Jacques Offenbach's Fanciful Opera "The Tales Of Hoffmann "
This week , the Metropolitan Opera is presenting its new production of the strange and phantasmagorical opera " Les Contes D'Hoffmann " , or the Tales of Hoffmann , by Jacques offenbach (1819 -1880 ) . Offenbach was a German-born Jewish composer who lived most of his life in Paris and became famous for his many racy , irreverant and melodious French operettas , such as "La Belle Helene " , "La Grande Duchesse De gerolstein ", "La Perichole " , "La Vie Parisienne" and "Orpheus in the Underworld " .
You've no doubt heard the famous "Can-Can " melody used in the Shop Right commercials , but this catchy tune comes from one of his operettas . The Tales of Hoffmann was his last work for the stage , and his only full-fledged opera , and was premiered shortly after his death in 1880 in Paris . The opera was left in largely unfinished state , and thus there is no one definitive version of it ; there are many passages which are either cut or added depending on the version used .
The opera is based on stories by the late 18th and early 19th century German writer and composer E.T.A. Hoffmann , and deals with the strange misadventures of a poet named Hoffmann , who searches in vain for his ideal love in three acts with a prelude and epilogue . The action is set in a tavern in Nuremberg where the poet Hoffmann regales his drinking buddies , mostly students , with the stories of his failed attempts to find love with three different female characters . One is a mechanical singing doll named Olympia , which he mistakes for a human , another is a glmorous Venetian courtesan named Giulietta , and another is a beautiful but consumptive young aspoiring singer caled Antonia .
Throughout the episodes , Hoffmann is pursued and confounded by three different villains who thwart his amorous adventures ; Coppelius destroys the mechanical doll Olympia , shattering his illusions , Dr. Miracle keeps him from getting Giulietta , and Dappertuto kills Antonia by making her sing , even though her fragile state would kill her if she attemtped this, by making a portrait of her dead mother seem to come to life and encouraging her to do this .
In many productions , one bass sings all three villains , and in some , a soprano sings Olympia , Giulietta and Antonia . Hoffmann is also in love with the opera diva Stella in Nuremberg , who is singing a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni while he tells his tales in the tavern . In the epilogue , Hoffmann's pal Nicklausse, a teenage boy sung by a soprano , reveals that each story represents a different aspect of Stella . But Hoffmann is dead drunk , and his imaginary muse sings to him that she belongs to him alone .
The opera is wonderfully melodious and contains such highlights as the song by the mechanical doll Olympia , who delights her audience with her song , but needs to be winded up periodically while singing , and the seductively sensuous Barcarolle in the Venetian scene , among other arias and ensembles .
There are a number of recordings on DVD with such great singers as Beverly Sills , Joan Sutherland , Placido Domingo , Jose Van Dam , Nicolai Gedda , and others , as well as several live productions of DVD . Check arkivmusic.com for these . The new Met production features the up-and -coming young Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja as Hoffmann , bas Alan held as the villains , plus the glamorous Russian soprano Anna Netrebko , with the Met's veteran music director James Levine conducting . The radio broadcast will be on Saturday December 19th , and this performance will also be tranmitted live in High Defenition to movie theaters around the USA . Check metopera.org and operanews.com for more information .