The Tales of Hoffmann

Jacques Offenbach

The Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes d'Hoffmann) is an opera by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the main protagonist in the opera (as he is in the stories).

Barbier, together with Michel Carré, had written a play, Les contes fantastiques d'Hoffmann, produced at the Odéon Theatre in Paris in 1851, which Offenbach had seen.[1]

The stories upon which the opera is based are Die Gesellschaft im Keller, Der Sandmann,[2] Die Abendteuer der Sylvester-Nacht, Rath Krespel,[3] and Das verlorene Spiegelbild.

Contents

Performance history

The opera was first performed, without the 'Giulietta' act, at the Opéra-Comique on 10 February 1881. It had been played through in a complete form at the house of Offenbach, 8 Boulevard des Capucines, on 18 May 1879, with Madame Franck-Duvernoy in the soprano roles, Auguez as Hoffmann and Émile-Alexandre Taskin in the four villain roles, with Edmond Duvernoy at the piano and chorus directed by Albert Vizentini. The director of the Ringtheater in Vienna, Franz von Jauner was also present, and a four-act version was later staged there on 8 December 1881.

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere cast,
10 February 1881
(Conductor: Jules Danbé)		 Complete with 'Giulietta Act',
7 December 1881
(Conductor: Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr.[4])
Hoffmann, a poet tenor Jean-Alexandre Talazac
Olympia, a mechanical doll soprano Adèle Isaac
Antonia, a young girl soprano Adèle Isaac
Giulietta, a courtesan soprano
Stella, a singer soprano Adèle Isaac
Lindorf, Coppélius, Miracle bass-baritone Émile-Alexandre Taskin
Dapertutto bass-baritone
Andrès, Cochenille, Frantz tenor Pierre Grivot
Pitichinaccio tenor
Crespel, Antonia's father bass Hippolyte Belhomme
Hermann, a student bass Teste
Wolfram, a student bass Piccaluga
Wilhem, a student bass Collin
Luther bass Troy
Nathanaël, a student tenor Chennevières
Nicklausse mezzo-soprano Marguerite Ugalde
The muse mezzo-soprano Mole-Truffier
Peter Schlémil, in love with Giulietta bass
Spalanzani, an inventor tenor E. Gourdon
Voice of the mother of Antonia soprano Dupuis
Students, Guests

Synopsis

Scenes from The Tales of Hoffmann from the Paris premiere

Prologue

A tavern in Nuremberg. The Muse appears and reveals to the audience that her purpose is to draw Hoffmann's attention to herself, and to make him abjure all other loves, so he can be devoted fully to her: poetry. She takes the appearance of Hoffmann's closest friend, Nicklausse. The prima donna Stella, currently performing Mozart's Don Giovanni sends a letter to Hoffmann, requesting a meeting in her dressing room after the performance. The letter, and the key to the room, are intercepted by Councillor Lindorf (Dans les rôles d'amoureux langoureux), who is the first of the opera's incarnations of evil, Hoffmann's nemesis. Lindorf intends to replace Hoffmann at the rendezvous. In the tavern students are waiting for Hoffmann. He finally arrives and entertains them with the legend of Kleinzach the dwarf (Il ètait une fois à la cour d'Eisenach), and is coaxed by Lindorf into telling the audience about his life's three great loves.

Act 1

Hoffmann's first love is Olympia, an automaton created by the scientist Spalanzani. Hoffmann falls in love with her, not knowing that Olympia is a mechanical doll (Allons! Courage et confiance...Ah! vivre deux!). Nicklausse, who knows the truth about Olympia, sings a story of a mechanical doll that looked like a human to warn Hoffmann but is ignored by him (Une poupée aux yeux d'émail). Coppélius, Olympia's co-creator and this act's incarnation of Nemesis, sells Hoffmann magic glasses which make Olympia appear as a real woman (J'ai des yeux).

Olympia sings one of the opera's most famous arias Les oiseaux dans la charmille ("The Doll Song") in which she periodically runs down and needs to be wound up before she can continue. Hoffmann is tricked into believing that his affections are returned, to the bemusement of Nicklausse, who subtly tries to warn his friend (Voyez-la sous son éventail). While dancing with Olympia, Hoffmann falls on the ground and his glasses break. At the same time, Coppélius appears and tears Olympia apart, in retaliation for having been tricked out of his fees by Spalanzani. With the crowd laughing at him, Hoffmann realizes that he was in love with an automaton.

