Der Fliegende Holländer

Wagner pulled out all the stops in his retelling of the ancient tale of the Flying Dutchman, using the orchestra to paint the scenes vividly in music. At one moment it is a raging storm at sea, the next it lets us experience the magic of two people falling irrevocably in love. Cornell MacNeil, in one of very few German roles he ever sang, is the dark and tortured Dutchman condemned to sail the seas until he find true love. An incandescent Leonie Rysanek, with her unique mix of erotic longing and spiritual bliss, reminds us why Senta was one of her greatest roles.