Les contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann)

Based on three of E.T.A Hoffmann's fantastic stories, Offenbach's last work takes us on a wild and hallucinatory ride from Paris to Venice and through various states of consciousness, putting infatuation, romantic love and the human condition in perspective along the way. The action unfolds over a prologue, three acts and an epilogue. The prologue provides an opportunity to set up the story, introduce Stella, the diva from Milan and Hoffmann's infatuation du jour, and also to introduce the Muse,… Show more Hoffmann's enduring love. The three acts acquaint us with three women, who are really, in Hoffmann's own words, three facets of the same woman: young love, personified by Olympia, the mechanical doll; passionate romantic love, personified by Antonia, the woman who dies from too much singing; and frivolous love, personified by Giulietta, the Venetian courtesan, who drives Hoffmann to kill someone, takes his soul and then walks away with a younger man. They all turn out to be equally irresistible and naturally dangerous. Lindorf, an older gentleman of means, is Hoffmann's nemesis, the personification of evil. Turning into Coppélius in the Olympia story, Dr. Miracle in Antonia's act, and Dapertutto in Giulietta's act, he spoils Hoffmann's chances to find lasting love. In the epilogue, he walks away with Stella, leaving Hoffmann, drunk and on the floor, to reconnect with his true love, the Muse.

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