Tales of Hoffman is based on the stories of 19th Century writer/composer/artist E.T.A. Hoffmann, best known for his story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, on which Tchaikovsky wrote the ballet. The opera is filled with fantastic plots and famous melodies such as the Barcarolle and the Diamond Aria.
Hoffmann, a literary precursor to Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, wrote stories of the occult and the grotesque.
In the opera, Hoffmann is asked by his friends to relate the story of his three former loves: Olympia, Antonia, and Giulietta. As each story comes to life, the audience is drawn into his increasingly disturbing adventures of love. Accompanied by friend Nicklausse (who is actually The Muse of Art watching over him), Hoffmann travels the world. The two friends also battle over which is more important: art or love.
KU's production uses the work of Viennese visual artist Egon Schiele to complement the Tales of Hoffmann.
"There are many parallels between the work of Hoffmann and Schiele," said Tim Ocel, associate professor of opera and artistic director of KU Opera. "The Hoffmann tales are extremely narcissistic and raw, as are the self-portraits of Schiele. Both men were writers, painters, musicians, and poets"¦ renaissance men who did it all, and both men creatively dwelled in a grotesque and fantastical arena of human nature." Ocel added, "We're using Schiele images as visual reflectors of an honest though admittedly not always beautiful way of looking at ourselves."Â
There are various versions of Tales of Hoffman in publication. The KU production uses most of the standard musical materials and some that were rediscovered in 1970. Offenbach wrote and rewrote various versions of each scene but died before completing his grand vision. There is a version with dialogue and a version with sung recitatives written by another composer. The world will never really know what materials Offenbach would have ultimately wanted to use.
Performances run on February 1, 3, 6, 8 and 10 in The Robert Baustian Theatre, room 102 Murphy Hall. Curtain is promptly at 7:30pm for every performance. Tickets are $15/general public and $7/students and seniors. -- www2.ku.edu
Posted January 30th, 2007 by ruzik_tuzik
