The Dutchman's Origin
by Kristin Rasmussen
Centuries ago, a courageous captain and his crew attempted to navigate their way through the perilous waters of the Cape of Good Hope at the southern point of Africa. Sailing around the cape was widely regarded as a foolish mission; here is where the waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans collide, and the currents and storms created have caused countless shipwrecks over the centuries. The weather was too much for this brave captain to deal with. In distress, the captain attempted to dock with his crew, but the stormy seas obstructed their progress. Ultimately, their efforts were futile; the captain was unable to bring himself and his crew ashore, and they were lost forever to the sea.
The legend of the Dutchman was first popularized by seamen of the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century. In the distance, the sailors would see the Dutchman's phantom vessel emerge, afloat above the ocean and precipitated by ferocious storms. The legend of the phantom ship captained by a cursed sailor, destined to navigate the world's oceans forever, is said to have been inspired by Bernard Fokke. Fokke, a captain for the Dutch East India Company, was known for rounding the Cape with supernatural speed and many believed he was touched by Satan himself. The Dutchman then made his written debut in travelogues from the late 1700s, detailing the terrifying scenes that the Dutch East India sailors witnessed.
Over the ages, hundreds of sightings of the Dutchman and his crew have been reported. The diaries of Prince George, the future King George V, contain one of the most well-known of these encounters. The prince and a portion of his crew allegedly saw the paranormal ship while docked early one morning. Later that day, one of the crew members perished after falling from one of the masts. Along with the countless sightings, this myth has become entrenched in popular culture for generations. From its initial appearances in travelogues to the apparition of the spectral man in blockbuster films and children's television series, the Dutchman's tale has retained its popularity.
For Wagner, the most important retelling of the story comes in Heinrich Heine’s unfinished novel The Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski, released in 1833. This novel would become the chief source for the libretto Wagner penned for Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman). In Heine's version, a character witnesses a melodramatic presentation of the Dutchman myth, and in this performance Heine adds two essential elements to the tale: the curse could be broken by the pure love of a faithful woman, and the doomed captain was permitted to set foot on land every seven years to seek this love. Additionally, Heine's decision to move the plot from the Cape of Good Hope to the North Sea off the coast of Scotland inspired Wagner's Scandinavian location. Wagner himself claimed that a maritime voyage he took in the summer of 1839—described in detail in his autobiography Mein Leben—was the original inspiration for the opera. The yells and shouts of the ship's crew, the echoes and gravity of the granite walls of the Norwegian fjords, and the perils of the storms throughout the crossing were all eventually incorporated into The Flying Dutchman. During this voyage, Wagner may have heard the legend told, but no textual or musical sketches have survived.
This summer, DMMO will bring Wagner's adaptation of the Dutchman's cursed tale back to the stage at the Blank Performing Arts Center for the first time in almost forty years!