RUDOLF SCHOCK's affinity with FRENCH OPERA 7a): 'Les Contes d'Hoffmann' by JACQUES OFFENBACH

RUDOLF SCHOCK's great affinity with the role of 'HOFFMANN' in OFFENBACH's "LES CONTES d'HOFFMANN"

PART ONE from the PROLOGUE:

PART TWO from the FIRST ACT:

PART THREE: from the SECOND ACT the beginning:

PART FOUR: CONTINUATION of the SECOND ACT:

PART FIVE: GRAND FINAL of the SECOND ACT:

PART SIX: First half of the THIRD ACT:

RUDOLF SCHOCK once sang and played the ideal 'Hoffmann'. His identification with the role of the brilliant writer Hoffmann was perfect between 1947 and 1962 in opera house and recording studio.

Rudolf Schock as Hoffmann 1950

Anyone who likes exciting and scary stories will love the books with stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822). In order to be credible to his readers, Hoffmann chose widely known reality as the starting point for his work. From there he climbed his ladder into the limitless fantasy of the unknown, the supernatural and a dark world where everything is conceivable.

JACQUES OFFENBACH (Cologne: 1819 - Paris: Oct. 1880), celebrated composer of playful and humorous operettas, dreams of one day composing a great opera like the great "Freischütz" by Carl Maria von Weber. Then in 1851 a play by Michael Carré & JULES BARBIER was premiered in Paris under the name "Les Contes (Fairy Tales) d'Hoffmann", in which HOFFMANN was made the main character of his own stories. Offenbach now sees the fulfillment of his dreams as achievable.

Jacques Offenbach

JULES BARBIER (1825-1901) writes the libretto for an opera with the structure of his own play: prologue & epilogue, three acts in between with three different Hoffmann stories. These stories come from Hoffmann's short story collections.

Jules Barbier 1880

OFFENBACH has been beating around the bush for a quarter of a century. Until in 1876 he hastened to start composing HIS opera “The Tales of Hoffmann”. For four years he combined older compositions such as the "Barcarole" and the "Ballad of Kleinzack" with new material until he died on October 5, 1880 within sight of the harbor. Fortunately, the completed opera remains as a piano reduction! ERNEST GUIRAUD (1836-1891) immediately took it upon himself to create an instrumentation for a large orchestra in the spirit of Offenbach. He is probably also the one who supplements the opera with sung recitatives and deletes the previously planned spoken dialogues.

The premiere was of course in Paris. Four months after Offenbach's death on February 10, 1881.

Ernest Guiraud

ABOUT THE 4 LOVE TRAGEDIES IN “HOFFMANN’S TALES”:

Prologue & epilogue must be seen as a self-contained, tragic frame story in which the amorous HOFFMANN, the city manager LINDORF and the famous singer STELLA appear.

In the first act, the core trio consists of HOFFMANN, the inventor COPPÉLIUS and his OLYMPIA.

In the second act, HOFFMANN has the magician DAPERTUTTO as an enemy. GIULIETTA is a courtesan, an expensive mistress for the higher circles.

In the third act, the young, deplorable singer ANTONIA takes center stage. HOFFMANN has seriously fallen in love again, but the evil DOCTOR MIRACLE makes it impossible for him to make this love come true.

As for the order of the acts:

At the beginning the 3rd act was for Giulietta and the 2nd for Antonia. To this day, opera directors still regularly change the order.

Back to Rudolf Schock:

Rudolf Schock as 'Hoffmann' creates an exemplary voice and acting of a likeable person whose - I quote Wikipedia - "moral and intellectual decline" takes on frightening forms. Together with the excellent soloists at his side, he makes this opera an impressive experience!

Krijn de Lege, 12th February 2024