Richard Wagner, Der fliegende Holländer (1843)

Damn, man, how 'bout that overture? Nothing could shout "Damned Pirate Ghostship" more plainly. I am extremely impressed. I mean, not that the rest of the score is any slouch, but that overture.

So there's a ship on its way home taking refuge from a storm, when they encounter a ghostly vessel piloted by the titular Holländer. He's sad because he's damned to sail the seas eternally except every seven years when he's cast on-shore; if, during this time, he can find a wife who will love him faithfully unto death, he is home free. So he asks the captain, hey, got a daughter? Yup, he replies, she's pretty great! How 'bout if I marry her? Well...sure, why not? Not exactly Great Moments in Parenting, but it turns out, in an amazingly lucky coincidence, that the daughter, Senta, is a long-time Flying Dutchman fangirl, and she's totally keen on doing this thing and then they both die and ascend to heaven. How nice for them.

There are certain goofy aspects to this plot, it is true. But looking past them, we see that the main thing is the idea of a woman's perfect, selfless love saving a damned soul (which also, come to think of it, was the ending of Tannhäuser--I believe we have successfully identified a Recurring Theme). However, "looking past that" is an awfully glib thing to say--the idea doesn't exist in a vacuum; it's in an actual context that must be reckoned with. The opera sets itself an awfully tall task: it needs to convince us that that this woman would be willing to make this sacrifice for a ghost pirate whom she's just met,hopefully also convincing us that she is not therefore insane. I am honestly not convinced this isn't actually impossible--the opera may well be fundamentally broken in that regard. But IF it is to work, it certainly depends completely on the production itself. This version, by the Latvian National Opera and Ballet...doesn't.

So first, I should acknowledge that the production is clearly pretty low-budget, and there's something to be said for doing more with less. Furthermore, there's nothing wrong with the cast, Egils Siliņš being particularly magisterial in the title role. But...hmm. Well, it's some sort of twentieth-century thing, with all the sailors dressed in navy uniforms and the women as...naval nurses? I guess? I don't love the look, but I still think it's at least theoretically okay. But the production does some truly inexplicable things that really do not help the audience to get lost in the magic, of which I will enumerate three. First: what is the deal with all the sailors at the end of the first part brandishing toothbrushes? Does this really lend any gravitas to the production? Second: at the beginning of the second part, the women are supposed to spinning, on spinning wheels. But here there are no wheels; instead, the women are rhythmically sort of fiddling with their wrists, their watches or bracelets. And SERIOUSLY, what the hell are they supposed to be doing and WHY? And third: the reason Senta's would-be beau Erik keeps coming on with huge dead birds is that he's supposed to be a hunter, but it's STILL goofy-looking, and it certainly doesn't explain why he keeps manhandling them and thrusting them at Senta.

But regardless of all that, the relationship, such as it is, between the Dutchman and Senta just doesn't work. To be fair: it's possible if not probable that it would NEVER work. I mean, they barely interact at all. But here...eh. He just stands there dopily, looking like someone from the Addams Family (when I called him "magisterial," I was basically referring to his singing), and it's just...nope! Not quite!

But yeah man, the music. Quite a thing.