A drunk poet loses his heart three times—to a doll, a mirror, and a voice that kills.
"Despite the multitude of characters and situations, the plot is simple: the eternal flow of life. It is based on Les contes fantastiques d’Hoffmann, a play by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, who were inspired by some of the stories of the German E.T.A. Hoffmann. On a drunken night in the city, Hoffmann tells how he courted and lost three girls, his impossible loves: Olympia, a mechanical doll that only he believes to be truly human; Giulietta, the courtesan who steals his reflection in a mirror; and Antonia, a young woman who sings until she literally dies." Venue & Opera Company: Teatro Regio di Parma Recorded: 1988 Singers: Alredo Kraus, Ruth Welting, Jonathan Omilian, Barbara Hendricks, Elena Zilio, Nicola Gjiuselev, Bruno Buulgarelli, Francis Egerton, Aldo Bottion Orchestra: Orchestra Sinfonica dell'Emilia-Romagna "Arturo Toscanini" Chorus: Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma Chorus Master: Adolfo Tanhzi Stage Director: Beppe de Tomasi
Acting
Kraus embodies Hoffmann's romantic ruin with devastating restraint.
Production
Parma's 1988 staging: maximalist baroque excess, gloriously unhinged.
Direction
De Tomasi weaves three tales into one man's unraveling psyche.
Director
Beppe de Tomasi
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Offenbach died before completing Hoffmann; this 1988 Parma production uses the controversial 'traditional' ending where Hoffmann loses everything.
E.T.A. Hoffmann's original stories inspired Freud's 'uncanny'—the opera literalizes this through living dolls and stolen reflections.
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