"The Tales of Hoffmann (film) The Tales of Hoffmann is a 1951 British Technicolor film adaptation of Jacques Offenbach's opera ""The Tales of Hoffmann"", written, produced and directed by the team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger working under the umbrella of their production company, The Archers. The opera film stars Robert Rounseville, Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann and Léonide Massine, and features Pamela Brown, Ludmilla Tchérina and Ann Ayars. Only Rounseville and Ayars sang their own roles. It uses a soundtrack recorded for the film conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham; principal singers apart from Rounseville and Ayars were Dorothy Bond,"
"E. T. A. Hoffmann Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (commonly abbreviated as E. T. A. Hoffmann; born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann; 24 January 177625 June 1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist. His stories form the basis of Jacques Offenbach's famous opera ""The Tales of Hoffmann"", in which Hoffmann appears (heavily fictionalized) as the hero. He is also the author of the novella ""The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"", on which Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet ""The Nutcracker"" is based. The ballet ""Coppélia"" is based on two other stories that"
"Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (; ; 20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880) was a German-French composer, cellist and impresario of the romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera ""The Tales of Hoffmann"". He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr. and Arthur Sullivan. His best-known works were continually revived during the 20th century, and many of his operettas continue to be staged in the 21st. ""The Tales of Hoffmann"" remains part of the standard opera repertory. Born in Cologne, the son"
"François-Benoît Hoffman François-Benoît Hoffman (11 July 1760 – 25 April 1828) was a French playwright and critic, best known today for his operatic librettos, including those set to music by Étienne Méhul and Luigi Cherubini (most notably Cherubini's ""Médée"", 1797). Hoffman was born in Nancy, and studied law at the University of Strasbourg. However, his stammer hindered his legal career, and he entered military service in Corsica. He served there for only a very short time, and, returning to Nancy, wrote some poems which brought him into notice at the little court of Lunéville over which the Marquise de Boufflers"
"Krisztina Laki, Heikki Orama, Charles Ridder Busch, Ulrich Ress, Dora Koschak, Mani Mekler. Undine (Hoffmann) Undine is an opera, with spoken dialogue, in three acts by the German composer and author E.T.A. Hoffmann. The libretto, by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, is based on his own story ""Undine"". It received its premiere at the Königliches Schauspielhaus, Berlin on 3 August, 1816. ""Undine"" was Hoffmann's greatest operatic success and a major influence on the development of German Romantic opera. Carl Maria von Weber's enthusiastic review of the opera admired it as 'an art work complete in itself, in which partial contributions"
"Die Rheinnixen Die Rheinnixen (French: ""Les fées du Rhin""; English ""The Rhine Nixies"") is a romantic opera in four acts by Jacques Offenbach. The original libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter was translated into German by Alfred von Wolzogen. The Elves’ Song from ""Die Rheinnixen"" was later used in ""The Tales of Hoffmann"", where it became the ""Barcarolle"" (""Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour""), in the 'Giulietta' act; Conrad's drinking song was also re-used in the same act. The first performance was given in a truncated form (owing to the illness of the tenor Alois Ander) on 4 February 1864 at the Hoftheater"
"Undine (Hoffmann) Undine is an opera, with spoken dialogue, in three acts by the German composer and author E.T.A. Hoffmann. The libretto, by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, is based on his own story ""Undine"". It received its premiere at the Königliches Schauspielhaus, Berlin on 3 August, 1816. ""Undine"" was Hoffmann's greatest operatic success and a major influence on the development of German Romantic opera. Carl Maria von Weber's enthusiastic review of the opera admired it as 'an art work complete in itself, in which partial contributions of the related and collaborating arts blend together, disappear, and, in disappearing, somehow"
"Orpheus (Telemann) Orpheus (full title: Die wunderbare Beständigkeit der Liebe oder Orpheus, ""The Wonderful Constancy of Love, or Orpheus"") is an opera in three acts by the German composer Georg Philipp Telemann. It was first performed in a concert version at the Oper am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg on 9 March 1726. The anonymous libretto is based on ""Orphée"" by Michel du Boulay, originally set by the French composer Louis Lully. Most of the work is in German but it also contains passages in French and Italian drawn from famous operas by Handel and Jean-Baptiste Lully. The music to these words"
