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Scene from: Les Contes d'Hoffmann

Composer: Jacques Offenbach
Conductor: Georges Prêtre

Few operas have had a more chequered background than Jacques Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann. After producing a string of famous operettas, Offenbach turned his thoughts to a more ambitious project – an opera based on a play he had seen 25 years earlier: Les Contes d'Hoffmann, but when Offenbach died 18 months later, the score was incomplete.
The opera survives because of Offenbach's original inspiration. Such favourites as the Legend of Kleinzach, the Doll Song and the Barcarolle ensure its continuing popularity. The story of Hoffmann's tragi-comic affairs with a mechanical doll in Paris, a Venetian courtesan and a dying singer in Munich allows scope for drama and display.
Whereas in some performances the three heroines and the four villains are each undertaken by the same singer, here the parts are given to individual artists, allowing the full range of vocal writing to emerge. The production is as spectacular as might be expected from the first venture into opera by the distinguished film director, John Schlesinger. Also stars Agnes Baltsa as Giulietta and Ileana Cotrubas as Antonia.
Georges Prêtre conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Introduced by Sir John Gielgud.

Cast: Hoffmann - Placido Domingo, Nicklaus - Claire Powell, Spalanzani - Robert Tear, Cochenille - Paul Crook, Olympia - Luciana Serra, Coppelius - Geraint Evans, Giulietta - Agnes Baltsa, Dapertutto - Siegmund Nimsgern, Antonia - Ileana Cotrubas.

Catalogue: 0630193922

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