#*puts on offenbach’s can-can*

[noneorother]

All the music you didn’t hear in Good Omens. (And I found a new P&P reference) *Part4*

Part 1  l  Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4

The Bonkers Meta Series 2: Electric Boogaloo. It never ends.

So if you've been paying attention, you know that the number 2 is an incredibly important idea in season 2 of Good Omens. Well, I think it might be more than just the number two. I think it might actually be the concept of Double Meanings. Here's the first one I found.

When you google P&P Book you get : Pride & Prejudice, by our favourite Brandy smuggler: Jane Austen.

But when you google P&P Film, you get the life's work of ... Powell & Pressburger! Both prominent nods in the series that Neil and the gang seem pretty happy to talk about. This seemed like maybe it could be a coincidence to me, so I started looking up other nods in the series to see if my theory scans. Check this out :

P&P (1948) The Red Shoes Kate Bush (1993) P&P (1945) I know where I'm going Scottish traditional - Burl Ives (1941) P&P (1946) A matter of life & death / Stairway to Heaven Led Zepplin (1971) P&P (1949) The (Small) Back Room Van Morrison

P&P (1950)

Wild at Heart/Gone to Earth

David Sylvian

and here’s the P&P reference I think no one caught yet! Remember who Aziraphale learned the sleight of hand magic trick from in 1941? Prof Hoff.

P&P (1951) - musical The Tales of Hoffman Opera by Offenbach (1881) I linked everything so you can go listen or read about the the movies/music in question. However, be warned the opera is over two hours. Clearly I’m missing one, because I’m a series of six episodes there’s now way they put five references in, but I’m having a hard time finding it. If you know what it is, please let me know!

My point - my point here, is that I think rather than trying to find the “right” interpretation of the story of season 2 with confusing facts and confounding dialogue, these double entendres serve as a guide to show us how “both stories are going on at the same time” can be analyzed separately AND together, and that they live right on top of one another.

Want to hear my analysis of both the movie playlist and the music playlist? It’s on the way!

#good omens 2 #go season 2 #go meta #art director talks good omens #good omens season 2 #good omens meta #good omens season two #crowley x aziraphale #good omens prime #good omens #good omens s2 #good omens spoilers

[vinylfoxbooks]

Christmas Fic!

I have a Christmas special finished that I was going to put out today but I'm tired and my bed is comfortable so it'll be out tomorrow (Dec 26). Here is a list of the songs I listened to to get the vibe (not including the ones I actually mentioned in the end notes):

*Merry Go Round of Life - both Andy Morris & Joe Hisaishu

*Chalkboard - Jóhan Jóhannsson

*Kingdom Dance - Tangled Soundtrack

*Solas - Jamie Duffy

*Experience - Ludovico Einaudi

*I Hear a Symphony - Cody Fry

*Isabella's Lullaby (イザベラの唄) - Takahiro Obata

*Middle of the Night - Joel Sunny

*Tonight ve Dance - Peter Gundry

*Howl's Moving Castle - Vitamin String Quartet

*Sway - Michael Buble

*Eleanor Rigby - Cody Fry

*Arctic Waters - Soetkin Milbouw

*The Sleeping Beauty Op.66 - Tchaikovsky

*Kaiser Walzer (Emperor Waltz) Op.437 - Johann Strauss II

*The Nutcracker Suite Op.71a - Tchaikovsky

*An Der Schonen, Blauen Donau (The Beautiful Blue Danube) Op.314 - Johann Strauss II

*Voices of Spring Op.410 - Johann Strauss II

*Swan Lake Suite Op.20a - Tchaikovsky

*Tarantella Napoletana - Gli Italiani di leri

*Can Can - Jacques Offenbach

*Jessica's Theme - Bruce Rowland

*Vivaldi's Autumn (Four Seasons)

*Tarantella in D Minor, Op.23 - Oliver Gledhill

*13 Pieces Op.76 - Jean Sibelius

#marauders #regulus black #james potter #sirius black #jegulus #james x regulus #remus lupin #sirius x remus #music #waltz #ballroom #lily evans #lily x pandora #lily x mary #mary macdonald #pandora lovegood #evan rosier #barty crouch jr #evan x barty #marlene mckinnon #marlene x dorcas #dorcas meadowes #my fic #christmas

[paulinedorchester]

When you accidentally discover that an actor whose career you've been following for years — no, decades — has a whole other career thread about which you knew absolutely nothing:

OperaWire is a news website covering opera, as you might guess, and the classical music world generally. Many of the writers seem to have something less than a firm grasp of written English (that's the most polite way that I can put it while still explaining how it is) and, this being the Internet, there's no editing going on. (I mean, if you're going to announce an event at Mandel Hall, why not go the extra inch also mention that Mandel Hall is in Chicago?) Nevertheless, I find it worth reading.

Anyway, there's a weekly feature highlighting new CD and DVD releases, and I got quite a surprise from the latest:

Look at the second entry, Folk Songs of the British Isles. I was pleased to see Elaine Delmar, a distinguished jazz vocalist whom I saw in the original cast of Cowardy Custard at the Mermaid Theatre in 1972. (She must be quite well-stricken in years by now.) I was less please to see the over-hyped (imho) Nicky Spence, although he's probably the reason this disc is included here. And then I got to the second line of text and saw — what? Surely that must be an entirely different Kevin Whately?

Well, no. Apparently it isn't.

Who knew?

[loosealcina]

JACQUES OFFENBACH’S LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN AT LA SCALA, MARCH 31, 2023

What’s an artist like? Davide Livermore’s production of Les contes d’Hoffmann comes with its own answer. It’s a creature of habit. Hoffmann (short for E.T.A. Hoffmann) sits at a desk with a typewriter, typing his tales. He goes to nightclubs and drinks. He’s always falling in love with the same woman (hidden behind a number of avatars). He’s always failing because of the same enemy (the Devil; hidden behind a number of aliases). He’s a dying man. The rest of my thoughts are going to fall into two folders. I’ll begin with the one whose label reads Good. You can make it Excellent, or just Great, for what Frédéric Chaslin and the orchestra did. Their Contes were full of inner life; from dreamy and relaxed to eerie to plain scary. To upbeat, to exquisite, to in love, to morbidly numb, to feisty… Every single bar was adding a small (or large) tessera to a long, uninterrupted narrative. I’d mention bewitching passages performed by woodwinds (especially those providing dark, deeper tones), harp, and violins.

This musical richness found a perfect match in a spectacular cast of actors/singers. While Vittorio Grigolo was vocally at home and seemed to merge very well with the theatrical context as the virtually ubiquitous Hoffmann, the brightest stars of the night were, to me, Federica Guida—who put an unexpected larmoyant touch on the prosthetic (and possibly prophetic) character of Olympia—and Francesca Di Sauro, whose charming, somewhat exotic phrasing in the role of Giulietta drew a super-thin line between heavenly light and an appropriately scorching (plus fleshly) version of Hell. As for the Not Good folder—it’s the staging. (I’d call it downright bad, but make no mistake: it didn’t prevent me from having a wonderful evening, and it didn’t quite obscure the many attractions of Jacques Offenbach and Jules Barbier’s unfinished [yet overabundant] masterpiece).

Death took the center of the stage as the lone genuine subject of these specific Contes. Several details here and there (a plentiful supply of veils; shadows; different people wearing the same outfit…) were suggesting/emphasizing that it all happens within Hoffmann’s feverish mind. I don’t oppose obsessions and/or hallucinations as a general rule, but in this case the execution felt rather messy and generic. I did like the fact that Hoffmann himself didn’t stay the same over the three acts. Act I (opposite Olympia; the infernal nemesis is Coppélius), he is close to a complete jerk. Act II (Antonia, Docteur Miracle) he looks like a decent lover, but also a powerless spectator of a creepy terminal rite. Act III (Giulietta, and Dapertutto), he’s back into questionable territories—this time as a man resolved to hit rock bottom. The frame story (Prologue and Epilogue; featuring Stella and Lindorf) was mostly about sad narcissism and self-pity—which I wouldn’t pick as a good starting point if you (I mean: Hoffmann) plan to be an outstanding artist.

#opera #teatro alla scala #paris #magic #hell

[maarianaposts]

A Female Opera Singer Can Make Her Career As an All-Star in a Variety of Roles

A female opera singer can make her career as an all-star by singing in a variety of roles. Many of the best singers of the past have had women in their roles, but a few have stood out above the rest. These female opera singers share several common traits. They are able to sing with a wide range of voices, have flawless coloratura and a vast vocal range, and put their heart and soul into every role.

