delivery of this Ahasuerus of the ocean (taken by Heine from a Dutch
drama of the same title) gave me everything ready to use the legend as
the libretto of an opera. I came to an understanding about it with
Heine himself, drew up the scheme, and gave it to M. Léon Pillet
[manager of the Grand Opera], with the proposition that he should have
a French libretto made from it for me." Subsequently M. Pillet
purchased the libretto direct from Wagner, who consented to the
transaction, as he saw no opportunity of producing the opera in Paris.
It was then set by Dietsch as "Le Vaisseau fantôme," and brought out
in Paris in 1842. In the mean time, not discouraged by his bad
fortune, Wagner set to work, wrote the German verse, and completed the
opera in seven weeks for Dresden, where it was finally performed, as
already stated. Unlike "Rienzi," it met with failure both in Dresden
and Berlin; but its merits were recognized by Spohr, who encouraged
him to persevere in the course he had marked out.

The plot of the opera is very simple. A Norwegian vessel, commanded by
Daland, compelled by stress of weather, enters a port not far from her
destination. At the same time a mysterious vessel, with red sails and
black hull, commanded by the wandering Flying Dutchman, who is
destined to sail the seas without rest until he finds a maiden who
will be faithful until death, puts into the same port. The two
captains meet, and Daland invites the stranger to his home. The two at
last progress so rapidly in mutual favor that a marriage is agreed
upon between the stranger and Senta, Daland's daughter. The latter is
a dreamy, imaginative girl, who, though she has an accepted lover,
Eric, is so fascinated with the legend of the stranger that she
becomes convinced she is destined to save him from perdition. When he
arrives with her father she recognizes him at once, and vows eternal
constancy to him. In the last act, however, Eric appears and