The Flying Dutchman, (Der fliegende Holländer) WWV 63, is a German-language opera, with libretto and music by Richard Wagner. It was composed in 1840, premiered in 1843 and first published in 1844 in Dresden. Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography that he had been inspired to write the opera following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in 1839, but in his 1843 autobiographic sketch, Wagner acknowledged he had taken the story from Heinrich Heine's retelling of the legend in his 1833 satirical novel The Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski. The central theme of the opera is redemption through love. composition shows early attempts at operatic styles that would characterise Wagner's later music dramas, with several leitmotifs appearing associated with the characters and themes. The leitmotifs are all introduced in the overture, which begins with a well-known ocean or storm motif before moving into the Dutchman and Senta motifs. Wagner originally wrote the work to be performed without intermission – an example of his efforts to break with tradition – and, while today's opera houses sometimes still follow this directive, it is also performed in a three-act version.