Jessye Norman is an American soprano and recitalist who was well-known for her voice. She was capable of dramatic soprano roles, but did not accept them, choosing instead to perform recitals and operas. Her commanding presence on stage allowed her to perform roles from Bach and Mozart to the great Russian composer, Jacques Offenbach. Norman's impressive voice was described by critic Edward Rothstein as a "grand mansion of sound."

In addition to her incredible voice, she is also a beautiful woman. She has a commanding stage presence, a lovely voice, and a stunning beauty. Her acclaimed Ave Maria and her most affecting rendition of O Mio Babbino Caro are exemplary. She also possesses the acting and singing skills necessary for a world-class career. In my opinion, she is the perfect female opera singer. Just take a listen to some of her recordings and make up decisions based on her vocal capabilities.

One of the hardest roles for a soprano is the role of the high priestess, Norma. She is the daughter of a Druid leader, and has two children with the sex rival, Roman Pollione. As the daughter of a druid leader, she is an extremely demanding role, and despite her high-pitched voice, she has to reach a huge range.

#amazing opera singer

[staypuftmarshmallowqueen]

✨️Put 5 songs you listen to, post it, then send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers :) 🎶

From my more recent playlist in the car:

Rush, Cold Fire

RTPN, Abyss

Crystal Castles ft. Robert Smith, Not In Love

Justice, Heavy Metal

Offenbach, The Can-Can from Orpheus in the Underworld

NPTs: anyone seeing this! Show us whatcha got.

#questions I get asked #grim what kind of music do you like? #my answer as always is #yes

[cto10121]

Honestly the reason I’m not (entirely) hopeless for Darklina in S2 is that their S1 attempts at minimizing and sidelining Darklina and propping up Malina just. failed so spectacularly.

Casting an older actor to play the Darkling? Ben Barnes is literally a walking thirst trap with great chemistry with Jessie. Interjecting a million shots of the meadow scene? Only made viewers tire of it. Cut out all the Mal is-an-oblivious-jerk scenes? Only decreased the overall Malina content not meadow-related. Excised all of Mal’s general assholery re: not accepting her Grisha powers? Only sucked the tension from an already vanilla Malina dynamic. Rushing the courtship between the Darkling and Alina and framing it as a lustful fling only possible because Mal wasn’t there? Only gave significant weight to their few encounters and reinforced their mutual connection and strong chemistry. Wanted to make the Darkling more sympathetic by giving him a better backstory and attacking Novokribirsk after Zlatan’s assassination attempt? Only made him more of a principled foil to Alina’s all-I-care-is-Mal shtick.

Going to do a complete 180 in S2 and write the Darkling as a total villain for S2? Somehow I bet Ben Barnes won’t let them the writers will just end up accidentally-on-purpose manifesting Darklina more.

#darklina #shadow and bone #the darkling #my clown garb everyone *puts on the sabre dance* #but i can’t help it #*puts on offenbach’s can-can*

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

so @sorryiwasdrunk1 recently saw their first opera (Ariadne auf Naxos) live in HD from the Met and asked me for more recommendations. ergo, here are some operas that I think would be great:

first up, not because it’s the greatest opera for a beginner but (partly) because it’s next on the Met HD series (March 26 at 11:55 AM EST!) is Verdi’s Don Carlos. it’s a looooooooooooong work (about 3.5 hours not counting intermissions) but I promise that it will be so worth it: the cast is great, the production looks cool, the music and story are *chef’s kiss*, there’s personal drama, political drama, and pretty much everyone in this opera is queer (trust me, it’s true, just look in the subtext, and also not subtext).

(Honestly, I may be biased because Verdi is my favorite opera composer, but just about any Verdi opera is a good one to check out. For first-timers, I’d recommend Nabucco, Rigoletto, or La traviata, although sadly none of them have as strong Queer Vibes TM as Don Carlos. But they all have music you will likely recognize, great stories, and great characters, and plus there are plenty of great performances of each on the Internet, which cannot be said for all Verdi operas, sadly.)

Some other general good-for-first-timers:

Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro: A package deal here: even though the Mozart was written first, the Rossini opera takes place first. They share characters, they’re both iconic, and many of the characters give off Heavy Bi Vibes. Both among the best operatic comedies ever written.

For Mozart: Don Giovanni is also really great. Die Zauberflöte has great tunes but the plot is…something.

You cannot go wrong with just about any Rossini comedy: La cenerentola is a witty take on the Cinderella story, Il viaggio a Reims is both utterly brilliant and utterly stupid, Le Comte Ory is one of the most delightful things you will ever see. Guillaume Tell is more serious and also LONG but the music is iconic and the whole thing is just so good.

Speaking of Cinderella, Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon is “you didn’t think Cinderella could be GAY, could you? well you’re wrong” because the Prince is sung by a woman. Go check out the Met 2018 production, which is absolute magic.

(Massenet in general was very good at writing a) marvelous roles for women and b) gay. His opera Chérubin—quite an obscure piece—was a sequel to Le nozze di Figaro.)

Bizet’s Carmen is iconic. That is all.

Puccini is great for first-timers, but you have to choose carefully: La bohème is a sweet sentimental tragedy, Tosca is a thriller (more women shanking their would-be r*pists please), Il trittico is 3 one-act operas (a violent gritty thriller, a mystical tearjerker about redemption, and one of the funniest comedies in all opera) put together. It is a TREAT. The other Puccini ones are best saved for later IMO.

Speaking of which, do not slack on the one-act operas of any kind. They are amazing. Also the operettas: Johann Strauss (not the one who composed Ariadne auf Naxos), Lehar, Offenbach, and Gilbert and Sullivan are all great choices.

Since you seemed to really like Ariadne auf Naxos, Richard Strauss seems to be a good direction to go into: you’d probably like Der Rosenkavalier, which is long and has some highly problematic elements (a woman in her early 30s is having an affair with a 17-year-old, although she eventually gives him up), but the romance between the two younger people (Octavian and Sophie) is so adorable. Also it’s supposed to be broadcast Live in HD next April with Lise Davidsen and Isabel Leonard (Ariadne and the Composer from this HD) as the Marschallin and Octavian.

You’d also probably really like Arabella (romantic complications revolving around two sisters, one of whom has been raised as a boy) and Capriccio (a poet and a composer are both in love with a Countess. it’s supposed to be a metaphor for opera).

Baroque operas are long and can get repetitive. The upside: a) they bop and b) they are gay as fuck. Seriously. The amount of gender-bending is amazing (and to discuss more on this, I will pass you along to my friends @solointhesand and @monotonous-minutia).

Other miscellaneous things in no real order:

-check out anything by Gaetano Donizetti. comedies, tragedies, this guy could do it all.

-Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma is another gay as fuck opera. Seriously. (I’m not a huge Bellini fan, but this one can stay and also that is just my opinion. It is not The Law.)

-so is Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann (will once again pass you on to @monotonous-minutia).

-I LOVE Tchaikovsky. You’d probably love Eugene Onegin…the sheer YEARNING in that.

-especially from the 20th century, there are a LOT of English-language operas. three I’d recommend are Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress (passing you on to @madmozarteanfelinefantasy), Floyd’s Susannah (Susanna and the Elders with an Appalachian, much darker bent), and Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which is great and also obviously very gay.

-people are going to try to get you into Wagner very early. go as you are comfortable. Wagner is great but also very intimidating. my first Wagner was Lohengrin, which was a good choice. I’ll pass you on to a couple of my huge Wagnerian friends @dichterfuerstin and @beckmessering for more in-depth thoughts on this subject.

That’s just to start—I’ll ask my opera friends on here to add their own opinions about good operas to explore, particularly ones with Gay Vibes, because operablr is really a very diverse community and I am only a small part of it. Welcome! Make yourself at home. ❤️

#opera #opera tag #gay opera #first time operas

[monotonous-minutia]

Brief history of Les contes d’Hoffmann edits (the short short version) + Summaries!

Kudos to anyone who gets through all of this, but I recommend at least reading the first part if you plan on watching this opera next week for Operablr Pride Month. It will help you find/choose a version to watch!

For the differences in the summaries to make sense, we need a little background info.

The very very very short version of why there are so many edits:

Offenbach died before he could finish the score. Most of the prologue, Olympia, and Antonia acts were done; the Giulietta act and the Epilogue were not, which is why those are the parts that vary the most across the different edits. Additionally, much of the material that varies belongs to Nicklausse/the Muse. The reason for this is that the mezzo in this role cancelled last minute, and the replacement didn’t have time to learn the entire role before the performance, so the Muse monologues, Violin Aria, and much of Nicklausse’s dialogue were cut; the ending monologue was replaced with spoken speech. Since the premiere—which is another story for another time—several conductors, directors, and music scholars have attempted to reconstruct the opera based on Offenbach’s drafts and notes, and in some cases their personal preferences. Additional shoutout to good old Guiraud, who finished a lot of the orchestration that Offenbach didn’t get to, which is some of the only stuff to survive most edits.

