Wagner operas. Both the male and female choruses gave performances that provided believable action and strong emotion while the Seattle Symphony under Sebastian Lang-Lessing provided music which was an integral part of the performance.

Seattle Opera’s 2016 / 17 programme starts in August with the Rossini’s “The Wicked Adventurers of Count Ory”, which will be performed in a Monty Python style. It will be directed by  Australian Lindy Hume, who was responsible for last year’s NZ Opera production of Cinderella. Also on the programme will be Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Verdi’s La Traviata, Janacek’s Katya Kabanova and Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

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