ACT I.
A Norwegian brig is driven out of her course on the homeward voyage,
and near the rockbound Norwegian Coast meets with the phantom ship of
the “Flying Dutchman.” Daland, the captain of the Norwegian vessel,
enters into a compact with the “Flying Dutchman” whose identity,
however, is unknown to him, to give him a home and his daughter, Senta,
for a wife, in consideration of the rich treasures stored away in the
“Flying Dutchman's” ship.
ACT II.
When the curtain rises, a bevy of Norwegian Girls, among whom are
Daland's daughter, Senta and her nurse Mary, are discovered turning
their spinning wheels and singing a spinning song. A picture of the
“Flying Dutchman” adorns the wall, and Senta, after singing a ballad
sketching in incoherent, passionate strains, a story of the subject of
the picture, solemnly vows that she will become the means of
terminating the torment, to which the “Flying Dutchman” is subjected,
and who can only be saved by a woman unwaveringly constant in her love.
During the confusion which ensues upon this avowal, the father's
arrival is announced. In the time intervening between this announcement
and Daland's arrival, Erik, Senta's lover, pleads for his love, and
endeavors to persuade Senta that her infatuation for a phantom lover
will lead to her irretrievable ruin; but to no avail. Daland arrives
and presents the “Flying Dutchman” to his daughter. Senta accepts him
as her affianced husband.
ACT III.
The curtain rises on the crew of the Norwegian brig singing a
frolicking sailor song, and jesting with a bevy of girls, who bring
them refreshments. The special object of their jest and fun (in which
the girls also join), is the crew of the “Flying Dutchman,” whom they
cannot persuade to join in their merry-making. They finally conclude
that the crew of the neighboring ship must be dead, and the suspicion
gains belief that the “Flying Dutchman” is playing one of his ugly
tricks. The crew of the “Flying Dutchman” sing a fantastic song to
which the Norwegian sailors intently listen, and whose weird words they
finally endeavor to drown in a song of their own. Erik pleads again
with Senta, and the “Flying Dutchman” appears on the scene, and orders
his crew to prepare for immediate departure, thinking Senta had proven
as faithless and inconstant in the love she had vowed him, as the rest
of womankind he had come in contact with. Senta, however, vows that she
will be true to him, and even after the “Flying Dutchman” discloses his
identity, she does not falter in her resolution. “Thine will I be,
until death shall us part!” she passionately exclaims and the curtain
falls.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
DALAND A Norwegian Navigator
SENTA His Daughter
ERIK A Huntsman
MARY Senta's Nurse
THE MATE Of Daland's Vessel
THE FLYING DUTCHMAN.
Sailors of the Norwegian Vessel. The Crew of the Flying Dutchman.
Girls.
SCENE: The Norwegian Coast