The Flying Dutchman
Synopsis
ACT I
Scene 1
A storm is raging in the Skagerrak and Captain Daland has been forced to seek shelter in the familiar Sandvika fjord. He is not far from home - the storm surprised him during the last stretch of his long voyage. He has dropped anchor and his men are furling the sails. Daland reckons the storm will soon die down and while waiting for it to do so tells his weary crew to rest. He orders the steersman to keep watch and himself retires to his cabin.
Scene 2
The steersman, and indeed the whole crew are filled with a sense of foreboding. The storm that forced the ship to seek refuge was no ordinary one. The steersman tries to keep his fear at bay by singing, but is overcome with exhaustion and finally falls asleep.
Scene 3
As the men slumber, a black ship appears out of the darkness. It draws alongside Daland's ship and the captain - the Flying Dutchman - steps ashore. Once every seven years this mortally weary, accursed traveller is allowed to go ashore to try his luck. In order to free himself from a curse, he must find a woman who promises to be true to him unto death. Now is the moment. Seven years have once again passed as he ploughs the seven seas. The Dutchman laments his fate and longs for the end of the world. There is nothing more for him to hope for.
Scene 4
Daland has not been able to sleep and goes back up on deck. He notices the strange ship anchored before his own and rouses the bewildered steersman. He also sights the strange ship's captain. The stranger says he is from Holland, but that he has long been sailing without a homeland. He asks Daland to give him a bed for the night, revealing that he is very rich and saying he is prepared to pay just anything to anyone who can help him find a home. Daland jumps at the idea and tells him of his daughter, Senta. Before long he has made a marriage deal with the stranger - all that is needed now is Senta's consent. Daland is eager to get everything settled that very day and prepares to set sail for home. His future son-in-law promises to follow with his own ship.
INTERVAL
ACT II
Scene 1
Before leaving home, Daland had asked Erik, a huntsman from his village, to look after Senta while he was away. Senta and Erik are to announce their betrothal the moment her father returns. Ignorant of Daland's new plan - of what he has meanwhile agreed with the Dutch captain - the village women are, under the watchful eye of Mary, preparing to celebrate Senta's engagement. More than her betrothal Senta is, however, excited by the pendant round her neck bearing a picture of the legendary mariner, the Flying Dutchman, whose luckless fate is familiar to her from a ballad sung to her by Mary. Senta is spell-bound by the song. The horrified Mary tries to make her see sense.
Scene 2
Senta tries to persuade Mary to sing her the ballad of the Flying Dutchman again. Mary refuses, so Senta sings it herself. In the ballad, the mariner reviles the Devil as he rounds the Cape of Good Hope in a violent storm. A curse thus falls upon him that obliges him to sail to the ends of the earth. An angel nevertheless appears before the captain in the ballad, offering him a chance of salvation: once in every seven years he may go ashore to seek a woman who, by being faithful unto death, may free him from the curse. As she sings the ballad, Senta falls into such ecstasy that the women feel it is best to seek Erik's help.
Scene 3
Erik arrives with the news that Daland's ship is approaching. The women rush down to the harbour, leaving Senta and Erik alone. Erik, who has noticed Senta's dwindling interest in him, tries to find out what is wrong. Having questioned her, he reproaches her and claims she has allowed herself to be misled by Satan. He tells of a dream in which, from a high cliff, he saw Senta sailing off into the distance with a strange man.
Scene 4
Daland enters with a man whom Senta immediately recognises: he is precisely the luckless mariner of the ballad. She is all the more astonished when her father hints that she could become the man's wife. Senta is so overcome that she cannot speak, and Daland considers it wisest to leave them. Senta remains alone with the stranger.
Scene 5
For both Senta and the Dutchman the meeting is the fulfilment of their dreams. He no longer has the strength to believe his fate is turning, however. He suspects that Senta is an illusion sent by the Devil to remind him of his torment. Senta swears she is prepared to forgo everything to save the man she feels she has already loved for a long time, and whose hapless fate touches her so deeply. Finally the Dutchman dares to believe that she is the salvation once promised him by the angel.
Scene 6
Daland returns to discover that his daughter and the wealthy stranger have found one another. He announces that the homecoming party will also celebrate the future couple's betrothal.
ACT III
Scene 1
The villagers are rejoicing at Daland’s ship’s return and the sudden rise in fortune accompanying the arrival of the rich stranger in their midst. The merry-making is to culminate in the announcement of the forthcoming marriage of Daland’s daughter and the strange captain. Confusion is, however, cast over them by the deathly silence surrounding the stranger’s black ship.
The villagers try to tempt the crew of the strange ship to join them but receive no reply. Their good-natured coaxing gradually becomes more and more taunting. This is in no way alleviated by the fact that the invisible crew of the black ship seems to interest the village women more than their own men folk.
Scene 2
All of a sudden the crew of the black ship tumbles onto the quay, sowing destruction all around. The villagers flee in terror.
Scene 3
Erik has been forced to watch from the sidelines as his agreed betrothal to Senta is forgotten as if it had never been. He has sought her out to find out what is really going on. Senta does not wish to speak to him and tries to run away. He finally comes face to face with her. His accusations are weighty: Senta, who is now promising herself to the strange captain, already promised to be his bride while they were walking in the mountains. Senta cannot deny this.
Scene 4
The Dutchman comes across Senta and Erik at the worst possible moment. The man for whom Senta’s faithfulness is the condition for his salvation believes he has once again been deceived. He immediately orders his men to weigh anchor and hoist the sails. The Flying Dutchman must once again continue his endless journey across the seas. He warns Senta: the woman who promises herself to him but is then unfaithful is doomed to perish. He is therefore departing in order to spare her this fate.
Senta still has a chance to save herself – she is not yet anyone’s wife in the eyes of Eternity. She tries to stop the Dutchman from going, telling him she knows who he is and what it implies. He does not believe her. He now reveals to all his true identity: he is the man familiar to all who sail the seven seas, the man feared by all God-fearing men: the Flying Dutchman.
Scene 5
Despite the Dutchman’s command, his men – the living dead – refuse to return to the ship. On the contrary, they stream in growing numbers onto the quay. Senta sees the hopelessness of the situation. She realises she has reached an impasse from which there is only one way out and decides to cast herself from the cliff.
Scene 6
Daland understands – too late – where his blindness has led his daughter.
| 
