[PW] "Tales of Hoffmann" play?

[Kevin O'Kelly]

Nina:

I hope the formatting held together in your inbox better than  it did in mine!

Kevin O'Kelly <rkokelly at yahoo.com> wrote: Nina:

Here's the entry for the play in the French National Library:

Type document       Livre                                   Auteur(s)                        Barbier             ,       Jules                       (1825 1901)          , Auteur                                 Auteur secondaire                                            Carré            , Michel                               (1822 1872)                                      , Auteur           
                                                                                                                                                                                                           Titre                                                                                                                       Les  contes d'Hoffmann                                                                                       [Texte imprimé]                                                                                              : drame fantastique en cinq actes                                                                                                     / par MM. Jules Barbier et Michel Carré                                                          Langue                français
                                                                  Titres liés                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        (L' Ombre de Molière)                                                             Paris                                                                                                                     1847                                                                                                                                                 (36 p.)                                                             
                                                                    Publication                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Paris                                                                                                                                                              : s.n.                                                                                                       , 18 51                                    
                                     Pays              France                                                                                                                                      Description                       88 p.   18 cm

Nina Gilbert  wrote: 

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
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