THE WEEK’S RADIO "The Flying Dutchman" From Bayreuth

Press, Volume C, Issue 29444, 21 February 1961, Page 13

THE WEEK’S RADIO "The Flying Dutchman " From Bayreuth

Wieland Wagner’s new production of his grandfather’s early opera “Die Fliegende Hollander,” at the 1959 Bayreuth Festival was widely acclaimed as one of his finest productions. The musical side or the production, with George London as the Dutchman and Leonie Rysanek as Senta and Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting, was also a triumph.

Wieland Wagner himself said of the musical forces that for the first time since 1951 he had had “world-class” material For last year’s Bayreuth Festival neither London nor Rysanek was available. So for his "Flying Dutchman” production, Wagner took a gamble and engaged two virtually unknown singers. One was a bass, originally from the Bayreuth chorus, who had never sung a baritone role; the other whs,a soprano who had never before sung so heavy a role. "The gamble came off,” wrote William Mann in "Opera,” Anja Silja was a "magnificent" Senta, with “the fey, enchanted looks that bring tears to the eyes when she sings her ballad of the Flying Dutchman, and she has the strong, silvery, impassioned yet curiously unheroic tones that release those tears with spontaneous efficacy.” Franz Crass, the Dutchman, “has a strong vibrant baritonal register, not unlike that of Josef Metternich, but with a sable basso resonance of his

own.” These two singers will be heard tomorrow night when, at 8.15, 3YC will broadcast a recording of a 1960 Bayreuth performance of the opera. The conductor is Sawallisch and the other soloists include the bass, Josef Greindl. Apart from the soloists, said William Mann, "the real honours were due to the genius who trains the Bayreuth chorus. ‘Hollander" is a chorus opera; I do not expect to hear finer choral singing than that of the 1960 ‘Hollander’ chorus."

Wagner’s libretto is based on the legend of the Flying Dutchman—a Dutch sea captain who tried to round the Cape of Good Hope in the teeth of a furious gale and swore that he would accomplish his purpose even if he kept on sailing for ever. The devil, hearing his oath, condemned the captain to sail the seas until Judgment Day, without hope of release, unless he should find a woman who would love him faithfully unto death. Once in every seven years he is allowed to go ashore in search of a woman who will redeem him through her faithful love.

The opera opens just as a seven-year term has elapsed. The Dutchman’s ship comes to anchor in a bay on the coast of Norway, in which the ship of Daland, a Norwegian sea captain, has sought shelter. Daland’s home is not far from the bay, and the Dutchman, learning that he has a daughter, asks permission to woo her. Daland readily consents. His daughter, Senta, is a

romantic girl upon whom the Flying Dutchman legend has made a deep impression, and as Daland ushers the stranger into his home she is gazing at a picture representing the legendary Dutchman. The stranger so resembles the picture that the emotional girl is at once attracted to him and pledges her faith to him. Later, Eric, a young huntsman in love with Senta, pleads his case with her. The Dutchman overhears them .and, thinking himself forsaken, rushes off to his ship. Senta cries out that she is faithful to him but is held back by Eric, Daland and her friends. The Dutchman, seeking to terrify her, proclaims who he really is and puts to sea. Senta breaks away and casts herself over a cliff into the sea. The phantom ship sinks in a seething whirlpool and the forms of Senta and the Dutchman, freed from his endless voyaging, are seen floating upward. A more succinct account of the plot was given by the famc-s Fr. Charley in his “New Opera Glass,” first published at Leipzig in 1877 for English and American visitors. Here is the immortal Charley’s account: "Daland, norwegisch seacapitan, is meeting the Hollander on spektership. This recount he was badly cursed from the devil to wander eternal in the seas, only he could get safed if he find a woman witch will be true to the dying. Daland is taking him to his house. Senta his daughter is singing the spinsong, she is knowing of him and will salve him by the marriage. But Erik the ancient lover of her is not merry and he is begging for her not dessert him. The Hollander is hearing on this and in the meaning he is derived he is running on the ship and informing the peoples from his really name. Senta is throwing herselves on the sea and now the ship has sunked, but the Hollander and his espoused are soaring at the sky because the curse is broke.” Spanish Story

The name of Miguel de Unamuno is a distinguished one in the European literary scene. Poet, essayist and novelist, Ynamuno was born in Bilbao in 1864. For a long period he was professor and rector at Salamanca University. His political opinions, expressed in various journals, and his constant opposition to the Spanish Government, lost him his post in 1924, and for the rest of his life he lived mainly in Paris. One of his best known stories is "Nothing

Less Than a Man,” published in 1528 as one of "Three Exemplary Tales,t The chief character, Julia, is a beautiful and romantic girl who is obsessed with the idea of being loved, not merely valued for her beauty. The man she marries to please her father, and comes to love in spite of herself, is crude, self-made and immensely rich, and too arrogant to permit himself the weakness of loving anyone. But it is Julia who triumphs, tragically, at the last. The adapter and producer of the 8.8.C.’s dramatic version of “Nothing Less Than a Man” (YC’s, 8 p.m., Saturday) Frederick Bradnum, has retained both the dialogue and the very important narrative passages of the original story, which was translated by W. S. Merwin, an American poet now settled in Europe.

Dylan Thomas Between 1938 1 and 1953, Dylan Thomas read many of his own poems ahd stories over the 8.8. C. Listeners may again hear the Welsh poet’s rich, sonorous voice from 3YC at • 8.13 p.m. on Sunday, when Patrie Dickinson will introduce a selection of Thomas’s 8.8. C. readings. Dickinson, himself a poet, knew Dylan Thomas well