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Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Opera in 3 acts (many versions)

Music by Jacques Offenbach

Libretto by Jules Barbier & Michel Carré

First Performance: Opéra-Comique, Paris, February 10, 1881

Cast:
Hoffman                                                   Lyric tenor
Lindorf, Coppelius, Dappertutto
    & Dr. Miracle                                       Bass-baritone
Stella                                                         Speaking
Olympia                                                   Coloratura soprano
Giuletta                                                     Mezzo soprano
Antonia                                                     Lyric soprano
Spalanzani                                               Tenor
Crespel                                                      Bass or baritone
Pitichinaccio, Franz, Andres,
& Cochenille                                             Tenor
Schlemil                                                    Bass or baritone
Nicklausse (Muse)                                   Mezzo soprano
Voice of Antonia's mother                       Mezzo soprano
Luther                                                       Bass or baritone
Hermann                                                  Bass or baritone
Wilhelm                                                     Tenor or baritone
Nathanael                                                 Tenor
Chorus: SATTBB 

Background

Synopsis

     Prologue. The poet Hoffmann meets Councillor Lindorf in Luther's Tavern and addresses him as his eternal evil antagonist. Currently in love with the opera singer Stella (who embodies three women, as he points out), Hoffmann relates to Nicklausse and his other friends the stories of his past loves.
     Act I. Olympia, the first, was but a lifeless automation whom Hoffmann saw through rose-colored glasses supplied by the mad genius, Coppelius.
     Act II. Giulietta, the second, was a treacherous coutesan who, lured by the offer of a magic diamond, obtained Hoffmann's morrored reflection for the sinister Dappertutto.
     Act III. The third, Antonia, had been forbidden by her father Crespel to sing, for he knew the exertion would kill her. Nevertheless her love for Hoffmann and the insistent goading of the diabolical Dr. Miracle led her to a fatal outburst of song.
     Epilogue. The scene reverts to the tavern, where Lindorf takes advantage of Hoffmann's drunken stupor to escort Stella to supper. Only the Muse remains to console her poet.

[In later versions, the Guiletta act and Antonia acts are switched]

Libretto

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Last updated: January 22, 2008