[PW] "Tales of Hoffmann" play?

[Nina Gilbert]

Dear Wombats,

I've found references to a play that I don't think exists.  Can someone verify?

Namely:  Jacques Offenbach's opera _Les contes d'Hoffmann_ has a libretto by Jules
Barbier and Michel Carré.  Some sources say it's based on a play of the
same name by the same authors.  If so, shouldn't I be able to find
evidence of that play somewhere?  I'm thinking maybe those sources are
wrong.  After all, I can find a Turkish translation that says the opera
is by Giuseppe Verdi, and that's obviously a wrong source.  I can't
find a straight play called *anything* by Barbier and Carré, let alone
_The Tales of Hoffmann_.

I've looked at WorldCat and LOC and a few other searches, and can't
find anything that convinces me that Barbier and Carré wrote a play
before making it into a libretto.  I've also looked at articles (grovemusic.com) about both of them that include lists of works.

The premise of the opera is that E. T. A. Hoffmann, who sits around
getting drunk in the prologue and epilogue, actually lived through
three of his stories, which form the three central acts of the opera.

I have confirmed that Hoffmann was indeed a drunk.

Anyway, was it ever a play?

Deadline:  if I don't have this information by Tuesday, April 29, I'll turn in my article without it.  Not hugely urgent, and my deadline for my whole project if April 30.

Thank you!

Nina Gilbert
Education and Community Programs Consultant, Boston Lyric Opera
[watch this space! that title disappears Thursday]
 ------------------------------------------------
Nina Gilbert
ninagilbert at yahoo.com