In this new version of Les contes d’Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach, Nicklausse, the muse and alter ego of Hoffmann, sings at the end of the opera: “On est grand par l’amour, mais plus grand par les pleurs” (Love makes us great, but weeping makes us greater still). This is a motif by who was considered “the ever-entertaining Offenbach”, however the composer’s artistic concept is linked to the Romantic movement from Victor Hugo via Berlioz to Thomas Mann, where art and inspiration develop from the suffering and melancholy of human life. This makes Offenbach’s only full-length opera a unique creation where art triumphs over the pain of love.
Opéra fantastique in five acts
Music by Jacques Offenbach
Libretto by Jules Barbier, based on the homonymous theatre play by Barbier and Michel Carré. Inspired by tales by E.T.A. Hoffmann
New production of the Teatro Real, in coproduction with the Staatsoper Stuttgar
Principal Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real
Artistic team
Conductor | Sylvain Cambreling
Stage director | Christoph Marthaler
Set and costume designer | Anna Viebrock
Lighting designer | Olaf Winter
Choreographer | Altea Garrido
Playwright | Malte Ubenauf
Chorus master | Andrés Máspero
Cast
Hoffmann | Eric Cutler
The Muse / Nicklausse | Anne Sofie von Otter
Lindorf / Coppélius / Dr. Miracle / Dapertutto | Vito Priante
Andrés / Cochenille / Frantz / Pitichinaccio | Christoph Homberger
Olympia | Ana Durlovski
Antonia / Giulietta | Measha Brueggergosman
Stella | Altea Garrido
Antonia's mother voice | Lani Poulson
Nathanaël | Gerardo López
Spalanzani | Graham Valentine
Hermann | Tomeu Bibiloni
Schlemil | Isaac Galán
Maítre Luther / Crespel | Jean-Philippe Lafont
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