The Real Tales of Hoffmann

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 Opéra-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 Carré 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 Opéra-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 opéra-comique will find it of particular interest, as will opera houses, conductors, singers, directors, and dramaturgs involved in performances of the opera.

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.

List of Abbreviations
Foreword by Plácido Domingo
Introduction
Acknowledgments
Chronology
Part 1 - Essays
The 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-Martin
Hector Salomon: Le rêve d'Hoffmann (1875-1881)
The Unrealized Opéra-féerie Version of Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les 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 Countries
The 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 Kaye
Part 2 - The Play and the Libretto
Les 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 Richards
Appendices
A. Comparative Table of Venues in the Opera in Early Sources
B. Descriptions of E. T. A. Hoffmann by Adolphe François Loève-Veimars (1799-1854)
English translation by Vincent Giroud
C. Little-Known Response to E.T.A. Hoffmann Prior to the Barbier and Carré Play
Michael Kaye
Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848): "Le violon de Crémone d'Hoffmann"
Juliette Godillon: A Forgotten French Composer Inspired by E.T.A Hoffmann
D. A Weimar-Era Example of the Opera's Popularization: "Laß' dir nix von Hoffmann erzählen" (1929), Michael Kaye
Select Discography, Videography, and Filmography, Charlie Richards