Also, I should say: apparently in addition to there being no definitive edition of this opera, there’s no definitive history either. I swear every book/article I read about it says something different so this is the best I could do. So if there are any inaccuracies, apologies in advance.

Now there are a lot of people that have tinkered with this opera, but there are a few main ones that compiled what are dubbed “critical editions,” because they did a bunch of research and a lot of people end up using edits based on what they did.

In chronological order, those critical edits are:

Choudens: The shortest version, and one most people are familiar with.

Oeser (1): Longer with a lot of missing material added, also fairly well-known.

Oeser (2): Even longer with a ton of new stuff added! (My personal fave but pretty rare)

Kaye/Keck: Uses some of the material rediscovered by Oeser, but also adds a ton of other stuff, particularly in the Giulietta act, as well as re-orchestrating significant portions. Not many of these either.

and apparently there’s another one called “OG Offenbach” or something like that but as far as I can tell there haven’t been any recordings of it or much about what it looks like, but from what I gather it’s fairly similar to that last one, with some adjustments based on yet more new-old material discovered.

And, of course, every single production I’ve ever seen/heard puts its own spin on things! So while most have the general formats as seen below, literally no two are exactly alike.

A bit more detail on the versions:

Choudens

This is one of the first people to edit the material after it was butchered for the world premiere. It’s the short version of the opera with the most material missing, though to be fair he did improve upon what it had been before. His is (unfortunately) the edit most people are familiar with:

Prologue: Chorus of Spirits of wine and beer. Lindorf monologues about stealing Stella from Hoffmann. Students party in the tavern and ask Hoffmann to tell a stoy; he sings the famous "Ballad of Klein-Zach." When taunted by Lindorf about his love life, Hoffmann decides to tell everyone the tales of his Three Great Loves. Act I: Olympia. Hoffmann is in love with the “daughter” of Spalanzani, his science professor, unaware that she is a robot. Coppélius sells Hoffmann magic glasses that make him believe Olympia is a real human, despite Nicklausse's insistence that she is a mechanical doll. Olympia is presented to the guests at her coming-out party; they marvel over her. Hoffmann serenades her and dances with her, but Coppélius arrives to take her apart, and Hoffmann realizes he’s been in love with a robot the whole time. Act II: Giulietta. Choudens put the Giluietta act second instead of Antonia. At a party, Nicklausse and Giulietta sing the famous Barcarolle; Hoffmann counters with an aria about how love is futile. Nicklausse tries to warn Hoffmann to be careful of Giulietta's lover, Schlémil, but Hoffmann of course does not listen. Dapertutto arrives and makes a deal with Giulietta to trick Hoffmann. Giulietta seduces Hoffmann and steals his reflection. When Hoffmann realizes his reflection is gone, we get the famous Septet (the only thing I’m grateful to Choudens for). Afterwards, Hoffmann kills Schlémil  to get the key to Giulietta’s room, but Giulietta leaves with Pitichinaccio instead. Act III: Antonia. The singer Antonia is sick and it’s her singing that is killing her. Hoffmann, who’s been looking for her for months after Antonia and her father moved specifically so he couldn’t find them, has finally found her. They promise to run away and get married, but before they can, Dr. Miracle forces Antonia to sing until she literally dies. Epilogue: Hoffmann has finished his stories. Nicklausse makes the connection that all three ladies are actually metaphors for the real-life Stella. Hoffmann yells at him. Stella walks in on a drunk Hoffmann who mistakes her for his lovers; she leaves in a huff with Lindorf. Nicklausse reveals his identity as the Muse (in spoken dialogue) and asks for Hoffmann’s devotion. Hoffmann gets a reprise of his Giulietta act aria, but this time committing himself to the Muse and his art.

Oeser (1)

This one, which is also very common, isn’t Oeser’s *actual* edit but combines his with the Choudens one, so it has a lot more material than the previous one, but not as much as the longer Oeser version.

Prologue: Very similar to Choudens except we get the Muse’s opening monologue explaining their motivations (winning Hoffmann and saving him from Stella) before the rest of the action. Act I: Olympia. Pretty much the same but sometimes Nicklausse gets a different aria. Act II: Antonia (which here comes before Giulietta). Almost exactly the same as Choudens’, but Nicklausse gets to sing a lovely aria about love and art which is really a love song for Hoffmann. Act III: Giulietta. Pretty much the same, except it’s the third act instead of the second act. Epilogue: Starts pretty much the same, until the Hoffmann/Stella confrontation which is now put to music. Then we get a reprise of Klein-Zach followed by the drinking chorus, after which the Muse reappears. The opera ends with the Muse’s closing monologue and chorus about how Hoffmann’s suffering will make him a greater artist.

Oeser (2)

Pretty similar to the short Oeser version described above. The most dramatic changes are really just in the Giulietta act, though there’s some extra material in Olympia too (that one waltzy duet I’m always gushing about) and sometimes more sung material for the Muse in the epilogue as well. Oeser’s longer Giluietta act: Has the same basic plot points, except instead of going right from Dapertutto making the deal with Giulietta to Giulietta seducing Hoffmann, we get a gambling scene where Giulietta serenades the guests as they play cards, during which each of the characters gets a little moment. Then Giulietta leaves and Hoffmann follows her, and she sings sadly about her dismal situation which leads into her seduction of Hoffmann, and the rest of the act ends pretty much the same, except sometimes there’s no Septet.

Now, on to possibly the wildest of them all:

Kaye/Kecke

This one is rare; there’s only a few recordings that even attempt it, and very few get it to the letter of what these two scholars compiled. Once again, most of the changes are in the Giulietta act and Epilogue; the only real changes in the previous acts are in the orchestration of some parts. Kaye Giulietta Act: Starts pretty much the same, with the Barcarolle and Hoffmann’s derisive aria, and Dapertutto making the deal with Giulietta. We get a gambling scene here too, but it’s not as long or dramatic and Giulietta gets a different aria. Hoffmann kills Schlémil for the same reasons, but it happens before Giulietta steals his reflection; essentially she’s bribing him before she pretends to fall in love with him. Hoffmann gets in trouble for killing Schlémil, and in a fit of rage tries to kill Giulietta, but kills Pitichinaccio instead. Kaye Epilogue: It starts with a chorus for the students kinda trying to talk Hoffmann down from his crazy stories. We get the same Nicklausse-Hoffmann confrontation, and the one with Stella, and a reprise of Klein-Zach, but in addition to the drinking chorus repeating we get a kind of ominous reprise of the “Glou! Glou!” chorus from the prologue, after which the Muse enters and we get the same ending monologue but it’s got some extra pieces.

So the short short version ended up pretty long huh? Anyway, I hope it's helpful!

If you want more detailed summaries to follow along with when you watch the opera, see below!

More detailed summaries!

Choudens

Choudens is one of the the first critical edits of the opera and, despite the fact that it’s been discredited multiple times, is still inexplicably used a lot and is what a lot of people think of when they think of this opera.

