Part of Shanghai Grand Theatre's 20th Anniversary

A New Production by Theater Erfurt

Co-Presented by Shanghai Opera House & Shanghai Grand Theatre

Performed by Theater Erfurt & Shanghai Opera House

 

 

Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) was Richard Wagner’s fourth full-length opera and his first considered masterpiece. And it’s fitting that the opera that helped to cement the controversial composer’s legacy deals with a familiar maritime tale-the legend of the Flying Dutchman. Wagner’s version retells the haunting story of an undead ship captain doomed to an endless journey across the seas. His wandering will not cease until he can find and keep a faithful and true love — an accomplishment put even further out of reach, considering he can only come ashore once every seven years.

 

 

Wagner was just 29 when he conducted the world premiere of Der Fliegende Holländer in Dresden. But as has his compositional skills continued to develop, he would revisit his earlier masterpiece several times for revisions. As Berger points out, Holländer is a great example of a work that indicates a vastly different creative period of the composer - while still bearing the unmistakable marks of that composer’s creativity. He makes a deft comparison to the creative trajectory of The Beatles, drawing a parallel between their earliest album and their later boundary-pushing output. Der Fliegende Holländer and Der Ring des Nibelungen, much like an early and later Beatles album, “are two different art forms and yet you can tell they’re the same people,” says Berger. “So The Flying Dutchman is Wagner at his best at a different point in his creative output than his other masterpieces.”

 

All that makes for a more satisfying listen, and a fascinating lens into the development of an artist.

 

 

Music/Libretto by Richard Wagner

Conductor: Xu Zhong

Stage Director: Guy Montavon

Set Designer: Hank Irwin Kittel

Chorus Master: Thomas Eitler

Vocal Coach: Alessandro Amoretti

 

Holländer-Todd Thomas

Senta-Katrin Adel

Daland-Kakhaber Shavidze

Erik-Yu Haolei

Mary-Wang Xiaoxi

Steuermann-Zheng Yao

 

Theater Erfurt & Shanghai Opera House