Les contes d’Hoffmann

Libretto by Jules Barbier after the play by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré after works by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann

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 était 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 (Olympia)

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.

This act is based on a portion of "Der Sandmann" (The Sandman).

Act 2 (Antonia)

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 (love duet:C'est une chanson d'amour). 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.

This act is based on "Rath Krespel".

Act 3 (Giulietta)

Venice. The act opens with the barcarolle Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour. 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. 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.

This act is very loosely based on Die Abenteuer der Silvester-Nacht (A New Year's Eve Adventure).

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 as he sings O Dieu! de quelle ivresse once more, ending with "Muse whom I love, 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.

Les contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) is an opéra 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.

The stories upon which the opera is based are "Die Gesellschaft im Keller", "Der Sandmann" ("The Sandman", 1816), "Rath Krespel" ("Councillor Krespel", also known in English as "The Cremona Violin", 1818), and "Das verlorene Spiegelbild" ("The Lost Reflection") from Die Abendteuer der Sylvester-Nacht (The Adventures of New Year's Eve, 1814). The "Chanson de Kleinzach" aria in the Prologue is based on the short story "Klein Zaches, genannt Zinnober" (1819).

The opera was first performed in a public venue, without the 'Giulietta' act, at the Opéra-Comique on 10 February 1881. It had been presented in an abridged 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 (baritone) and Émile-Alexandre Taskin in the four villain roles, with Edmond Duvernoy at the piano and a chorus directed by Albert Vizentini. As well as Carvalho of the Opéra-Comique, the director of the Ringtheater in Vienna, Franz von Jauner, was also present, and a four-act version with recitatives was staged there on 7 December 1881, although a gas explosion and fire occurred at the theatre after the second performance.

The opera reached its hundredth performance at the Salle Favart on the 15 December 1881, but the fire at the Opéra-Comique in 1887 destroyed the orchestral parts, and it was not seen again in Paris until 1893 at the Salle de la Renaissance du Théâtre-Lyrique when it received 20 performances. A new production by Albert Carré (including the Venice act) was mounted at the Opéra-Comique in 1911, with Léon Beyle in the title role and Albert Wolff conducting; this remained in the repertoire until the Second World War, reaching 700 performances of the piece at the theatre. Following a recording by Opéra-Comique forces in March 1948 Louis Musy created the first post-war production in Paris, conducted by André Cluytens. The Paris Opera first staged the work in October 1974, directed by Patrice Chéreau with Nicolai Gedda in the title role.

Outside France, the piece was mounted in Geneva, Budapest, Hamburg, New York and Mexico in 1882, Vienna (Theater an der Wien), Prague and Anvers in 1883 and Lvov and Berlin in 1884. Later local premieres included Buenos Aires in 1894, St Petersburg in 1899, Barcelona in 1905 and London in 1910.