Prologue We open in Luther's Tavern. A chorus of the Spirits of Wine and Beer sing out. The Councilor Lindorf comes in and bribes Andrès, a tavern employee, into giving him a letter from Stella, an actress, that’s addressed to Hoffmann. Lindorf reads the letter, in which Stella has included the key to her room and invites Hoffmann to join her after her performance that evening. Lindorf keeps the letter and key for himself. A group of students arrive in the tavern and sing a rousing drinking chorus. After a bit they notice Hoffmann isn’t there yet and demand to know where he is. Luther, the tavern's owner, tells them Hoffmann is on his way, along with his friend Nicklausse. The pair enter and take a seat. Hoffmann is melancholy and brooding, which prompts the students to ask him for a jovial song to lighten the mood. Hoffmann then sings the famous “Ballad of Klein-Zach.” But in the middle of the song, he gets distracted by memories of Stella. The students bring him back to reality and he finishes the song, but the talk of love brings it up as a topic of conversation. Hoffmann declares “The devil take me if I were ever to fall in love!” At this point Lindorf makes his presence known, sneering at Hoffmann. The two of them then get into a battle of words, during which Hoffmann inadvertently admits that he is, in fact, in love with someone. Curious, the students ask him for the story of his love. Hoffmann declares that he has had not one but three mistresses: an artist, a young girl, and a courtesan. He then begins to tell his tales. Act I: Olympia. Hoffmann goes to visit his science professor, Spalanzani, to declare his devotion to science. Spalanzani commends him, then leaves to prepare for his “daughter” Olympia’s coming-out party. Hoffmann admits his love for Olympia and gazes at her through a window. Nicklausse arrives and gently teases him about his love, singing a song about a mechanical doll and bird. Hoffmann brushes him off. Coppélius, an eccentric saleman, enters and displays his various wares, including a variety of contraptions but primarily eyes. He manages to get Hoffmann interested in a pair of magical glasses, which Hoffmann then purchases and wears for the remainder of the act. Spalanzani returns and gets into an argument with Coppélius about Olympia; Coppélius wants a share since she has his eyes. Spalanzani decides to pay Coppélius with a check that he mentions in an aside he knows will bounce. Coppélius tells Spalanzani that he should get Hoffmann to marry Olympia as a joke. Spalanzani agrees, and Coppélius leaves. Cochenille, Spalazani's assistant, announces the arrival of the guests. A chorus of people arrive, admiring Spalanzani’s skills as a host. Spalanzani introduces Olympia to the guests, who marvel over her perfection. Olympia sings a charming songs about birds and love. Hoffmann's new glasses make him see Olympia as a real person rather than the robot she actually is, and he is captivated. After Olympia’s song, the guests leave to go to dinner, but Spalanzani asks Hoffmann to stay behind with Olympia. Hoffmann professes his love for Olympia, who responds only with “Yes” when Hoffmann touches her shoulder (he doesn’t know he’s actually triggering a button that makes her say that word). When he goes to embrace her, Olympia runs off. Nicklausse returns, telling Hoffmann to be wary, because everything is not as it seems; Hoffmann brushes him off yet again. They leave to join the other guests. Coppélius enters, furious with Spalanzani for giving him a faulty check. He swears revenge and runs off. The guests return for dancing. Spalanzani asks Hoffmann to dance with Olympia. During the dance, Olympia goes haywire and rushes offstage, pursued by Cochenille. In the process, Hoffmann’s glasses are broken. Cochenille rushes back onstage, crying out that Coppélius has Olympia; Spalanzani rushes to her aid, only to find Coppélius with the robot in pieces. They return holding parts of the broken doll, and Hoffmann, his magical glasses now broken, finally sees Olympia for what she truly is and is

humiliated. Act II: Giulietta (Choudens is the only edit that has Giulietta second instead of third) Venice. The courtesan Giulietta is having a party of sorts. She and Nicklausse sing the famous Barcarolle. Afterwards Hoffmann mocks them with a song of his own condemning love and romance. Schlémil, who is in love with Giulietta, enters and makes it clear he is suspicious of Hoffmann when Giulietta introduces him. Giulietta then leads her guests out to play cards. Hoffmann is about to follow when Nicklausse takes him aside, warning him against Giulietta and asking him to leave. Hoffmann says there’s no way he could fall for someone like Giulietta, and if he does, may the devil take him! (He really needs to stop saying that.) After Hoffmann and Nicklausse leave to play cards with the others, the Captain Dapertutto comes in, announcing he plans to thwart Hoffmann with the help of Giulietta. He attracts the courtesan with a diamond (and a deceptively pretty aria) and tells her she needs to steal Hoffmann’s reflection for him. Giulietta agrees to do so in exchange for the diamond. Hoffmann returns and Dapertutto leaves. Giulietta seduces Hoffmann, who serenades her with a fairly famous aria that gets reprised later for a different reason (keep an eye out for that). Knowing she has him on the hook, Giulietta demands his fidelity—and his reflection. Helpless against her charms, Hoffmann agrees to both. Schlémil, Dapertutto, and Nicklausse return. Giulietta tells Hoffmann that Schlémil has the key to her room, and if Hoffmann can retrieve it, she’ll meet him there later. Dapertutto taunts Hoffmann, who looks in a mirror to find that his reflection is gone. Nicklausse begs him to leave but Hoffmann refuses, still clinging to the hope that Giulietta actually loves him. However she only mocks him, and he despairs, starting everyone off in the famous Septet (or "Sextet and Chorus"). Giulietta leads everyone back to the party, except Schlémil, who challenges Hoffmann to a duel. Hoffmann kills Schlémil and takes the key. He rushes to find Giulietta, only to see her riding off in a gondola with her real lover Piticchinaccio, both of whom are laughing at his expense. Nicklausse tells Hoffmann the police are coming to look for Schlémil’s murderer, and finally drags him away. Act III: Antonia Crespel’s house. Antonia laments the death of her mother and her separation from her lover, Hoffmann. Her father, Crespel, enters and reminds her not to sing, lest she die from it like her mother did. Antonia promises him she won’t sing anymore and leaves sadly. Crespel asks his servant Frantz to watch the door and make sure no one comes in. Frantz, who is partially deaf, only half-understands him. Crespel expresses frustration at this and leaves. Frantz remarks in a fun little number that if only he had some talents—like singing or dancing—maybe his boss would appreciate him more. Hoffmann enters with Nicklausse; they have been travelling for weeks looking for Antonia after she moved away without a word. Hoffmann asks Frantz to find Antonia for him. When the servant leaves to do so, Hoffmann begins to sing a song that he and Antonia wrote. Antonia hears him and rushes to meet him; Nicklausse exits quietly. Hoffmann and Antonia rejoice over their reunion and pledge to get married. Hoffmann expresses concern over Antonia’s insistence to sing despite her ill health. Antonia convinces him to sing their song together, which they do. Afterwards Antonia becomes tired. Before Hoffmann can react, they hear Crespel coming. Antonia flees, but Hoffmann remains, hiding so he can eavesdrop on Crespel. Frantz returns and tells Crespel that Dr. Miracle is here, having misunderstood Crespel’s command to not let anyone in. Dr. Miracle enters, asking to see Antonia. Crespel refuses and tells him to leave, saying that his faulty medicine is what killed Antonia's mother. Dr. Miracle, however, remains, and pantomimes an interaction with Antonia where he checks her pulse and orders her to sing. Offstage, Antonia responds with a scale. Dr. Miracle tells Crespel that

Antonia is dangerously ill, and gives him

two vials of medicine that he says will cure her. Crespel refuses them, calling the doctor a murderer and chasing him out. Hoffmann comes out of hiding, stunned by this encounter. Antonia returns and asks Hoffmann what her father said, thinking that he and Hoffmann had been talking this entire time. Hoffmann, disturbed by what he’s seen and heard, makes Antonia promise not to sing. She agrees, but when Hoffmann leaves (promising to return for her later) she laments that Hoffmann is now on her father’s side about her singing. Dr. Miracle returns as a disembodied voice, taunting Antonia. Why should she give up singing just because her father and Hoffmann tell her to? Doesn’t she want to be a great singer like her mother? When Antonia rebuffs him, Dr. Miracle calls on the spirit of Antonia’s dead mother, who leads Antonia in a frantic refrain. Antonia, exhausted by the singing, collapses. Crespel rushes in to see his daughter dying on the floor. She tells him she sees her mother, then sings a part of her and Hoffmann’s song, before dying in her father’s arms. Hoffmann rushes in just in time to see Dr. Miracle pronounce Antonia dead. Epilogue Back at the tavern, Hoffmann finishes his tales. Offstage, cheers and applause are heard for Stella as her performance comes to an end. Nicklausse announces a revelation—all of Hoffmann’s lovers in his stories are just manifestations of his real love for a single woman, Stella. Furious, Hoffmann shouts Nicklausse down, then deliriously leads a reprise of the drinking chorus. Stella enters looking for Hoffmann, only to find him dead drunk. He mistakes her for his three fictional loves, then rejects her. Offended, Stella leaves with Lindorf. The students all leave and Hoffmann is alone with Nicklausse, who reveals himself to be the Muse of Poetry. The Muse declares her devotion to Hoffmann and asks for his in return. Hoffmann, hearing this, repeats his song from the Giulietta act, this time declaring his love for the Muse and promising to return to his art.

