Jacques Offenbach: Les Contes D’Hoffmann

With The Tales of Hoffmann, Jacques Offenbach – like his heroine Antonia – seems to have sung himself into his grave. Old, ill and tormented by pain, he was able to complete with his last strength the work that gained him entry into the pantheon of truly great artists; according to an eyewitness account, he died with the score just finished in his hands. The work fully became a requiem when Talazac, the tenor who would later create the role of Hoffmann, performed two excerpts with the texts of the Dies irae and the Agnus dei at Offenbach’s funeral. Giancarlo Del Monaco’s passionate and intelligent production of Jacques Offenbach’s masterpiece creates a climate of deep and compelling emotion.