Act 2

Venice. Hoffmann falls in love with the courtesan Giulietta and thinks his affections are returned (Amis, l'amour tendre et rêveur). Giulietta is not in love with Hoffmann but only seducing him under the orders of Captain Dapertutto, who has promised to give her a diamond if she filches Hoffmann's reflection from a mirror (Scintille, diamant). The jealous Schlemil (cf.e Peter Schlemiel for a literary antecedent), a previous victim of Giulietta and Dapertutto (he gave Giulietta his shadow), challenges the poet to a duel, but is killed. Nicklausse wants to take Hoffmann away from Venice and goes looking for horses. Meanwhile, Hoffmann meets Giulietta and cannot resist her (O Dieu! de quelle ivresse): he gives her his reflection, only to be abandoned by the courtesan, to Dapertutto's great pleasure. Hoffmann tells Dapertutto that his friend Nicklausse will come and save him. Dapertutto prepares a poison to get rid of Nicklausse, but Giulietta drinks it by mistake and drops dead in the arms of the poet.

Act 3

After a long search, Hoffmann finds the house where Crespel and his daughter Antonia are hiding. Hoffmann and Antonia loved each other, but were separated when Crespel decided to hide his daughter from Hoffmann. Antonia has inherited her mother's talent for singing, but her father forbids her to sing because of the mysterious illness from which she is suffering. Antonia wishes that her lover would return to her (Elle a fui, la tourterelle). Her father also forbids her to see Hoffmann, who is encouraging Antonia in her musical career, and is therefore a danger to her without knowing it. Crespel tells Frantz, his servant, to stay with his daughter and when he leaves, Frantz sings "Jour et nuit je me mets en quatre".

When Crespel leaves his house, Hoffmann takes advantage of the occasion to sneak in, and the lovers are reunited. When Crespel comes back, he receives the visit of Dr Miracle, the act's Nemesis, who forces Crespel to let him heal Antonia. Still in the house, Hoffmann listens to the conversation and learns that Antonia may die if she sings too much. He returns to her room to make her promise to give up her artistic dreams. Antonia reluctantly accepts her lover's will. Once she is alone, Dr Miracle enters Antonia's room and tries to persuade her to sing and follow her mother's path to glory, stating that Hoffmann is sacrificing her to his brutishness and loves her only for her beauty. With mystic powers, he raises a vision of Antonia's dead mother and induces Antonia to sing, causing her death. Crespel arrives just in time to witness his daughter's last breath. Hoffmann enters the room and Crespel wants to kill him, thinking that he is responsible for his daughter's death. Nicklausse saves his friend from the old man's vengeance (C'est l'amour vainqueur).

Epilogue

The tavern in Nuremberg. Hoffmann, drunk, swears he will never love again, and explains that Olympia, Antonia, and Giulietta are three facets of a same person, Stella. They represent, respectively, the young girl's, the musician's, and the courtesan's side of the prima donna. When Hoffmann says he doesn't want to love any more, Nicklausse reveals himself as the Muse and reclaims Hoffmann: "Be reborn a poet! I love you, Hoffmann! Be mine!" The magic of poetry reaches Hoffmann: "Beloved Muse, I am yours." At this moment, Stella, who is tired of waiting for Hoffmann to come to her rendezvous, enters the tavern and finds him drunk. The poet tells her to leave ("Farewell, I will not follow you, phantom, spectre of the past"), and Lindorf, who was waiting in the shadows, comes forth. Nicklausse explains to Stella that Hoffmann does not love her any more, but that Councillor Lindorf is waiting for her. Some students enter the room for more drinking, while Stella and Lindorf leave together.

The Barcarolle

The most famous number in the opera is the "Barcarolle" (Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour), which is performed in Act 2. Curiously, the aria was not written by Offenbach with Les contes d'Hoffmann in mind. He wrote it as the 'Elves’ Song' in the opera Die Rheinnixen (Les fées du Rhin), which premiered in Vienna on February 8, 1864. Offenbach died with Les contes d'Hoffmann unfinished. Ernest Guiraud completed the scoring and wrote the recitatives for the premiere. He also incorporated this excerpt from one of Offenbach's earlier, long-forgotten operas into the new opera.[5].

The Barcarolle has inspired the English composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji his Passeggiata veneziana sopra la Barcarola di Offenbach (1955–56). Moritz Moszkowski also wrote a virtuoso transcription of it.

The Barcarolle has been incorporated into many films, including Life Is Beautiful and Titanic. It also provided the tune for Elvis Presley's rendition of the song "Tonight Is So Right For Love" in the film G.I. Blues (1960).