"a five-act opera by Léo Delibes. However, it was left unfinished due to his own death in Paris at age 54. Ernest Guiraud Ernest Guiraud (; 26 June 1837 – 6 May 1892) was a French composer and music teacher born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known for writing the traditional orchestral recitatives used for Bizet's opera ""Carmen"" and for Offenbach's opera ""Les contes d'Hoffmann"" (""The Tales of Hoffmann""). Guiraud began his schooling in Louisiana under the tutelage of his father, Jean-Baptiste-Louis Guiraud, who had won the Prix de Rome in 1827. At age 15, he set a"
"trophy for selling in excess of 2½ million records. Love died at the University College Hospital, Camden, London, on 8 July 1991 at the age of 73. Geoff Love Geoffrey Love (4 September 1917 – 8 July 1991), known as Geoff Love, was a prolific British arranger and composer of easy listening and pop versions of film themes. He became famous in the late 1950s, playing under the pseudonym of Manuel and The Music of The Mountains. Love was born in Todmorden, West Riding of Yorkshire, the only son and younger of two surviving children (an elder sister Cornelia) of"
"Tchaikovsky's ballet ""The Nutcracker"" (1892) is based on ""The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"", and the ballet ""Coppélia"", with music by Delibes, is based on two eerie Hoffmann stories. Hoffmann also influenced 19th-century musical opinion directly through his music criticism. His reviews of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (1808) and other important works set new literary standards for writing about music, and encouraged later writers to consider music as ""the most Romantic of all the arts."" Hoffmann's reviews were first collected for modern readers by Friedrich Schnapp, ed., in ""E.T.A. Hoffmann: Schriften zur Musik; Nachlese"" (1963)"
"""The Tales of Hoffmann"", was originally intended as a grand opera. When the work was accepted by Léon Carvalho for production at the Opéra-Comique, Offenbach agreed to make it an opéra comique with spoken dialogue. It was incomplete when he died; Faris speculates that, but for Georges Bizet's premature death, Bizet rather than Guiraud would have been asked to complete the piece and would have done so more satisfactorily. The critic Tim Ashley writes, ""Stylistically, the opera reveals a remarkable amalgam of French and German influences … Weberian chorales preface Hoffmann's narrative. Olympia delivers a big coloratura aria straight out"
"Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour ""Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour"" (often referred to as the ""Barcarolle"") is a piece from ""The Tales of Hoffmann"", Jacques Offenbach's final opera. A duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano, it is considered the most famous barcarolle ever written and described in the ""Grove Book of Operas"" as ""one of the world's most popular melodies."" The text, concerning the beauty of the night and of love, is by Jules Barbier. The piece opens the opera's third act, set in Venice. It is sung by the characters Giulietta – the protagonist Hoffmann's love, a Venetian courtesan –"
"Beijing. His other roles in the mainstream tenor repertoire have included Rodolfo in ""La bohème"", the title role in ""The Tales of Hoffmann"", the Duke in ""Rigoletto"", and Lensky in ""Eugene Onegin"". He has also appeared in leading tenor roles in relative rarities such as Gounod's ""La colombe"" with Opéra Français de New York (1997), Offenbach's ""La Périchole"" with the Opera Company of Philadelphia (2002), Gluck's ""L'île de Merlin"" in its US premiere at the Spoleto Festival USA (2007), Hérold's ""Zampa"" at the Opéra-Comique (2008), and Philip Glass's ""Galileo Galilei"" with Portland Opera (2012). He has sung in the world"
"Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include ""Der Rosenkavalier"", ""Elektra"", ""Die Frau ohne Schatten"" and ""Salome""; his Lieder, especially his ""Four Last Songs""; his tone poems, including ""Don Juan"", ""Death and Transfiguration"", ""Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks"", ""Also sprach Zarathustra"", ""Ein Heldenleben"", ""Symphonia Domestica"", and ""An Alpine Symphony""; and other instrumental works such as ""Metamorphosen"" and his Oboe Concerto. Strauss was also a prominent conductor in Western Europe and the Americas, enjoying quasi-celebrity status"
"Seymour Barab Seymour Barab (January 9, 1921 – died June 28, 2014) was an American composer of opera, songs and instrumental and chamber music, as well as a cellist, organist and pianist. He was best known for his fairy tale operas for young audiences, such as ""Chanticleer"" and ""Little Red Riding Hood"". He was a longtime member of the Philip Glass Ensemble. Barab was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Samuel Barab and Leah Yablunky. Both of Barab's parents were Polish immigrants, who emigrated separately and met in the United States. His older brother, Abraham (b. 1913), later changed his name"
