• by Jacques Offenbach
• In French with projected English translations.
• Approximate Running Time: 3 hours, 26 minutes

“Bitterly comic and farcically tragic.”
The New York Times 

If ever a man was unlucky at love, it’s Hoffmann, the wild-eyed poet who travels the world in search of the ideal woman and ends up thwarted by villains at every turn.

First, he’s smitten by Olympia — but discovers she’s nothing more than a mechanical doll. Then, he falls for Antonia, a fragile songstress who’ll die if she sings — and regrettably for him, she does both! Finally he’s seduced by Giulietta — but the treacherous courtesan casts him aside.

Impossibly beautiful music (including the famous Barcarolle) combined with flamboyant theatricality — that’s why Offenbach’s extravaganza is the perfect way to open our season.

Matthew Polenzani: Here is the successor to Domingo and Kraus as Hoffmann. “To my mind, he epitomizes French vocal style more beautifully than any tenor of his generation.” Chicago Tribune 

The great James Morris portrays all four Hoffmann villains, as he’s done so winningly at the Met. “Morris could intimidate merely by ordering coffee in a restaurant...he is at once riveting...resplendent...and venomous.” The New York Sun 

Anna Christy, Alyson Cambridge, and Erin Wall — as the objects of Hoffmann’s desire, these lovely sopranos fit the vocal and visual bill to a tee!

Lyric Opera presentation generously made possible by the NIB Foundation, the Abbott Fund, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. 

A poet searches for the ideal woman. Four times he convinces himself that he’s found her, but each time it’s a disaster — first a mechanical doll, then a fragile soprano who sings herself to death, then a heartless courtesan, finally a haughty opera diva.

This opera is pricelessly funny (you won’t forget the four nutty servants or the doll running out of “juice” in mid-aria). It’s also packed with romance, sparkle, and one miraculous melody after another. Not for nothing did Rossini refer to Offenbach as “the Mozart of the Champs-Élysées”!

The opera’s poet is very loosely based on a real-life figure, E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822). He was multitalented — a literary man who was also an opera composer! — but he’s best remembered as the creator of stories that, in their wild imagination, pointed the way to numerous great writers of the German Romantic era.

Hoffmann took its audience totally by surprise. Offenbach, after all, was the creator of Orpheus in the Underworld, La Périchole, La belle Hélène, and scores of other operettas. Biting satire, with exhilarating music to match, was his stock in trade. Despite his fabulous successes, he longed for greater respect from the musical world, which he thought he could earn through “serious” opera. Hoffmann was as unexpected as would be a new work commissioned by Lyric Opera from Elton John!

The opera’s prologue takes us to a Nuremberg tavern, where the poet is awaiting a rendezvous with Stella, an opera star. Hoffmann diverts his friends by recalling his unhappiness in pursuit of the doll Olympia (soprano Anna Christy); the consumptive singer Antonia (soprano Erin Wall); and the courtesan Giulietta (soprano Alyson Cambridge). Accompanying Hoffmann on each journey is his friend Nicklausse (mezzosoprano Emily Fons). He’s also menaced by four nemeses: Councillor Lindorf, the inventor Coppélius, the quack Dr. Miracle, and the magician Dapertutto (all sung by bass-baritone James Morris).

Originally directed by Nicolas Joël, the production will be remounted by Stéphane Roche (debut). Ezio Frigerio based his set designs partly on his earlier Hoffmann production, seen at Lyric in 1982. In recent seasons Frigerio’s sets — placing part of the action in a 19th century train station, complete with locomotive! — and Franca Squarciapino’s costumes have earned critical praise in Turin, Madrid, Bergen, and Tel Aviv.

Conducting will be Emmanuel Villaume, who’s also led another iconic French work, Massenet’s Manon, at Lyric. “I think Hoffmann is a very specific universe,” notes Villaume. “The incredibly generous imagination amounts almost to surrealism at times, but it’s still very romantic. There’s grandeur, wit, some really tragic moments, others that are comical, laughable, powerful. It’s packed into one evening with the palette of all the possible human emotions and theatrical expression.”

Villaume is clearly moved by the fact that “finally Offenbach got to write what he’d waited all his life to write — a grand opera! He put into it all his years of frustration at not being able to create that one great masterpiece. It also showed all the craftsmanship he’d acquired, as well as his ability to make a melody out of the blue and to make his audience laugh through musical jokes.”

