DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.2.34930

Abstract: J. Offenbach’s opera “The Tales of Hoffmann” stands out from other compositions of this genre. Because of a complicated story behind, this piece of music has several versions and, consequently, various interpretations of the plot. The opera has also other features which are described in the article. Pride of place goes to the study of sopranos. The authors detect the linkage between the main female characters (Olympia, Antonia and Giulietta). The common thread, uniting Hoffmann’s ladies, is an incidental character Stella. The three stories of the poet’s ladies are the stages of Hoffmann’s relations with Stella. Each scene of “The Tales” contains the heroine’s projection which manifests a definite trait of her character.  The ladies from “The Tales” de facto represent various traits of one girl while being de jure the main characters of each story. The composer portrays them in detail which can be seen through the difference in singing ranges and tessituras (from coloratura to lyrical-dramatic soprano). Tessitura differences along with genre duality of the opera affect the selection of expressive means. Features of opera comique allow embodying Olympia’s hardhearted mechanism from the first scene (by means of onomatopoeic elements expressed in complex coloratura passages and music ornaments). Opera lyrique develops Antonia’s inner conflict from the second scene by means of romance parties and lamentation character of music. This peculiar synthesis of both genres manifests itself in Giulietta with the irony of opera comique hidden under the haze of opera lyrique which corresponds with the essence of the heroine (third scene). The above mentioned peculiarities sometimes do not allow performing soprano parties in accordance with the composer’s idea in which the four heroines should be embodied in one solo singer. However, there’ve been lucky occasions in the history of this opera when the singers managed to implement the composer’s idea.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.1.34909

Abstract: The opera by Jacques Offenbach “The Tales of Hoffmann” is a unique phenomenon in the history of the opera genre attracting the attention of interpreters and researchers. Dealing with the text, musicians face particular problems caused by an unusual story behind the opera and its other peculiarities. The purpose of this article is to study the specificity of the opera at the literary, music, and stage levels using  the hermeneutical approach. The three independent original works of Hoffmann were combined in a grand drama composed by J. Barbier and M. Carré, and then in a libretto (J. Barbier) by means of deconstruction of romantic stereotypes of the main character, which reveals the peculiarities of the opera under consideration and explains the topicality of this research. The music analysis is aimed at the detection of expressive means through which the composer had managed to explain the idea of the authors of the literary text and get it across to the audience. The key formative way of building a music drama is a “romantic irony” (M. Ya. Kuklinskaya). That’s where the genre dualism of the opera under consideration comes from, which manifested itself in the form of the synthesis of the genres opera comique and opera lyrique. The authors also detect the interaction of elements of both genres helping to create an unusual atmosphere of the opera, and the play with the audience, allowing manipulating the spectators’ expectations, which is more typical of operetta than of opera genre.