"last act. The work concludes with a combination of the barcarolle and the Vaterlandslied. Its text is: Offenbach: ""Les fées du Rhin "" (in German) - Orchestre National de Montpellier Die Rheinnixen Die Rheinnixen (French: ""Les fées du Rhin""; English ""The Rhine Nixies"") is a romantic opera in four acts by Jacques Offenbach. The original libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter was translated into German by Alfred von Wolzogen. The Elves’ Song from ""Die Rheinnixen"" was later used in ""The Tales of Hoffmann"", where it became the ""Barcarolle"" (""Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour""), in the 'Giulietta' act; Conrad's drinking song was also"
"of the score. The opera tells the life of Christopher Columbus in a series of episodes which avoid chronological order and are sometimes allegorical. Christophe Colomb Christophe Colomb (""Christopher Columbus"") is an opera in two parts by the French composer Darius Milhaud. The poet Paul Claudel wrote the libretto based on his own play about the life of Christopher Columbus, ""Le Livre de Christophe Colomb"". The opera was first performed at the Staatsoper, Berlin on 5 May 1930 in a German translation by Rudolph Stephan Hoffmann. Milhaud thoroughly revised the work and produced a second version around 1955. The opera"
"on June 6, 2007. Shicoff's most famous roles (besides ""Werther""), include the title roles in ""Tales of Hoffman"" and ""Peter Grimes"" and Lensky in ""Eugene Onegin"" and Eleazar in ""La Juive"", as well as for a number of the Romantic French and Italian lyric and spinto tenor roles. In addition to his opera performances, he has also sung concerts with the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein, the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Claudio Abbado, the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Edo de Waart, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa, among others, and at many festivals. Shicoff was"
"August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (; 2 April 179819 January 1874) was a German poet. He is best known for writing ""Das Lied der Deutschen"", its third stanza now being the national anthem of Germany, and a number of popular children's songs, considered part of the Young Germany movement. Hoffmann was born in Fallersleben in Lower Saxony, then in the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The son of a merchant and mayor of his native city, he was educated at the classical schools of Helmstedt and Braunschweig, and afterwards at the universities of Göttingen and Bonn. His"
"Selective bibliography Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include ""Der Rosenkavalier"", ""Elektra"", ""Die Frau ohne Schatten"" and ""Salome""; his Lieder, especially his ""Four Last Songs""; his tone poems, including ""Don Juan"", ""Death and Transfiguration"", ""Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks"", ""Also sprach Zarathustra"", ""Ein Heldenleben"", ""Symphonia Domestica"", and ""An Alpine Symphony""; and other instrumental works such as ""Metamorphosen"" and his Oboe Concerto. Strauss was also a prominent conductor in Western Europe and the Americas, enjoying"
"Rosa Mannion Rosa Mannion (born 1962) is a British operatic soprano who has sung leading roles both in the opera houses of the UK and Europe and in the recording studio. Although particularly known for her roles in the operas of Handel and Mozart, she sang a wide repertoire during her career including Violetta in ""La traviata"" and all three of the leading female roles in ""The Tales of Hoffmann"" (Olympia, Antonia, and Giulietta). Mannion was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music before making her operatic debut in 1984 as Adina in ""L'elisir d'amore"""
"least 135 works, of which ', set to music by Aimé Maillart, was perhaps the most successful. Carré, who had initially trained as a painter, had worked with Jules Barbier on Gounod's opera ""Faust"" and had co-written the play ', which became the basis of the libretto for Offenbach's opera ""The Tales of Hoffmann"". Before ' Cormon and Carré had previously written a libretto for Maillart on a similar theme, ', which had been performed in 1860; they had originally planned to set their new story in Mexico before changing its location to Ceylon. By general critical consent the libretto"
"two ""Carmen Suites"". Guiraud is perhaps most famous for constructing the recitatives — both beloved and criticized— that replaced the spoken dialogue in performances of ""Carmen"" for more than a century. He also wrote the recitatives and completed the score of Jacques Offenbach's masterpiece ""Les contes d'Hoffman"" (""The Tales of Hoffmann"") which was left unfinished at Offenbach's death. Guiraud's version was very popular but it was not exclusively performed because Offenbach left an enormous number of sketches that various composers and arrangers have used to make their realisations of the opera. The amount of Guiraud's own musical output is small,"
"Ernest Guiraud Ernest Guiraud (; 26 June 1837 – 6 May 1892) was a French composer and music teacher born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known for writing the traditional orchestral recitatives used for Bizet's opera ""Carmen"" and for Offenbach's opera ""Les contes d'Hoffmann"" (""The Tales of Hoffmann""). Guiraud began his schooling in Louisiana under the tutelage of his father, Jean-Baptiste-Louis Guiraud, who had won the Prix de Rome in 1827. At age 15, he set a full-length libretto about King David to music that he and his father had found on a trip to Paris. The result"