Among the musical highlights are Hoffmann’s high-spirited first aria, in which he tells the story of the dwarf Kleinzach; Olympia’s coloratura showpiece; the magnificent trio for Antonia, Dr. Miracle, and Antonia’s mother (whose spirit Miracle conjures to urge her daughter to sing); and, of course, the world-famous barcarolle sung by Giulietta and Nicklausse.

Alas, Offenbach died before Hoffmann premiered, which means we’ll never know what he intended as the definitive version. There are several editions — Lyric is using the one published by Choudens, generally regarded as the most theatrically effective. It doesn’t include a vital aria, sung by Nicklausse in the “Antonia act,” but this aria will be performed at Lyric. “It’s very moving,” says Villaume, “since it speaks about the power of healing and the power of truth that we can encounter through art. Hoffmann foolishly doesn’t realize that, but it’s the lesson of the opera.”

Musical and dramatic virtuosity colors any Hoffmann production, especially when artists sing multiple roles. Following standard practice, Lyric is assigning the four servants to one character tenor, in this case Rodell Rosel. Similarly, the four villains are usually sung by one bass-baritone — at Lyric, longtime audience favorite James Morris.

Hoffmann has been an enormous success for Morris at the Met, in many other major American houses, and in Vienna, London, and Strasbourg. “Probably Dapertutto is the toughest vocally,” says Morris, “because of the aria [‘Scintille, diamant,’ a.k.a. the ‘Diamond Aria’]. The most fun is Dr. Miracle, the longest of the four roles. It’s also loud and brash, rather than sustained bel canto.”

Morris most relishes playing “different personifications of the same character. To bring a different feeling to each is what’s challenging and satisfying. They can be humorous, extremely evil, sort of weird. And they each have a different body language — Lindorf, for example, is very Prussian, very rigid. I do Coppélius like a hunchback, and Dapertutto is very magical, sort of gliding around the stage. Miracle is like a sprinter, sometimes quiet while at other times moving so fast the audience thinks, ‘How did he get over there?’” There’s usually enough time to change costumes, “but in a complicated production there are makeup changes, which can be scary. The hardest thing is getting from Lindorf in the prologue to Coppelius in Act One — that’s the one where it can come down to the wire.”

Matthew Polenzani is singing his first Hoffmann after ecstatically praised performances in recent seasons as other French heroes — Roméo (Lyric, Met) and Des Grieux (in Japan with London’s Royal Opera). The distinctiveness of Hoffmann’s music greatly attracts Polenzani. “In the prologue, the storytelling of Hoffmann’s ‘Kleinzach Aria’ is unlike anything else he sings in the rest of the opera. And the trio between Miracle, Crespel [Antonia’s father], and Hoffmann! I get a little shiver thinking about that music — not just my character’s music, but also Miracle’s when he’s talking to the father about the daughter. It’s very eerie.”

Polenzani looks forward to exploring the variations in Hoffmann’s character from act to act. “He’s always Hoffmann, but there’s young Hoffmann [with Olympia] who’s impressionable. Then there’s youngadult Hoffmann [with Antonia] who’s aware of what real love is, and there’s jaded Hoffmann [with Giulietta] whose heart is broken and whom life has beaten down. At that point, to my thinking, he has urges he has to satisfy but his heart is no longer open for business.”

In the end, Polenzani would love to say to Hoffmann, “Hey, man, you can do better than this, you deserve better than this.” But because of Hoffmann’s fatalistic nature, “that would bounce right off him like a pebble bouncing off a driveway. He became that way, but for my money he had to be that way before he fell in love with Olympia — in other words, that seed had to have been sown in his youth. People like him have a hard time changing their trajectory in life.”

Polenzani immensely looks forward to collaborating with the other principals in Hoffmann, having appeared with all of them previously. He also anticipates that this opera will be a treat for diehard fans and opera newbies alike. “It’s got something for everybody. There are obviously tunes — great music always helps! — and the quality of what’s going on onstage is completely different from one act to another. The big draw with Hoffmann for a novice operagoer is that it’s like four mini-operas in one night!”

On The Record

Roger Pines, dramaturg at Lyric Opera, recommends these recorded performances.

