New version of Les contes d'Hoffmann (The tales of Hoffman)

The opera a fantastical and tragic exploration of love and obsession is based on the short stories of the German Romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann. The central character Hoffmann is a poet and dreamer who tells the story of his past loves each of which ends in disillusionment and heartbreak. The opera is structured in a series of flashbacks each representing one of Hoffmann’s failed love affairs. These women—each a representation of a different ideal of love—are revealed to be either illusions or victims of malevolent forces. The three central tales focus on Hoffmann’s love for the mechanical doll Olympia the illusion of the beautiful singer Antonia and the tragic courtesan Giulietta each of which ultimately ends in betrayal or loss. Throughout these tales Hoffmann struggles with the interplay of love and art fantasy and reality leading to his eventual despair.