"Elizabeth Fretwell Elizabeth Fretwell (13 August 1920 – 5 June 2006) was an Australian soprano. She was the prima donna at London's Sadler's Wells Opera (English National Opera) through much of the 1950s and 1960s. She was born Betty Drina Fretwell in Murrumbeena, a suburb of Melbourne. As a child, she had hoped to become a ballerina. However, she grew too big for this profession. She focussed instead on singing, taking vocal studies in Melbourne. Her operatic career began in 1950. In 1954, she sang Antonia in Offenbach's ""The Tales of Hoffmann"" before Queen Elizabeth II who was on her"
"Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 1809 4 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early romantic period. Mendelssohn wrote symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music and chamber music. His best-known works include his Overture and incidental music for ""A Midsummer Night's Dream"", the ""Italian Symphony"", the ""Scottish Symphony"", the overture ""The Hebrides"", his mature Violin Concerto, and his String Octet. His ""Songs Without Words"" are his most famous solo piano compositions. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and antisemitism"
"Melchior Hoffmann (composer) Georg Melchior Hoffmann (c. 1679 – 6 October 1715) was a Baroque composer who was influential as the leader at the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig. His compositions have been mistaken for those of Johann Sebastian Bach. Hoffman was born sometime around 1679 (or 1685 according to some sources) in Bärenstein, Saxony, Germany. His first musical service was as a choirboy in Dresden, under the tutelage of Johann Christoph Schmidt. In 1702 he moved to Leipzig to study law. Simultaneously he joined Georg Philipp Telemann at the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig and acted as the organization's copyist. Hoffmann"
"""everywhere marked by understanding and craftsmanship – and nowhere distinguished by genius."" Liebe und Eifersucht Liebe und Eifersucht (""Love and Jealousy"") is a ""Singspiel"", an opera with spoken dialogue, in three acts by the German composer and author E. T. A. Hoffmann, composed in 1807 on his own libretto based on the translation by August Wilhelm Schlegel of a play by Calderón. The opera was first published by Schott in 1999, and premiered at the 2008 Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele. The author Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann was interested in music, wanted originally to become a musician, and added Amadeus to his names"
"Geoff Love Geoffrey Love (4 September 1917 – 8 July 1991), known as Geoff Love, was a prolific British arranger and composer of easy listening and pop versions of film themes. He became famous in the late 1950s, playing under the pseudonym of Manuel and The Music of The Mountains. Love was born in Todmorden, West Riding of Yorkshire, the only son and younger of two surviving children (an elder sister Cornelia) of African American Thomas Edward (Kidd) Love and his English wife, Frances Helen Maycock (1892–1975), an actress and singer. The Loves travelled around Britain as entertainers, but, following"
"from one of Hoffmann's books (and according to Charles Rosen's ""The Romantic Generation"", is possibly also inspired by ""The Life and Opinions of Tomcat Murr"", in which Kreisler appears). Jacques Offenbach's masterwork, the opera ""Les contes d'Hoffmann"" (""The Tales of Hoffmann"", 1881), is based on the stories, principally ""Der Sandmann"" (""The Sandman"", 1816), ""Rat Krespel"" (""Councillor Krespel"", 1818), and ""Das verlorene Spiegelbild"" (""The Lost Reflection"") from ""Die Abenteuer der Silvester-Nacht"" (""The Adventures of New Year's Eve"", 1814). ""Klein Zaches genannt Zinnober"" (""Little Zaches called Cinnabar"", 1819) inspired an aria as well as the operetta ""Le Roi Carotte"", 1872). Pyotr Ilyich"
"Hansel and Gretel (opera) Hansel and Gretel (German: ) is an opera by nineteenth-century composer Engelbert Humperdinck, who described it as a """" (fairy-tale opera). The libretto was written by Humperdinck's sister, Adelheid Wette, based on the Grimm brothers' fairy tale ""Hansel and Gretel"". It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, one of the most famous being the """" (""Evening Benediction"") from act 2. The idea for the opera was proposed to Humperdinck by his sister, who approached him about writing music for songs that she had written for her children for Christmas based on ""Hansel and Gretel""."
"The Ghosts of Versailles The Ghosts of Versailles is an opera in two acts, with music by John Corigliano to an English libretto by William M. Hoffman. The Metropolitan Opera had commissioned the work from Corigliano in 1980 in celebration of its 100th anniversary, with the premiere scheduled for 1983. Corigliano and Hoffman took as the starting point for the opera the play ""La Mère coupable"" (""The Guilty Mother"") by Pierre Beaumarchais. They took seven years to complete the opera, past the initial deadline. The opera received its premiere on December 19, 1991, at the Metropolitan Opera, with the production"