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Music: Jacques Offenbach Lyrics:Barbier and Carré, after Hoffmann
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First performance: Opéra Comique 10 februari 1881 i Paris.
| Role | Voicetype |
|---|---|
| Hoffman,poet | tenor |
| Nicklausse,his follower | mezzosoprano |
| Olympia,mechanical doll | soprano |
| Antonia,a singer | soprano |
| Giuletta,a kurtisan | soprano |
| Lindorf,minister | bass |
| Coppelius,doctor in physic | bass |
| Mirakel,parapsykologisk läkare | bas |
| Dapertutto,magiker | bas |
| Crespel,Antonias father | bass |
| Luther,värdshusvärd | bass |
| Spalanzani,professor | tenor |
| Hermann, an student | bass |
| Schlemil,Giulettas lover | baritone |
| Studenter,borgare,artister och kurtisaner with others |
Luther´s Nuremberg wine cellar. Andrés, the servant of the primadonna Stella, and Lindorf, a councillor of Nuremburg, enter the tavern. The latter discovers that the poet Hoffmann has arranged to meet with the singer after that night´s show. The tavern is flooded with students during the interval of Don Giovanni, who plead with Hoffmann to sing them a story. He begins the tale of the hunchback, knockkneed Kleinzach, but keeps breaking into a romance about Stella. He gestures towards Lindorf, informing the crowd that the councillor has always tried to frustrate his love affairs and, drinking from the bowl of punch, he agrees to tell the story of his three great loves.
The first was called Olympia.The curtain rises on the room of the inventor Spalanzani.He has created a lif-like mechanical doll that he hopes will make his fortune,but fears that his rival Coppélius, is planning to steal her. Hoffmann arrives and is intrigued by Olympia, whom he mistakes for the inventor´s daughter. First Hoffmann´s friend Niklausse arrives, and then Coppélius, who sells Hoffmann a pair of spectacles that make him fall in love with the doll, and then forces Spalanzani to recognize his share in the doll´s success: he supplied the eyes. At dinner, Olympia begins to sing but her mechanism keeps winding down, obliging Spalanzani to keep turning the key in her back. Hoffmann is puzzled by her behaviour, but remains devoted nonetheless. Coppélius marches in, convinced that Spalanzani has tried to cheat him; after Hoffmann and Olympia dance a wild waltz, Coppélius destroys the doll. Hoffmann is saved.
Munich.
The singer Antonia, a consumptive, has been hidden away by her father Crespel to escape Hoffmann, whose love has only made the girl´s condition worse. Her father has ordered her not to sing, as this will endanger her life, but when Hoffmann arrives with Nicklausse it´s not long before Hoffmann and Antonia are singing a passionate duet. The evil De Miracle arrives to examine Antonia. Crespel despises him as he thinks he killed his wife and fears that he will do the same to his daughter. Hoffmann, noe aware that singing is dangerous for Antonia, urges her not to sing, but the doctor tricks her into one last song; as he plays the violin her voice rises higher and higher until her strength gives way and she falls dead.
Venice.
Hoffmann has renounces women - he would rather drink and listen ti Giuletta sing. Even, so Nicklausse warns him that at the first sign of his falling in love he will drag him away. The mysterious Dappertutto enters, bearing a huge diamond which immediaetely transfixes Giuletta. He offers it to her in return for Hoffmann´s soul (just as she helped steal Schlemil´s), which she can gain only by making him look into Dappertutto´s magic mirror. She easily seduces Hoffmann and gets him to look in the mirror. After fighting a duel with Schlemil for Giuletta´s hand, Hoffmann finds that she has abandoned him in favour of the deformed Pittichinaccio.
Luther´s tavern.
Nicklausse suggests that the three women were all really Stella in disguise but he is too drunk to care and when she arrives he does not even recognize her. Lindorf rises to leave, and Stella joins him. The Muse of Poetry appears by Hoffmann´s side and claims him for herself.
Adress:http://www.mogensoperasidor.se/talesofhoffmannenglish.htm