A report on The Tales of Hoffmann

Scenes from the Paris premiere
The death of Antonia (act 2) in the original 1881 production. In front: Adèle Isaac; in back (left to right): Hippolyte Belhomme, Marguerite Ugalde, Pierre Grivot, Émile-Alexandre Taskin, Jean-Alexandre Talazac.
Costume design for Hoffmann in act 1, 1903
Prologue (or epilogue), in the 1881 première
The Olympia act, as staged at the 1881 première
Antonia and Dr. Miracle, 1881
Giuletta act, 1881
The original E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776–1822)

Opéra fantastique by Jacques Offenbach.

- The Tales of Hoffmann
Scenes from the Paris premiere

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Offenbach in the 1860s

Jacques Offenbach

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German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period.

German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period.

Offenbach in the 1860s
Offenbach in the 1840s
Early influences: Luigi Cherubini and Fromental Halévy (top); Louis-Pierre Norblin and Friedrich von Flotow (below)
Offenbach as a young cello virtuoso, drawing by Alexandre Laemlein from 1850
The composer-cellist caricatured
Poster by Offenbach's friend Nadar
Hortense Schneider, the first star created by Offenbach
Poster for a 19th-century production of Orpheus in the Underworld
Offenbach with his only son, Auguste, 1865
Offenbach leading ladies: clockwise from top left: Marie Garnier in Orphée aux enfers, Zulma Bouffar in Les brigands, Léa Silly (role unidentified), Rose Deschamps in Orphée aux enfers
Programme for the first London production of La Périchole
The Tales of Hoffmann – scene from the premiere, showing Adèle Isaac as the dead Antonia, with (l. to r.) Hippolyte Belhomme, Marguerite Ugalde, Pierre Grivot, Émile-Alexandre Taskin, and Jean-Alexandre Talazac
Librettists and successors: clockwise from top left, Ludovic Halévy, Henri Meilhac, Johann Strauss II, Arthur Sullivan
Offenbach by André Gill, 1866
Dr. Miracle and Antonia in the 1881 premiere of The Tales of Hoffmann
Offenbach and Strauss, 1871 cartoon.
Elegy to Offenbach by Clement Scott in the magazine Punch

He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann.

Interior of the Salle Favart, 2008

Opéra-Comique

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Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs.

Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs.

Interior of the Salle Favart, 2008
The Muse of Comedy assembles Poetry, Music, and Dance to form Opéra Comique (1722)
A scene from Le diable à quatre with text by Michel-Jean Sedaine
The first Salle Favart which housed the company between 1783 and 1801
Fire at the second Salle Favart on 25 May 1887 (engraving).
Main façade of the theatre, 2012

In the latter part of the century the theatre revived works it had made its own, restaged works from the repertoire of the Théâtre Lyrique (which had closed in 1872) and premiered new pieces, such as Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann (1881); Delibes' Lakmé (1883); Massenet's Manon (1884), Esclarmonde (1889), and Werther (French premiere in 1893); and Charpentier's Louise (1900).

Sutherland in 1975

Joan Sutherland

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Australian dramatic coloratura soprano known for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s.

Australian dramatic coloratura soprano known for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s.

Sutherland in 1975
Sutherland in 1962
Joan Sutherland in 1990

Les contes d'Hoffmann—Joan Sutherland, Plácido Domingo, Gabriel Bacquier, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre du Radio de la Suisse Romande, Pro Arte de Lausanne, Andre Charlet, Richard Bonynge, studio recording made at Victoria Hall, Geneva, first published in 1976.

Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour

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"Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour" ("Beautiful Night, Oh Night of Love" in french, often referred to as the "Barcarolle") is a piece from The Tales of Hoffmann (1881), Jacques Offenbach's final opera.

Self-portrait

E. T. A. Hoffmann

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German Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic and artist.

German Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic and artist.