On CD

MICHAEL KAYE EDITION
Alagna, Dessay, Jo, Vaduva, van Dam, Dubosc, Ragon; Chorus and Orchestra of the Opéra de Lyon, cond. Nagano (Erato)

RICHARD BONYNGE EDITION
Domingo, Sutherland, Bacquier, Tourangeau, Cuénod, Charon;  Lausanne Pro Arte Chorus,  Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, cond. Bonynge (Decca)

CHOUDENS EDITION
Gedda, Blanc, London, d’Angelo, Schwarzkopf, de los Angeles, Benoit; René Duclos Chorus, Orchestre de la Société du Conservatoire Paris, cond. Cluytens (EMI)

Live Performance
FRITZ OESER EDITION
Domingo, Malfitano, van Dam, Murray, Corazza; Vienna Staatsoper Chorus Konzertvereinigung, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Levine (Orfeo d’Or)

Live Performance
Konya, Mesplé, Bakočevič, Harper, Bacquier, Souza, Falzetti; Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Colón/Buenos Aires, cond. Maag (Opera d’Oro)

CHOUDENS EDITION
Burrows, Sills, Treigle, Marsee, Castel; John Alldis Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, cond. Rudel (DG)

Of special historical interest
CHOUDENS EDITION
Jobin, Doria, Bovy, Boué, Bourdin, Musy, Pernet, Soix, Révoil;  Chorus and Orchestra of the National Theater de l'Opera-Comique, cond.  Cluytens (Preiser)

On DVD

Live Performance
FRITZ OESER EDITION
Shicoff, Terfel, Rancatore, Uria-Monzon, Swenson, Mentzer, Sénéchal; Chorus and Orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris, cond.  Lopez Cobos, dir. Carsen (Arthaus Musik)

Live Performance
CHOUDENS EDITION
Domingo, Serra, Cotrubas, Baltsa, Evans, Lloyd, Nimsgern, Powell;  Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Covent Garden, cond. Prêtre, dir. Schlesinger (Kultur)

Live Performance
CHOUDENS EDITION
Kraus, Welting, Omilian, Hendricks, Ghiuselev, Egerton; Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Regio di Parma, cond. Guingal (Hardy Classics)

Of special historical interest
STUDIO FILM
SUNG IN ENGLISH
Rounseville, Bond/Shearer, Grandi/Tcherina, Ayars, Dargavel, Sinclair; Sadler’s Wells Chorus, Royal Philharmonic, cond. Beecham, dir. Powell/Pressburger  (Criterion Collection)

Jacques Offenbach by Alexander Faris, Scribner, 1981. A biography of Offenbach by the famous conductor, this book offers new insights into Offenbach’s music and life, particularly in the court of Napoleon III.

Jacques Offenbach and the Paris of His Time by Siegfried Kracauer, Zone, 2003. Kracauer’s biography of Jacques Offfenbach, first published in 1937, is also an examination of the social and political issues in Paris of 1848 and afterward, citing examples of how the composer hinted at the corruption, royal pretense, and political struggles of the time in his stage works.

Mad Loves: Women and Music in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann by Heather Hadlock, Princeton, 2000. A fascinating psychological examination of the depiction of the female characters in Hoffmann. The author also describes how the work initially took shape and traces the many changes to the unfinished score before the 1881 premiere.

Music, Theater, and Cultural Transfer : Paris, 1830-1914 edited by Annegret Fauser and Mark Everist, University of Chicago, 2009. This series of essays on the music scene in Paris from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries discuss the works of composers such as Offenbach, Halevy, Massenet, and Bizet. Wagner’s operas are examined by French critics, as well as the Italian operas of the time. An appendix provides an overview of Paris musical theaters of the period.

The Tales of Hoffmann by Jules Barbier and E.T.A. Hoffmann, Dodo Press, 2009. Contains the three tales (Der Sandmann, Rath Krespel, and Das Verlorene Spiegelbild) upon which the Offenbach opera is based.

The Urbanization of Opera: Music Theater in Paris in the Nineteenth Century by Anselm Gerhard, translated by Mary Whitall, University of Chicago, 1998. The origins of grand opera and the growing urban and social concerns in nineteenth century Paris are examined in discussions of operas by Rossini, Auber, Meyerbeer, Verdi, and Louise Bertin.

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