The Legend of the Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman was ~
A spectre ship, supposed by popular belief to haunt the waters round the Cape of Good Hope. According to the legend, the captain of the vessel, van der Decken, was condemned to sail forever round the Cape, on account of his blasphemous vow to round the Cape if he had to fight God and the devil until doomsday. Wagner's opera, "Der fliegende Hollander," is based on this legend.


Condemned to travel the spectral seas forever, returning to land every seven years in a hopeless search for salvation, the Dutchman can only find eternal peace in the arms of a faithful woman. A haunting tale of the supernatural and a miracle of grand spectacle, The Flying Dutchman is high-voltage Wagner with an electrifying cast led by the world's most exciting new soprano Jeanne-Michele Charbonnet.


Several hundred years ago, in the year 1729 to be exactly, there lived a Dutch sea captain of fearsome temperament. With his ship he sailed through the stormiest seas, and fared the hardest routes. One day however, despite all his efforts, a storm prevented him from rounding the steep cliffs of a headland. He swore to the Devil that he would never give in to Nature, and that he would sail on until he rounded the headland, even if it took him till Judgment Day. The Devil took the Captain at his word and damned him, that he must stay as captain of his ship, now a ghostship, sailing the seas, until Judgment Day should come. The Devil left him just one small hope. Only through the love of a woman could he be released.


So, the Flying Dutchman became the curse of the seas. Any ship that met him became a ship of ill fortune. No sailor would sail on her, any trader would refuse to deal in it's wares. In order to protect themselves against an encounter with the ghost ship, ships took to nailing horseshoes to their masts, which was said to bring luck, and prevent an unhappy meeting.


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