Opera Plots I - MDC Faculty Home Pages

identity is not as yet known to the others; and when he, equally attracted by her sweet and pure
beauty, woos her, she eagerly responds, and the pair are betrothed. Erik, however, is very
distrustful of the stranger; for mysterious phenomena take place upon the phantom ship, the crew
of which reveal their demoniac origin by indulging in eldritch laughter, and by the sudden
electrical illuminations in which their vessel is at times enveloped. He therefore endeavours to
persuade Senta to renounce the stranger who has enthralled her, and to accept his own love
instead; and when she still declares that her heart is entirely given to her unknown suitor, he
angrily reproaches her with unfaithfulness to him, since he has regarded her as his sweetheart from
early childhood. The Dutchman overhears this conversation, and is filled with despair, thinking
that if Senta has deserted one lover, she will also forsake him, and his cruel fate will thus remain
unchanged. He therefore rushes off to his vessel like one distraught and forsaken; and Senta,
imploring him to remain, and passionately assuring him that her love has always been his alone,
flies after him, but is caught and held back by Erik, whose calls for help quickly bring others on
the scene. The Dutchman now stops and reveals his true identity to the astonished and horrified
bystanders; and then, hastening on board his vessel, he bids Senta a tender farewell and sets sail.
Senta, however, is determined to link her fate with the doomed man, whose image has been in her
heart since childhood, and to save him from his dreadful fate, even at the sacrifice of her own life;
and breaking away from the detaining arms of Erick, she hastens to the edge of the cliff and casts
herself into the sea, calling upon her beloved hero. By her loving sacrifice and true proof of
faithfulness until death, the magic spell is broken; and the phantom ship immediately sinks
beneath the waves. Then, as the awed bystanders still gaze at the seething whirlpool, they behold
the revivified forms of Senta and the Flying Dutchman, folded in each others arms, rising from the
sea, and soaring upwards into the heavens.
181. LOHENGRIN
Romantic Opera in Three Acts By Richard Wagner
Libretto By the Composer (Adapted from an old German Legend)
First Produced Weimar, August, 1850
Chief Characters Elsa, Ortrud, Lohengrin, Teiramund, Henry the Fowler (King of Germany)
THE scene is laid in Brabant during the early days of chivalry, when King Arthur and his Knights
flourished. Henry the Fowler, King of Germany, on arriving in Antwerp, finds the State in great
disorder, and on the verge of rebellion. The Duke having recently died, and his young son,
Gottfried, having mysteriously disappeared, the dukedom is claimed by Frederick Telramund,
through the direct descent of his wife, Ortrud; and he now accuses Elsa, the sister of Gottfried, of
having murdered her brother, in order that she might win the crown for herself. The royal maiden
is therefore summoned before the King, to be tried by the ordeal of single combat, and is bidden to
name a champion to fight for her. The innocent Elsa enthusiastically declares that she has seen a
noble and glorious Knight in her dreams, whom she already loves; and as she calls upon him to
champion her cause a skiff appears, drawn by a swan, in which stands a Knight in shining silver
armour, who announces that he is ready to do battle for her. This stranger is the pure and stainless
Knight, Lohengrin, who, however, makes Elsa promise never to ask him to divulge his name or
origin, or he will be compelled to leave her, since he is bound by a vow to conceal his identity; and
having obtained her promise, the pair are betrothed. The Knight of the Swan then engages with the