Oeser (1)

The short Oeser version is the other Most Commonly Seen edit (I think it’s about a tie). It's similar to the Choudens edit in many ways, with some significant additions, which are in blue below: Prologue We open in Luther's Tavern. A chorus of the Spirits of Wine and Beer sing out. The Muse emerges from a barrel, declaring her love for Hoffmann and determination to rid him of Stella, the “siren” who has stolen his attention (and affection). She tells the audience that she will disguise herself as Nicklausse, Hoffmann’s friend, in order to try one last time to win him tonight. The Councilor Lindorf comes in and bribes Andrès, a tavern employee, into giving him a letter from Stella, an actress, that’s addressed to Hoffmann. Lindorf reads the letter, in which Stella has included the key to her room and invites Hoffmann to join her after her performance that evening. Lindorf keeps the letter and key for himself. A group of students arrive in the tavern and sing a rousing drinking chorus. After a bit they notice Hoffmann isn’t there yet and demand to know where he is. Luther, the tavern's owner, tells them Hoffmann is on his way, along with Nicklausse. The pair enter and take a seat. Hoffmann is melancholy and brooding, which prompts the students to ask him for a jovial song to lighten the mood. Hoffmann then sings the famous “Ballad of Klein-Zach.” But in the middle of the song, he gets distracted by memories of Stella. The students bring him back to reality and he finishes the sing, but the talk of love brings it up as a topic of conversation. Hoffmann declares “The devil take me if I were ever to fall in love!” At this point Lindorf makes his presence known, sneering at Hoffmann. The two of them then get into a battle of words, during which Hoffmann inadvertently admits that he is, in fact, in love with someone. Curious, the students ask him for the story of his love. Hoffmann declares that he has had not one but three mistresses: an artist, a young girl, and a courtesan. He then begins to tell his tales. Act I: Olympia Hoffmann goes to visit his science professor, Spalanzani, to declare his devotion to science. Spalanzani commends him, then leaves to prepare for his “daughter” Olympia’s coming-out party. Hoffmann admits his love for Olympia and gazes at her through a window. Nicklausse arrives and gently teases him about his love, singing a song about a mechanical doll and bird (sometimes it’s changed to a more mocking song specifically referencing Olympia). Hoffmann brushes him off. Coppélius, an eccentric salesman, enters and attempts to sell Hoffmann and Nicklausse a variety or contraptions; Hoffmann and Nicklausse bicker over whether or not to engage with the salesman. Coppélius manages to get Hoffmann interested in a pair of magical glasses, which Hoffmann then purchases and wears for the remainder of the act. Spalanzani returns and gets into an argument with Coppélius about Olympia; Coppélius wants a share since she has his eyes. Spalanzani decides to pay Coppélius with a check that he mentions in an aside he knows will bounce. Coppélius tells Spalanzani that he should get Hoffmann to marry Olympia as a joke. Spalanzani agrees, and Coppélius leaves. Cochenille, Spalanzani's assistant, announces the arrival of the guests. A chorus of people arrive, admiring Spalanzani’s skills as a host. Spalanzani introduces Olympia to the guests, who marvel over her perfection. Olympia sings a charming songs about birds and love. Hoffmann's new glasses make him see Olympia as a real person rather than the robot she actually is, and he is captivated. After Olympia’s song, the guests leave to go to dinner, but Spalanzani asks Hoffmann to stay behind with Olympia. Hoffmann professes his love for Olympia, who responds only with “Yes” when Hoffmann touches her shoulder (he doesn’t know he’s actually triggering a button that makes her say that word). When he goes to embrace her, Olympia runs off. Nicklausse returns, telling Hoffmann to be wary, because everything is not as it seems; Hoffmann brushes him off yet again. They leave to

join the other guests. Coppélius enters, furious with Spalanzani for giving him a faulty check. He swears revenge and runs off. The guests return for dancing. Spalanzani asks Hoffmann to dance with Olympia. During the dance, Olympia goes haywire and rushes offstage, pursued by Cochenille. In the process, Hoffmann’s glasses are broken. Cochenille rushes back onstage, crying out that Coppélius has Olympia; Spalanzani rushes to her aid, only to find Coppélius with the robot in pieces. They return holding parts of the broken doll, and Hoffmann, his magical glasses now broken, finally sees Olympia for who she truly is and is humiliated. Act II: Antonia (When Oeser made his edit, he rearranged the acts to their original order, placing Antonia before Giulietta.) Crespel’s house. Antonia laments the death of her mother and her separation from her lover, Hoffmann. Her father, Crespel, enters and reminds her not to sing, lest she die from it like her mother did. Antonia promises him she won’t sing anymore and leaves sadly. Crespel asks his servant Frantz to watch the door and make sure no one comes in. Frantz, who is partially deaf, only half-understands him. Crespel expresses frustration at this and leaves. Frantz remarks in a fun little number that if only he had some talents—like singing or dancing—maybe his boss would appreciate him more. Hoffmann enters with Nicklausse; they have been travelling for weeks looking for Antonia after she moved away without a word. Hoffmann asks Frantz to go find Antonia for him. While Hoffmann expresses his joy over being reunited with Antonia, Nicklausse tries to temper his excitement with a reality check, which Hoffmann brushes off (he does this a lot). Nicklausse then sings a lovely song about the power of art and love (which is really a love song for Hoffmann), but once again Hoffmann ignores him. Hoffmann begins to sing a song that he and Antonia wrote. Antonia hears him and rushes to meet him; Nicklausse exits quietly. Hoffmann and Antonia rejoice over their reunion and pledge to get married. Hoffmann expresses concern over Antonia’s insistence to sing despite her ill health. Antonia convinces him to sing their song together, which they do. Afterwards Antonia becomes tired. Before Hoffmann can react, they hear Crespel coming. Antonia flees, but Hoffmann remains, hiding so he can eavesdrop on Crespel. Frantz returns and tells Crespel that Dr. Miracle is here, having misunderstood Crespel’s command to not let anyone in. Dr. Miracle enters, asking to see Antonia. Crespel refuses and tells him to leave, saying that his faulty medicine is what killed Antonia's mother. Dr. Miracle, however, remains, and pantomimes an interaction with Antonia where he checks her pulse and orders her to sing. Offstage, Antonia responds with a scale. Dr. Miracle tells Crespel that Antonia is dangerously ill, and gives him two vials of medicine that he says will cure her. Crespel refuses them, calling the doctor a murderer and chasing him out. Hoffmann comes out of hiding, stunned by this encounter. Antonia returns and asks Hoffmann what her father said, thinking that he and Hoffmann had been talking this entire time. Hoffmann, disturbed by what he’s seen and heard, makes Antonia promise not to sing. She agrees, but when Hoffmann leaves (promising to return for her later) she laments that Hoffmann is now on her father’s side about her singing. Dr. Miracle returns as a disembodied voice, taunting Antonia. Why should she give up singing just because her father and Hoffmann tell her to? Doesn’t she want to be a great singer like her mother? When Antonia rebuffs him, Dr. Miracle calls on the spirit of Antonia’s dead mother, who leads Antonia in a frantic refrain. Antonia, exhausted by the singing, collapses. Crespel rushes in to see his daughter dying on the floor. She tells him she sees her mother, then sings a part of her and Hoffmann’s song, before dying in her father’s arms. Hoffmann rushes in just in time to see Dr. Miracle pronounce Antonia dead. Act III: Giulietta Venice. The courtesan Giulietta is having a

party of sorts. She and Nicklausse sing the famous Barcarolle. Afterwards Hoffmann mocks them with a song of his own condemning love and romance. Schlémil, who is in love with Giulietta, enters and makes it clear he is suspicious of Hoffmann when Giulietta introduces him. Giulietta then leads her guests out to play cards. Hoffmann is about to follow when Nicklausse takes him aside, warning him against Giulietta and asking him to leave. Hoffmann says there’s no way he could fall for someone like Giulietta, and if he does, may the devil take him! (He really needs to stop saying that.) After Hoffmann and Nicklausse leave to play cards with the others, the Captain Dapertutto comes in, announcing he plans to thwart Hoffmann with the help of Giulietta. He attracts the courtesan with a diamond (and a deceptively pretty aria) and tells her she needs to steal Hoffmann’s reflection for him. Giulietta agrees to do so in exchange for the diamond. Hoffmann returns and Dapertutto leaves. Giulietta seduces Hoffmann, who serenades her with a fairly famous aria. Knowing she has him on the hook, Giulietta demands his fidelity—and his reflection. Helpless against her charms, Hoffmann agrees to both. Schlémil, Dapertutto, and Nicklausse return. Giulietta tells Hoffmann that Schlémil has the key to her room, and if Hoffmann can retrieve it, she’ll meet him there later. Dapertutto taunts Hoffmann, who looks in a mirror to find that his reflection is gone. Nicklausse begs him to leave but Hoffmann refuses, still clinging to the hope that Giulietta actually loves him. However she only mocks him, and he despairs, starting everyone off in the famous Septet (or Sextet and Chorus). Giulietta leads everyone back to the party, except Schlémil, who challenges Hoffmann to a duel. Hoffmann kills Schlémil and takes the key. He rushes to find Giulietta, only to see her riding off in a gondola with her real lover Piticchinaccio, both of whom are laughing at his expense. Nicklausse tells Hoffmann the police are coming to look for Schlémil’s murderer, and finally drags him away. Epilogue Back at the tavern, Hoffmann finishes his tales. Offstage, cheers and applause are heard for Stella as her performance comes to an end. Nicklausse announces a revelation—all of Hoffmann’s lovers in his stories are just manifestations of his real love for a single woman, Stella. Furious, Hoffmann shouts Nicklausse down, then deliriously leads a reprise of the drinking chorus. Stella enters looking for Hoffmann. Nicklausse exits, telling Hoffmann it’s time for him to choose. Hoffmann drunkenly mistakes Stella for his three fictional loves, then rejects her. Offended, Stella leaves with Lindorf. Hoffmann begins to sing his Klein-Zach song before falling in despair. The students exit the tavern, singing their song once again and leaving Hoffmann alone. Nicklausse returns and reveals his identity as the Muse, serenading Hoffmann with a comforting refrain: love makes a man great, but tears make him greater still—his suffering is not in vain, but will make him an even greater artist.

