WHEN WAGNER SAILED IN THE "THETIS"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 3, 14 July 1939, Page 37

WHEN WAGNER SAILED IN THE "THETIS"

A few weeks ago, as everybody remembers, the tragedy of the "Thetis" shocked the civilised world. But how many remember that a little ship bearing the same name as the submarine narrowly escaped a similar doom a hundred years ago? Had this ship gone to the bottom it would have taken with it one of the most spectacular figures in the world of music. As it was, the buffetting which the vessel received during an interminable three weeks was the inspiration for one of the most stirring operas ever written-" The Flying Dutchman." Its composer was Richard Wagner. But let us begin at the beginning. July of the year 1839 saw Richard Wagner, a vigorous young man of 26, at Riga, in Russia. He was musical director of the local theatre. Although not yet well known he already showed some of the peculiarities often associated with genius, for he was extremely selfish; he was harsh, and he expected others to work as hard as he did. Even after arduous rehearsals at the theatre, during which he had to attend to a hundred and one problems, he would sit up far into the night composing. With such a nature he of course made enemies as well as friends. To some he was a genius; to others, just an impossible egoist. So one day he found himself out of a job. In addition, he was saddled with debts, and now had no way of discharging them. The only course open to him and his wife was to flee. But it was not easy to leave Russia in those days without the proper facilities. It meant slipping over the frontier by night into Prussia; and for this, with the aid of a good friend, he made his plans. The friend was to await him on the Prussian side. The time came, and Wagner, his wife and his dog, went stealthily through the dark night toward the frontier -a dangerous venture, with soldiers on guard and ready to shoot! Fortunately they did not shoot. The Wagners reached Prussian soil and arrived at last at the port of Pillau. Here the " Thetis " comes into the picture. Wagner’s supply of money was running low, and the best he could do was to persuade the captain of a small, dilapidated sailing ship, the " Thetis," to take them to London. But when they were a week on their way, and had just left Denmark, they encountered a storm of such violence and fury that even the captain himself feared that the end was near. The ship wrestled with the mountainous seas and howling gale for twenty-four hours and then was headed for the coast of Norway, scudding along with the wind abeam. Nine days after leaving Pillau she reached a sheltered fiord in which she lay at rest until the tempest blew itself out. But the terrifying experience had

made a deep impression on Wagner. "A short time before this he had read the curious legend of the "Flying Dutchman," that phantom with his phantom ship, who had to wander forever over the ocean. Once only in every seven years could he come ashore, and if, during his short spell ashore, he could find a maiden who would love him truly the curse would be lifted. It was something that Wagner could not get out of his mind. Nor were his troubles yet over. As soon as the "Thetis" left shelter she ran upon a rock, and although’ she got off and made a fresh start a northerly wind sprang up and soon became a hurricane. Once again they were all in great

peril, the Wagners more than anyone else, since the sailors were now convinced that their passengers were responsible for what had happened. Then a gigantic wave took away the figure-head — an image of the nymph, " Thetis ’-and the Wagners clung together in terror, expecting to be thrown overboard. But the storm abated. The drenched, frightened handful of people were safe. Exactly three weeks after after the departure from Pillau the ‘" Thetis" sailed into the Thames estuary with a British pilot. "The Flying Dutchman" was written a little later in Paris, with the tempest’s music still in Wagner’s ears. Listeners to a special programme to mark this centenary (at 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 23, from 2YA, Wellington) will hear a fuller account of this adventure, and will also hear music from the opera which reflects all the unforgettable clamour of the wild sea on that eventful voyage which made musical history.