Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman premiered in Dresden in 1843.
The first performance took place at the Dresden Court Theatre on 2 January 1843, with Wagner conducting. The opera tells the legend of a cursed sailor condemned to roam the seas until he can find a woman whose faithful love will redeem him. Senta, fascinated by the story, becomes central to that possibility of salvation.
Wagner drew on maritime legends and literary accounts of the Flying Dutchman, a ghostly ship doomed to sail forever. The opera marked an important stage in his development toward the through-composed music dramas for which he later became famous.
Dresden is sometimes confused with Bayreuth because Bayreuth became strongly associated with Wagner’s mature works. Wagner founded the Bayreuth Festival decades later, and The Flying Dutchman was not premiered there.