Oeser (2)

The long Oeser version (my personal favorite) follows the short one fairly closely; most of the major revisions are in the Giulietta act. This one is pretty rare—I’ve only found one video (which is a terrible production unfortunately) and one audio recording (which is the greatest audio recording of this opera that currently exists). New material in green text:

Prologue We open in Luther's Tavern. A chorus of the Spirits of Wine and Beer sing out. The Muse emerges from a barrel, declaring her love for Hoffmann and determination to rid him of Stella, the “siren” who has stolen his attention (and affection). She tells the audience that she will disguise herself as Nicklausse, Hoffmann’s friend, in order to try one last time to win him tonight. The Councilor Lindorf comes in and bribes Andrès, a tavern employee, into giving him a letter from Stella, an actress, that’s addressed to Hoffmann. Lindorf reads the letter, in which Stella has included the key to her room and invites Hoffmann to join her after her performance that evening. Lindorf keeps the letter and key for himself. A group of students arrive in the tavern and sing a rousing drinking chorus. After a bit they notice Hoffmann isn’t there yet and demand to know where he is. Luther, the tavern's owner, tells them Hoffmann is on his way, along with Nicklausse. The pair enter and take a seat. Hoffmann is melancholy and brooding, which prompts the students to ask him for a jovial song to lighten the mood. Hoffmann then sings the famous “Ballad of Klein-Zach.” But in the middle of the song, he gets distracted by memories of Stella. The students bring him back to reality and he finishes the sing, but the talk of love brings it up as a topic of conversation. Hoffmann declares “The devil take me if I were ever to fall in love!” At this point Lindorf makes his presence known, sneering at Hoffmann. The two of them then get into a battle of words, during which Hoffmann inadvertently admits that he is, in fact, in love with someone. Curious, the students ask him for the story of his love. Hoffmann declares that he has had not one but three mistresses: an artist, a young girl, and a courtesan. He then begins to tell his tales. Act I: Olympia Hoffmann goes to visit his science professor, Spalanzani, to declare his devotion to science. Spalanzani commends him, then leaves to prepare for his “daughter” Olympia’s coming-out party. Hoffmann admits his love for Olympia and gazes at her through a window. Nicklausse arrives and gently teases him about his love, singing a song about a mechanical doll and bird (sometimes it’s changed to a more mocking song specifically referencing Olympia). Hoffmann brushes him off. Coppélius, an eccentric salesman, enters and attempts to sell Hoffmann and Nicklausse a variety or contraptions; Hoffmann and Nicklausse bicker over whether or not to engage with the salesman. Coppélius manages to get Hoffmann interested in a pair of magical glasses, which Hoffmann then purchases and wears for the remainder of the act. Spalanzani returns and gets into an argument with Coppélius about Olympia; Coppélius wants a share since she has his eyes. Spalanzani decides to pay Coppélius with a check that he mentions in an aside he knows will bounce. Coppélius tells Spalanzani that he should get Hoffmann to marry Olympia as a joke. Spalanzani agrees, and Coppélius leaves. Cochenille, Spalanzani's assistant, announces the arrival of the guests. A chorus of people arrive, admiring Spalanzani’s skills as a host. Spalanzani introduces Olympia to the guests, who marvel over her perfection. Olympia sings a charming songs about birds and love. Hoffmann's new glasses make him see Olympia as a real person rather than the robot she actually is, and he is captivated. After Olympia’s song, the guests leave to go to dinner, but Spalanzani asks Hoffmann to stay behind with Olympia. Hoffmann professes his love for Olympia, who responds only with “Yes” when Hoffmann touches her shoulder (he doesn’t know he’s actually triggering a button that makes her say that word). When he goes to embrace her, Olympia runs off. Nicklausse returns, telling Hoffmann to be wary, because everything is not as it seems; Hoffmann brushes him off yet again. Then we get my beloved little waltzy duet where Nicklausse invites Hoffmann back to the party and Hoffmann denounces cynics who disbelieve the power of love. They leave to join the other guests. Coppélius

enters, furious with Spalanzani for giving him a faulty check. He swears revenge and runs off. The guests return for dancing. Spalanzani asks Hoffmann to dance with Olympia. During the dance, Olympia goes haywire and rushes offstage, pursued by Cochenille. In the process, Hoffmann’s glasses are broken. Cochenille rushes back onstage, crying out that Coppélius has Olympia; Spalanzani rushes to her aid, only to find Coppélius with the robot in pieces. They return holding parts of the broken doll, and Hoffmann, his magical glasses now broken, finally sees Olympia for who she truly is and is humiliated. Act II: Antonia Crespel’s house. Antonia laments the death of her mother and her separation from her lover, Hoffmann. Her father, Crespel, enters and reminds her not to sing, lest she die from it like her mother did. Antonia promises him she won’t sing anymore and leaves sadly. Crespel asks his servant Frantz to watch the door and make sure no one comes in. Frantz, who is partially deaf, only half-understands him. Crespel expresses frustration at this and leaves. Frantz remarks in a fun little number that if only he had some talents—like singing or dancing—maybe his boss would appreciate him more. Hoffmann enters with Nicklausse; they have been travelling for weeks looking for Antonia after she moved away without a word. Hoffmann asks Frantz to go find Antonia for him. While Hoffmann expresses his joy over being reunited with Antonia, Nicklausse tries to temper his excitement with a reality check, which Hoffmann brushes off (he does this a lot). Nicklausse then sings a lovely song about the power of art and love (which is really a love song for Hoffmann), but once again Hoffmann ignores him. Hoffmann begins to sing a song that he and Antonia wrote. Antonia hears him and rushes to meet him; Nicklausse exits quietly. Hoffmann and Antonia rejoice over their reunion and pledge to get married. Hoffmann expresses concern over Antonia’s insistence to sing despite her ill health. Antonia convinces him to sing their song together, which they do. Afterwards Antonia becomes tired. Before Hoffmann can react, they hear Crespel coming. Antonia flees, but Hoffmann remains, hiding so he can eavesdrop on Crespel. Frantz returns and tells Crespel that Dr. Miracle is here, having misunderstood Crespel’s command to not let anyone in. Dr. Miracle enters, asking to see Antonia. Crespel refuses and tells him to leave, saying that his faulty medicine is what killed Antonia's mother. Dr. Miracle, however, remains, and pantomimes an interaction with Antonia where he checks her pulse and orders her to sing. Offstage, Antonia responds with a scale. Dr. Miracle tells Crespel that Antonia is dangerously ill, and gives him two vials of medicine that he says will cure her. Crespel refuses them, calling the doctor a murderer and chasing him out. Hoffmann comes out of hiding, stunned by this encounter. Antonia returns and asks Hoffmann what her father said, thinking that he and Hoffmann had been talking this entire time. Hoffmann, disturbed by what he’s seen and heard, makes Antonia promise not to sing. She agrees, but when Hoffmann leaves (promising to return for her later) she laments that Hoffmann is now on her father’s side about her singing. Dr. Miracle returns as a disembodied voice, taunting Antonia. Why should she give up singing just because her father and Hoffmann tell her to? Doesn’t she want to be a great singer like her mother? When Antonia rebuffs him, Dr. Miracle calls on the spirit of Antonia’s dead mother, who leads Antonia in a frantic refrain. Antonia, exhausted by the singing, collapses. Crespel rushes in to see his daughter dying on the floor. She tells him she sees her mother, then sings a part of her and Hoffmann’s song, before dying in her father’s arms. Hoffmann rushes in just in time to see Dr. Miracle pronounce Antonia dead. Act III: Giulietta Venice. The courtesan Giulietta is having a party of sorts. She and Nicklausse sing the famous Barcarolle. Afterwards Hoffmann mocks them with a song of his own condemning love and romance.

