Real Tales of Hoffmann (eBook)

Origin, History, and Restoration of an Operatic Masterpiece

Vincent Giroud, Michael Kaye (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2017
584 Seiten
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (Verlag)
978-1-4422-6085-6 (ISBN)

Infos

Giroud and Kaye tell the full story of The Tales of Hoffman for the first time. After discussing the work's influences and history, the book details sources for the opera, including the complete Barbier and Carré play. The annotated libretto is published in full, with the variants, and essays explain the enduring evolution of the opera.

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Of all operas in the standard repertory, none has had a more complicated genesis and textual history than Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann. Based on a highly successful 1851 play inspired by the short stories by the German Romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann, the work occupied the last decade of Offenbach's life. When he died in October 1880, the work was being rehearsed at the Opera-Comique. At once cut and rearranged, the work was performed from the start in versions that ignored the composer's final intentions. Only a few decades ago, when previously unavailable manuscripts came to light, it became possible to reconstitute the score in its real form. Vincent Giroud and Michael Kaye's The Real Tales of Hoffmann tells the full story for the first time in English. After discussing how the work of Hoffmann became known and influential in France, the book includes little-known sources for the opera, especially the complete Barbier and Carre play, in French and English. It describes the genesis of the opera. The annotated libretto is published in full, with the variants, for the two versions of the opera: with spoken dialogue or recitatives. Essays explain what was done to the opera after Offenbach's death, from the 1881 Opera-Comique production to more recent restoration attempts. There is also a survey of Les contes d'Hoffmann in performance from the 1970s to the present, and supplementary information, including discography, filmography, and videography.The Real Tales of Hoffmann is intended to appeal to anyone interested in the work, specialists or non-specialists. Audiences, musicologists and students of French opera and opera-comique will find it of particular interest, as will opera houses, conductors, singers, directors, and dramaturgs involved in performances of the opera.

Autor

Vincent Giroud is professor at the University of Franche-Comté, Besançon (France), former curator of modern books and manuscripts, Beinecke Library, Yale University, author of French Opera: A Short History, Nicolas Nabokov: A Life in Freedom and Music, and contributor to the Oxford Handbook of Opera and the Oxford Handbook of Faust in Music.Michael Kaye, eminent American musicologist, author of The Unknown Puccini, translator of Giacomo Puccini Catalogue of the Works, editor of works by numerous composers performed and recorded by major artists and orchestras, lecturer, educator, radio commentator, producer and opera administrator, annotator for major recordings, former member of the musical and artistic staffs of opera companies in the United States and Europe, including the Metropolitan Opera.

Inhalt

List of AbbreviationsForeword by Plácido DomingoIntroductionAcknowledgments ChronologyPart 1 – EssaysThe Awareness and Influence of E.T.A. Hoffmann in France Before Les contes d’Hoffmann, Vincent GiroudThe Librettists of Les contes d’Hoffmann, Vincent Giroud“Hallucinations in the Tavern”: Barbier’s Scenario of the Play, Michael KayeThe Barbier and Carré Play and its Reception, Michael KayeThe Birth of the Opera, Michael KayeThe Revision for the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-MartinHector Salomon: Le rêve d’Hoffmann (1875–1881)The Unrealized Opéra-féerie Version of Les contes d’HoffmannLes contes d’Hoffmann, From Play to Opera Libretto, Charlie RichardsBarbier as Versifier, Vincent GiroudHoffmann after Offenbach, Michael KayeSummary of Performances at the Opéra-Comique Prior to 1911 and the First Performances of the Opera in Other CountriesThe Brussels Version of the Opera (1887)The Surprising Tale of Raoul Gunsbourg’s Version of the Opera for Monte-Carlo (1904)Albert Carré’s revival of Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Opéra-Comique (1911)Les Contes d’Hoffmann on the Stage: From Felsentein to the Present, George Loomis“Elle est sur la scène”: Arriving at and Choosing a Version, Vincent Giroud and Michael KayePart 2 – The Play and the LibrettoLes contes d’Hoffmann: The Complete 1851 Barbier and Carré Play, Edited by Michael Kaye, English translation by Vincent GiroudThe Libretto of Les contes d’Hoffmann, Edited and translated by Michael KayeLiterary Annotations for the Play and the Opera,Michael Kaye and Charlie RichardsAppendicesA. Comparative Table of Venues in the Opera in Early SourcesB. Descriptions of E. T. A. Hoffmann by Adolphe François Loève-Veimars (1799–1854) English translation by Vincent GiroudC. Little-Known Response to E.T.A. Hoffmann Prior to the Barbier and Carré Play Michael KayeGaetano Donizetti (1797–1848): “Le violon de Crémone d’Hoffmann”Juliette Godillon: A Forgotten French Composer Inspired by E.T.A HoffmannD. A Weimar-Era Example of the Opera’s Popularization: „Laß’ dir nix von Hoffmann erzählen“ (1929), Michael KayeSelect Discography, Videography, and Filmography, Charlie Richards

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 8.6.2017
• Vorwort: Placido Domingo
• Zusatzinfo: 92 Illustrations including: - 90 Black & White Illustrations; - 1 Tables; - 1 Text Boxes.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Lyrik / Dramatik ► Dramatik / Theater
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Musik ► Klassik / Oper / Musical
• Schlagworte: French • German • Libretto • music history and criticism • Opera • opera critique • opera history • Placido Domingo • Translation
• ISBN-10: 1-4422-6085-8 / 1442260858
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4422-6085-6 / 9781442260856