Opera Plots I - MDC Faculty Home Pages

prisoner and thrust into a dungeon to await execution. Azucena, seeking him, is taken as a spy; and
being recognised by the Counts attendant, Ferrando, as the daughter of the burnt gipsy, she is
doomed also to the stake, and is imprisoned with Manrico. Leonora, who has been set at liberty,
visits the outside of the castle at night, and by singing a sweet and passionate love-song, she
discovers that her lover is still within and alive, since he answers her also in song. She now seeks
an interview with Count di Luna, and entreats him to spare her lovers life; and this he agrees to do,
if, in return, she will promise to become his bride. In despair, Leonora agrees to the terms, and
Luna bids her go and set her lover free; but on the way she swallows some poison, in order to
escape marriage with the Count. Manrico receives her with open arms; but, soon guessing the
terms upon which his liberty has been secured, he repulses her. As she falls dying, however, he
discovers her sacrifice; and, with a few tender words of farewell, she breathes her last in his arms.
The Count now enters; and, furious at being thus baulked of his desire, he orders Manrico to be
instantly beheaded, forcing the grief-stricken Azucena to witness the execution of the man he
believes to be her son. His vengeful exultation, however, is quickly changed to utmost horror,
when Azucena now reveals the fact that it is his own long-lost brother whom he has thus brought
to an untimely death. Her own long-desired vengeance being thus accomplished, the gipsy falls
lifeless at the feet of the remorseful and grief-stricken Count.
180. THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
Romantic Opera in Three Acts By Richard Wagner
Libretto By the Composer (Adapted from Heine s version of "The Flying Dutchman" Legend)
First Produced Dresden, January, 1843
Chief Characters Senta, Mary, The Flying Dutchman, Daland, Erik
THE scene is laid in Norway and deals with the famous legend of " The Flying Dutchman," a
Dutch sea-captain who, having sworn that he would double the Cape of Good Hope during the
progress of a wild gale, is overheard by the Devil, who condemns him to furiously sail the seas for
ever, unless he can find a r maiden who will love him faithfully unto death, when the spell will be
broken. Once in every seven years he is allowed to go on shore ,to seek a maiden who will be true
to him; but although he has suffered his penalty for many ages he has not yet found the faithful
love he seeks.
In Act 1, another seven years having just elapsed, he brings his enchanted vessel into a bay on the
coast of Norway, where he meets with Daland, a Norwegian captain, whom he greets; and on
learning that Daland has a fair daughter he begs to be permitted to woo her, offering immense
treasures for the privilege. Daland agrees; and the pair set out for the latters home.
Act 2 takes place in the house of Daland, whose daughter, Senta, sits spinning with her maidens
and her old nurse, Mary. Senta is a dreamy, romantic girl, and has been strangely attracted by the
well-known story of "The Flying Dutchman," for whose sad fate she has great pity, and whose
image appears to her in her dreams. She has another suitor, Erik the Huntsman; but she does not
return his affection with much fervour, having already conceived a secret love for the sad
wanderer, whose fate haunts her sleeping and waking thoughts. When, therefore, her father
presently enters with the stranger, she at once recognises him as the hero of her dreams, though his