Schlémil, who is in love with Giulietta, enters and makes it clear he is suspicious of Hoffmann when Giulietta introduces him. Giulietta then leads her guests out to play cards. Hoffmann is about to follow when Nicklausse takes him aside, warning him against Giulietta and asking him to leave. Hoffmann says there’s no way he could fall for someone like Giulietta, and if he does, may the devil take him! (He really needs to stop saying that.) As if summoned, the Captain Dapertutto arrives and introduces himself, ominously revealing that he knows who Hoffmann is as well, and in general just acts creepy. Hoffmann and Nicklausse warily leave him behind and go to join the others playing cards. Once they’re gone, Dapertutto announces his plans to thwart Hoffmann with the help of Giulietta. He sings a diablical aria and attracts the courtesan with a diamond, and tells her she needs to steal Hoffmann’s reflection for him. Giulietta agrees to do so in exchange for the diamond. She and Dapertutto join the card players. Hoffmann is losing miserably, much to Nicklausse’s chagrin. Giulietta serenades the guests with a song about love, not-so-subtly aimed at Hoffmann. We get a pretty epic chorus as the game goes on. [Sometimes we also get and aria from Schlémil about having lost his shadow.] Giulietta leaves and Hoffmann follows her, giving Nicklausse his cards and asking him to finish the game for him. Nicklausse protests and tries to follow Hoffmann, but Dapertutto holds him back. Hoffmann joins Giulietta in her room. Giulietta despairs over her feeling of being trapped and suffering. Nicklausse comes in and tells Hoffmann to get ready to leave and that he’s coming back for him. He leaves, and Giulietta tells Hoffmann he should as well, but he refuses to leave her. Giulietta tells him to steal the key from Schlémil that he uses to lock her up at night, saying if he does so, she will devote herself to him. Hoffmann agrees to do so and sings his aria. Knowing she has him on the hook, Giulietta demands his fidelity—and his reflection. Helpless against her charms, Hoffmann agrees to both. Schlémil, Dapertutto, and Nicklausse return. Dapertutto taunts Hoffmann, who looks in a mirror to find that his reflection is gone. Nicklausse begs him to leave but Hoffmann refuses, still clinging to the hope that Giulietta actually loves him. However she only mocks him, and he despairs, starting everyone off in the famous Septet (or Sextet and Chorus) [sometimes the Septet is left out in longer Oeser edits]. Giulietta leads everyone back to the party, except Schlémil, who challenges Hoffmann to a duel. Hoffmann kills Schlémil and takes the key. He rushes to find Giulietta, only to see her riding off in a gondola with her real lover, Piticchinaccio, both of whom are laughing at his expense. Nicklausse tells Hoffmann the police are coming to look for Schlémil’s murderer, and finally drags him away. Epilogue Back at the tavern, Hoffmann finishes his tales. Offstage, cheers and applause are heard for Stella as her performance comes to an end. Nicklausse announces a revelation—all of Hoffmann’s lovers in his stories are just manifestations of his real love for a single woman, Stella. Furious, Hoffmann shouts Nicklausse down, then deliriously leads a reprise of the drinking chorus. Stella enters looking for Hoffmann. Nicklausse exits, telling Hoffmann it’s time for him to choose. Hoffmann drunkenly mistakes Stella for his three fictional loves, then rejects her. Offended, Stella leaves with Lindorf. Hoffmann begins to sing his Klein-Zach song before falling in despair. The students exit the tavern, singing their song once again and leaving Hoffmann alone. Nicklausse returns and reveals his identity as the Muse. She declares her love and devotion for Hoffmann and asks for his in return. She calls upon the Spirits of Wine and Beer, who she says have aided her in her efforts; they repeat their chorus and disperse. The Muse serenades Hoffmann with a comforting refrain: love makes a man great, but tears make him greater still—his suffering is not in vain, but

will make him an even greater

artist.

Kaye/Kecke

the Kaye/Kecke version is the most recent critical edition and hailed by many as the most definitive (aside from that “OG Offenbach” one I can’t find anything about). There are actually very few “true” Kaye productions out there, but a few that attempt it. A lot of the changes are just in the orchestration and, in the spoken-dialogue version, a lot of dialogue; the vast majority of the plot and action stay the same. The big differences are in the Giulietta act. Again, I’ll use some new-color text (orange) to indicate differences between this and previous editions.

Prologue We open in Luther's Tavern. A chorus of the Spirits of Wine and Beer sing out. The Muse emerges from a barrel, declaring her love for Hoffmann and determination to rid him of Stella, the “siren” who has stolen his attention (and affection). She tells the audience that she will disguise herself as Nicklausse, Hoffmann’s friend, in order to try one last time to win him tonight. The Councilor Lindorf comes in and bribes Andrès, a tavern employee, into giving him a letter from Stella, an actress, that’s addressed to Hoffmann. Lindorf reads the letter, in which Stella has included the key to her room and invites Hoffmann to join her after her performance that evening. Lindorf keeps the letter and key for himself. A group of students arrive in the tavern and sing a rousing drinking chorus. After a bit they notice Hoffmann isn’t there yet and demand to know where he is. Luther, the tavern's owner tells them Hoffmann is on his way, along with Nicklausse. The pair enter and take a seat. Hoffmann is melancholy and brooding, which prompts the students to ask him for a jovial song to lighten the mood. Hoffmann then sings the famous “Ballad of Klein-Zach.” But in the middle of the song, he gets distracted by memories of Stella. The students bring him back to reality and he finishes the sing, but the talk of love brings it up as a topic of conversation. Hoffmann declares “The devil take me if I were ever to fall in love!” At this point Lindorf makes his presence known, sneering at Hoffmann. The two of them then get into a battle of words, during which Hoffmann inadvertently admits that he is, in fact, in love with someone. Curious, the students ask him for the story of his love. Hoffmann declares that he has had not one but three mistresses: an artist, a young girl, and a courtesan. He then begins to tell his tales. Act I: Olympia Hoffmann goes to visit his science professor, Spalanzani, to declare his devotion to science. Spalanzani commends him, then leaves to prepare for his “daughter” Olympia’s coming-out party. Hoffmann admits his love for Olympia and gazes at her through a window. Nicklausse arrives and gently teases him about his love, singing a song about a mechanical doll and bird (sometimes it’s changed to a more mocking song specifically referencing Olympia). (also he sometimes mockingly serenades Olympia before his other aria.) Hoffmann brushes him off. Coppélius, an eccentric salesman, enters and attempts to sell Hoffmann and Nicklausse a variety or contraptions; Hoffmann and Nicklausse bicker over whether or not to engage with the salesman. Coppélius manages to get Hoffmann interested in a pair of magical glasses, which Hoffmann then purchases and wears for the remainder of the act. Spalanzani returns and gets into an argument with Coppélius about Olympia; Coppélius wants a share since she has his eyes. Spalanzani decides to pay Coppélius with a check that he mentions in an aside he knows will bounce. Coppélius tells Spalanzani that he should get Hoffmann to marry Olympia as a joke. Spalanzani agrees, and Coppélius leaves. Cochenille, Spalanzani's assistant, announces the arrival of the guests. A chorus of people arrive, admiring Spalanzani’s skills as a host. Spalanzani introduces Olympia to the guests, who marvel over her perfection. Olympia sings a charming songs about birds and love. Hoffmann's new glasses make him see Olympia as a real person rather than the robot she actually is, and he is captivated. After Olympia’s song, the guests leave to go to dinner, but Spalanzani asks Hoffmann to stay behind with Olympia. Hoffmann professes his love for Olympia, who responds only with “Yes” when Hoffmann touches her shoulder (he doesn’t know he’s actually triggering a button that makes her say that word). When he goes to embrace her, Olympia runs off. Nicklausse returns, telling Hoffmann to be wary, because everything is not as it seems; Hoffmann brushes him off yet again. Then we get my beloved little waltzy duet where Nicklausse invites Hoffmann back to the party and Hoffmann denounces cynics who disbelieve

