“Have you a daughter?” asks the Dutchman.
“A beautiful daughter named Senta,” Daland answers.
Then, with the precipitancy characteristic of all Wagner’s lovers, the Dutchman cries:
“Let her be my wife!”
Daland, gazing on the treasures which the Dutchman has shown him, joyously gives his permission.
The second act shows us a room in Daland’s house, where Senta’s friends are sitting before wheels, gaily singing and spinning. Senta herself sits apart, gazing sentimentally at a portrait over the door—the portrait of the Flying Dutchman.
The gay song of her friends irritates her, and she bids them cease.
“Then sing us a better song yourself!” they cry.
Senta accepts the challenge, and sings the ballad of “The Flying Dutchman.” At its close she jumps up and cries that she will be the woman to save the suffering mariner.
A few minutes later Daland enters, accompanied by the Dutchman. Senta’s eyes leap away from her father to the man beside him. Speechless and immobile she stares at the face of her dreams.