Self-portrait
Hoffmann's portrait of Kapellmeister Kreisler
Grave of E. T. A. Hoffmann. Translated, the inscription reads: E. T. W. Hoffmann, born on 24 January 1776, in Königsberg, died on 25 June 1822, in Berlin, Councillor of the Court of Justice, excellent in his office, as a poet, as a musician, as a painter, dedicated by his friends.
Four volume set of Hoffmann's writings
Statue of "E. T. A. Hoffmann and his cat" in Bamberg
Hoffmann's drawing of himself, riding on Tomcat Murr and fighting "Prussian bureaucracy"

His stories form the basis of Jacques Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann, in which Hoffmann appears (heavily fictionalized) as the hero.

Jacques Offenbach by Nadar, c. 1860s

Die Rheinnixen

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Romantic opera in four acts by Jacques Offenbach.

Romantic opera in four acts by Jacques Offenbach.

Jacques Offenbach by Nadar, c. 1860s

The Elves' Song from Die Rheinnixen was later used in The Tales of Hoffmann, where it became the "Barcarolle" (Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour) in the 'Giulietta' act; Conrad's drinking song was also re-used in the same act.

Beverly Sills in 1956, photo by Carl Van Vechten

Beverly Sills

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American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s.

American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s.

Beverly Sills in 1956, photo by Carl Van Vechten
Sills in Manon, 1969
Sills in 1984
The tombstone of Beverly Sills in Kensico Cemetery

Her signature roles include the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, the title role in Massenet's Manon, Marie in Donizetti's La fille du régiment, the three heroines in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann, Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Violetta in Verdi's La traviata, and most notably Elisabetta in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux.

André Cluytens, 1965

André Cluytens

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Belgian-born French conductor who was active in the concert hall, opera house and recording studio.

Belgian-born French conductor who was active in the concert hall, opera house and recording studio.

André Cluytens, 1965

His well-regarded work at the Opéra-Comique included a successful renewal of The Tales of Hoffmann in a fresh production in April 1948; Francis Poulenc was delighted with his part in the recording with Opéra-Comique forces of his Les mamelles de Tirésias.

Jules Barbier, photographed by Nadar

Jules Barbier

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French poet, writer and opera librettist who often wrote in collaboration with Michel Carré.

French poet, writer and opera librettist who often wrote in collaboration with Michel Carré.

Jules Barbier, photographed by Nadar

The Tales of Hoffmann

Domingo in June 2019

Plácido Domingo

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Spanish opera singer, conductor and arts administrator.

Spanish opera singer, conductor and arts administrator.

Domingo in June 2019
Seventeen-year-old Plácido Domingo as the tenor Rafael the bullfighter in El gato montés with Rosa Maria Montes (Mexico City, 1958)
Domingo made his debut in Verdi's Otello at Bellas Artes in the comprimario rôle of Cassio in 1962
Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, where Domingo began his operatic career
Domingo in Argentina (1979)
Backstage at the Washington National Opera after the opening night of Idomeneo on 3 November 2002
Domingo with American opera singer Stacey Robinson in 1994
Domingo singing at a concert at the Obelisco in Buenos Aires in 2011
Domingo as the president of Europa Nostra at the organization's awards ceremony in 2014
Domingo (center right) as the baritone in Il trovatore at the 2014 Salzburg Festival with Francesco Meli (far left, with sword)
Domingo's father, Plácido Domingo Ferrer (right), with composer Federico Moreno Torroba in Madrid, 1946
Domingo with his wife
Domingo has recorded many compositions by his singer-songwriter son, Plácido Domingo Jr. (pictured here in a publicity photo)
Domingo at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009
At the Washington National Opera on 14 April 2007 after a performance of Die Walküre, his most frequently performed German opera
Placido Domingo at a Concert.
Domingo with young Operalia singers, Budapest, 2016

Although primarily a lirico-spinto tenor for most of his career, especially popular for his Cavaradossi, Hoffmann, Don José and Canio, he quickly moved into more dramatic roles, becoming the most acclaimed Otello of his generation.