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US Premiere of the Schott 1841 Edition of Der fliegende Holländer at Boston Lyric Opera

Mar. 29, 2013

US Premiere of the Schott 1841 Edition of <em>Der fliegende Holländer</em> at Boston Lyric Opera

Wagner’s masterpiece Der fliegende Holländer sees its first performances in the United States using Schott's complete 1841 Edition on April 26 at Boston Lyric Opera conducted by David Angus and directed by Michael Cavanagh, one of the many signal events to take place in the Wagner bicentennial year. The original version of Der fliegende Holländer dates from 1841, when Wagner was still a little known Kapellmeister in France attempting to get a foothold in Paris where he saw the opportunity for a one-act stage work that would be suitable for the Paris Opera’s practice of performing several short works one after another. This opera, conceived in 1840 and composed in 1841, seemed to him quite suited to this purpose.

When success eluded him in Paris, Wagner eventually offered the work to German opera houses as a “Romantic Opera in One Act and Three Scenes.” Taking as its literary model Heinrich Heine’s novel fragment “From the Memoirs of Mr. Schnabelewopski,” Wagner set this version in Scotland with the characters taking on English names. The version would never be performed in his lifetime.

Wagner set out on constant revisions beginning in 1842 including resetting the story in Norway, changing the characters’ names again, dividing the opera into three acts, and transposing select passages. It was not until after these changes that the score was sent to print in 1845. For the remainder of the composer’s lifetime Wagner would contemplate a plan for a final score or definitive vocal score, but this never came to be. As a result, we still do not have Der fliegende Holländer in a final version from the hands of the composer himself.

Based on research conducted as part of the creation of Schott Music’s Richard Wagner Complete Edition, this edition of the opera recreates the original version of 1841. The Boston Lyric Opera production runs April 26, 28, May 1, 3, 5 and features Allison Oakes, Alfred Walker and Gregory Frank in principal roles.

Visit www.schott-music.com for more details on the 1841 Edition of Der fliegende Holländer.

Information on Schott’s Wagner Complete Edition can be found in the new brochure Richard Wagner: Performance Materials and Versions.

Details on the Boston Lyric Opera production are located at www.blo.org.

Richard Wagner
Der fliegende Holländer (1841)
Romantic Opera in Three Scenes – Urfassung 1841, WWV 63
libretto (Ger.) by Richard Wagner
Isolde Vetter, editor
pic.2.2.ca.2.2-2 valve hn.2 natural hn.2 valve tp. (natural tp.).3.1-timp-str
on stage: 3 pic. (more if possible)-6 hn- tam-t.wind machine
135’

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