Liszt arranged operas by various composers, not just Wagner, and his methods were truly diverse. Beginning with "piano scores" that transferred the original score to the piano without the slightest deviation, he also added sections beyond the extracted pieces, as was the case with Lohengrin, incorporated his own creative elements, or even borrowed only motifs to compose free creative pieces.

He named these works according to their compositional methods: arrangement, transcription, fantasy, paraphrase, reminiscence, and so on. The four pieces from Lohengrin are classified as "arrangements" because they largely avoided original creation and adhered closely to the original work.

Under these designations, he completed over 350 arrangements in total, including those for piano, orchestra, and chamber music (approximately 45% were Liszt's own original works, and 55% were by other composers). Arrangements for piano, including those for two hands, four hands, and two pianos, totaled 274 pieces, accounting for nearly 80% of the total number of arrangements. Arrangements based on operatic works (including overtures and preludes) number approximately 70 pieces.

The arrangements of Wagner's operatic works (15 pieces in total), which Liszt worked on for a long period from 1849 to 1882, demonstrate how deeply Wagner influenced him as a composer.

The two arrangements from The Flying Dutchman are classified as "transcriptions." Although they do not deviate significantly from the original, pianistic arrangements and free creative elements are applied throughout, making them sound as if they were originally composed as piano pieces.

This work is based on The Flying Dutchman legend, which circulated after the Age of Discovery, for which Wagner wrote the libretto. An Dutch captain, who cursed the wind and God during a voyage, incurred God's wrath and was cursed, condemned to wander the seas forever, never allowed to die. To break this curse, a woman who pledges "eternal love" to the Dutch captain must appear during his permitted landing opportunity, which occurs once every seven years. As an early work by Wagner, this opera follows the tradition of number opera, where each piece is self-contained. It marks the starting point of his serious creative activity, and his lifelong theme of "redemption through a woman's love" is clearly articulated.

In Act 1, the Dutch captain, wandering in Norway, encounters a captain named Daland. Learning that Daland has a daughter named Senta, the Dutch captain asks for her hand in marriage and displays his treasures. Daland, who had long wished for a wealthy son-in-law, accepts. In Act 2, the scene shifts to Daland's house, where Senta is engrossed in a portrait of The Flying Dutchman while her companions sing the original "Spinning Chorus" (No. 1), a spinning song, and turn their spinning wheels. This is because, ever since learning the legend, Senta has dreamed that she is the saint destined to save the Dutchman. In response to her nurse Mary, who admonishes her, and the teasing girls, Senta sings Senta's Ballad (No. 2), expressing her longing and passionate feelings for the Dutchman. Seeing the Dutchman arrive with her father, she realizes at once that "he is the Dutchman she has been seeking" and pledges her fidelity to him. However, she has a young man named Erik who loves her. In Act 3, Erik reproaches Senta, who is now engaged to the Dutchman, and sings of their past love, asking if she had not once sworn eternal fidelity to him. Overhearing this, the Dutchman mistakenly believes he has been deceived and, not wishing to ruin Senta, leaps onto his ghost ship and prepares to depart. Senta, facing him as he prepares to leave, declares that she is the woman who will save him, pledges her fidelity, and throws herself into the sea. Through her sacrifice, the Dutchman's curse is broken, and the ghost ship shatters and sinks. Then, in the light of dawn, the Dutchman, saved and finding the peace of death, and Senta ascend to heaven, embracing each other.

Spinning Song

As the song progresses through its first, second, and third stanzas, the melody becomes increasingly ornate. Additionally, the "Dutchman's motif" in fifths is uniquely inserted between each stanza. While lyrics allow for variation even with repeated melodies, for music without lyrics, such as a piano arrangement, this is compensated for by the pianistic technique of variation through ornamentation.