The different editions of the opera

The original E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776–1822)

Offenbach did not live to see his opera performed, since he died on October 5, 1880, just over four months before its premiere. Before his death, Offenbach had completed the piano score and orchestrated the prologue and the first act. Since he did not entirely finish the writing, many different versions of this opera emerged, some bearing little resemblance to the original work. The version performed at the opera's premiere was that by Ernest Guiraud, who completed Offenbach's scoring and wrote the recitatives.

The main modifications often encountered are:

Commonly directors choose among two arias in the Giulietta act:
"Scintille, diamant", based on a tune from the overture to Offenbach's operetta "Journey to the Moon" and included by André Bloch for a Monaco production in 1908.
The Sextet (sometimes called Septet, counting the chorus as a character) of unknown origin, but containing elements of the Barcarolle.
The three acts, telling different stories from the life of Hoffmann, are independent (with the exception of a mention of Olympia in the Antonia act) and can easily be swapped without affecting the overall story. Offenbach's order was Prologue–Olympia–Antonia–Giulietta–Epilogue, but during the 20th century, the work was usually performed with Giulietta's act preceding Antonia's. Only recently has the original order been restored, and even now the practice is not universal. The general reason for the switch is that the Antonia act is more accomplished musically.
Also the designation of the acts is disputed. The German scholar Josef Heinzelmann, among others, favours numbering the Prologue as Act One, and the Epilogue as Act Five, with Olympia as Act Two, Antonia as Act Three, and Giulietta as Act Four.
This opera was sometimes performed (for example during the premiere at the Opéra-Comique) without the entire Giulietta act, though the famous Barcarolle from that act was inserted into the Antonia act, and Hoffmann's aria "Amis! l'Amour tendre et rêveur" was inserted into the Epilogue. In 1881, when the opera was first performed in Vienna, the Giulietta act was restored, but modified so that the courtesan does not die at the end by accidental poisoning, but exits in a gondola accompanied by her servant Pitichinaccio. This ending has been the preferred one since then almost without exception.
Due to its opéra-comique genre, the original score contained many dialogues that have sometimes been replaced by recitative that so lengthened the opera that some acts were removed (see above).
Offenbach intended that the four soprano roles be played by the same singer, for Olympia, Giulietta and Antonia are three facets of Stella, Hoffmann's unreachable love. Similarly, the four villains would be performed by the same bass-baritone, because they are all manifestations of Evil. While the doubling of the four villains is quite common, most performances of the work use multiple sopranos for the heroines. This is because different skills are needed for each role: Olympia requires a skilled coloratura singer with stratospheric high notes, Antonia is written for a more lyric voice, and Giulietta is usually performed by a dramatic soprano or a mezzo-soprano. When all three roles (four if the small but important role of Stella is counted) are performed by a single soprano in a performance, it is considered one of the largest challenges in the lyric-coloratura repertoire. Famous sopranos who have attempted all three roles include Karan Armstrong, Dame Josephine Barstow, Ninon Vallin, Beverly Sills, Anja Silja, Joan Sutherland, Edita Gruberová, Carol Vaness, Catherine Malfitano, Ruth Ann Swenson, and Virginia Zeani. Josephine Barstow has performed all four roles.[6]

A recent version including the authentic music by Offenbach has been reinstated by the French Offenbach scholar Jean-Christophe Keck. A successful performance of this version was produced at the Lausanne Opera (Switzerland). However, most producers still prefer the traditional version published by Editions Choudens, with additions from a version prepared by Fritz Oeser, for financial reasons. Another recent edition by Michael Kaye has been performed at the Opéra National de Lyon and the Hamburg State Opera with Elena Moşuc singing the roles of Olympia, Antonia, Giulietta, and Stella in the 2007 production.

A complete explanation of the different versions, as well as a translation of the libretto into English and IPA and translation into English of the literary sources is available.[7]

Recordings

Film

Notes

  1. ↑ Newman E. More Opera Nights. Putnam, London, 1954.
  2. ↑ Der Sandmann had provided the impetus for the ballet libretto of Coppélia (1870) with music by Léo Delibes.
  3. ↑ Lamb, A. "Jacques Offenbach". In: New Grove Dictionary of Opera Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.
  4. ↑ Information from AmadeusOnline.net
  5. ↑ Nicolas Slonimsky, ed. Richard Kassel in Webster's New World Dictionary of Music, MacMillan, 1998, p. 365
  6. ↑ Basilica Opera program 1969
  7. ↑ Mary Dibbern, The Tales of Hoffmann: A Performance Guide, Pendragon Press ISBN 1-57647-033-4

External links