the power of love. They leave to join the other guests. Coppélius enters, furious with Spalanzani for giving him a faulty check. He swears revenge and runs off. The guests return for dancing. Spalanzani asks Hoffmann to dance with Olympia. During the dance, Olympia goes haywire and rushes offstage, pursued by Cochenille. In the process, Hoffmann’s glasses are broken. Cochenille rushes back onstage, crying out that Coppélius has Olympia; Spalanzani rushes to her aid, only to find Coppélius with the robot in pieces. They return holding parts of the broken doll, and Hoffmann, his magical glasses now broken, finally sees Olympia for who she truly is and is humiliated. Act II: Antonia Crespel’s house. Antonia laments the death of her mother and her separation from her lover, Hoffmann. Her father, Crespel, enters and reminds her not to sing, lest she die from it like her mother did. Antonia promises him she won’t sing anymore and leaves sadly. Crespel asks his servant Frantz to watch the door and make sure no one comes in. Frantz, who is partially deaf, only half-understands him. Crespel expresses frustration at this and leaves. Frantz remarks in a fun little number that if only he had some talents—like singing or dancing—maybe his boss would appreciate him more. Hoffmann enters with Nicklausse; they have been travelling for weeks looking for Antonia after she moved away without a word. Hoffmann asks Frantz to go find Antonia for him. While Hoffmann expresses his joy over being reunited with Antonia, Nicklausse tries to temper his excitement with a reality check, which Hoffmann brushes off (he does this a lot). Nicklausse then sings a lovely song about the power of art and love (which is really a love song for Hoffmann), but once again Hoffmann ignores him. Hoffmann begins to sing a song that he and Antonia wrote. Antonia hears him and rushes to meet him; Nicklausse exits quietly. Hoffmann and Antonia rejoice over their reunion and pledge to get married. Hoffmann expresses concern over Antonia’s insistence to sing despite her ill health. Antonia convinces him to sing their song together, which they do. Afterwards Antonia becomes tired. Before Hoffmann can react, they hear Crespel coming. Antonia flees, but Hoffmann remains, hiding so he can eavesdrop on Crespel. Frantz returns and tells Crespel that Dr. Miracle is here, having misunderstood Crespel’s command to not let anyone in. Dr. Miracle enters, asking to see Antonia. Crespel refuses and tells him to leave, saying that his faulty medicine is what killed Antonia's mother. Dr. Miracle, however, remains, and pantomimes an interaction with Antonia where he checks her pulse and orders her to sing. Offstage, Antonia responds with a scale. Dr. Miracle tells Crespel that Antonia is dangerously ill, and gives him two vials of medicine that he says will cure her. Crespel refuses them, calling the doctor a murderer and chasing him out. Hoffmann comes out of hiding, stunned by this encounter. Antonia returns and asks Hoffmann what her father said, thinking that he and Hoffmann had been talking this entire time. Hoffmann, disturbed by what he’s seen and heard, makes Antonia promise not to sing. She agrees, but when Hoffmann leaves (promising to return for her later) she laments that Hoffmann is now on her father’s side about her singing. Dr. Miracle returns as a disembodied voice, taunting Antonia. Why should she give up singing just because her father and Hoffmann tell her to? Doesn’t she want to be a great singer like her mother? When Antonia rebuffs him, Dr. Miracle calls on the spirit of Antonia’s dead mother, who leads Antonia in a frantic refrain. Antonia, exhausted by the singing, collapses. Crespel rushes in to see his daughter dying on the floor. She tells him she sees her mother, then sings a part of her and Hoffmann’s song, before dying in her father’s arms. Hoffmann rushes in just in time to see Dr. Miracle pronounce Antonia dead. Act III: Giulietta Venice. The courtesan Giulietta is having a party of sorts. She and Nicklausse sing the famous Barcarolle. Afterwards

Hoffmann mocks them with a song of his own condemning love and romance. Schlémil, who is in love with Giulietta, enters and makes it clear he is suspicious of Hoffmann when Giulietta introduces him. Giulietta then leads her guests out to play cards. Hoffmann is about to follow when Nicklausse takes him aside, warning him against Giulietta and asking him to leave. Hoffmann says there’s no way he could fall for someone like Giulietta, and if he does, may the devil take him! (He really needs to stop saying that.) As if summoned, the Captain Dapertutto arrives and introduces himself, ominously revealing that he knows who Hoffmann is as well, and in general just acts creepy. Hoffmann and Nicklausse warily leave him behind and go to join the others playing cards. Once they’re gone, Dapertutto announces his plans to thwart Hoffmann with the help of Giulietta. He sings a diabolical aria and attracts the courtesan with a diamond, and tells her she needs to steal Hoffmann’s reflection for him. Giulietta agrees to do so in exchange for the diamond. (Here’s where the plot deviates, and the Oeser parts from earlier don’t appear at all.) The guests return looking for Giulietta, who sings a song for them as they play cards. Hoffmann gets distracted by Giulietta and gives Nicklausse his cards. Giulietta seduces Hoffmann and convinces him to duel Schlémil to get the key to her bedroom. Hoffmann does and kills Schlémil. Nicklausse finds Hoffmann and, learning about the duel, begs Hoffmann to leave with him. Hoffmann refuses, wanting to see Giulietta. Nicklausse leaves to find a means of transportation. Giulietta returns and continues to seduce Hoffmann, who falls for her completely. She asks for his reflection as a keepsake; he’s helpless to resist her. Dapertutto returns; Giulietta relinquishes Hoffmann to him. Nicklausse returns as well, in time to find Hoffmann has lost his reflection. Once again he begs Hoffmann to leave, but Hoffmann refuses, still insistent that Giulietta loves him. The chorus returns, mocking Hoffmann for being duped. The police arrive to arrest Schlémil’s killer. Furious, Hoffmann attempts to stab Giulietta, but misses and kills Pitichinaccio, who is revealed to be her real lover. Giulietta despairs over his body, and Nicklausse finally manages to drag Hoffmann away. (There is no Septet in Kaye edits.) Epilogue Back at the tavern, the students sing a disbelieving chorus as Hoffmann finishes his tales, telling him to come back to reality. Offstage, cheers and applause are heard for Stella as her performance comes to an end. Nicklausse announces a revelation—all of Hoffmann’s lovers in his stories are just manifestations of his real love for a single woman, Stella. Furious, Hoffmann shouts Nicklausse down. He then encourages everyone (including himself) to get blackout drunk. The chorus of the Spirits of Wine and Beer from the prologue returns, creepily overlapping with the students’ drinking chorus. Stella enters looking for Hoffmann. Hoffmann drunkenly mistakes Stella for his three fictional loves, then rejects her. Offended, Stella leaves with Lindorf. Hoffmann begins to sing his Klein-Zach song, mockingly dedicating it to Lindorf, before falling in despair. The students exit the tavern, singing their song once again and leaving Hoffmann alone. (Sometimes Stella gets an aria here, basically telling Hoffmann “you don’t know what you’re missing by rejecting me.”) Nicklausse returns and reveals his identity as the Muse. She declares her love and devotion for Hoffmann and asks for his in return. The Muse serenades Hoffmann with a comforting refrain: love makes a man great, but tears make him greater still—his suffering is not in vain, but will make him an even greater artist. (Sometimes the final chorus is extended, with comments from the other characters announcing that the future is his.)

And there you have it!

As mentioned before, there are a ton of variations on all of these. Choudens edits and short Oeser edits are often very similar, but even they will have random chunks cut here and there, sometimes move things around, and of course it’s always a toss-up which aria Niclausse is going to get in Act I and if he’ll get the Violin Aria.

If you got to the end of this, kudos. Seriously. I could barely make it through, and I elected to write the thing.

#Les contes d'Hoffmann #The Tales of Hoffmann #i hope this is helpful for people #Operablr Pride Month #opera summaries #opera histories #sorry about the weird random line skips and space #i tried to fix it multiple times but it just wouldn't work #gonna keep trying but anyway #also i hope the color coding is helpful and not confusing #but if anyone has any questions about anything here let me know :) #i am always extraordinarily happy to talk about this opera #i love it so much #if you couldn't tell lol #opera #opera tag #Jaques Offenbach #Jules Barbier #Michel Carré #i probably spent way too much time on this but you know what it was fun so definitely worth it

[tatyana-dreaming]

Hello! I think like I've never asked you, but what are your favorite operas and opera composers in general? I know you like Eugene Onegin (and Le Nozze 🤔?), which is understandable, but what about other stuff please tell me. You can even list your top 20 (or 30, or 50?) that'd be cool 😎

who, ME??? *blushes * (especially because I know you study music) well, if yOU think it would be cool I will indeed list an opera top 20! but keep in mind I have only been into opera for a year and I usually like to obsess over one opera at a time, thus I make very slow process in discovering new favorites (which I also love to do!)

Honestly it is incredibly difficult to “rank” but I will do my best. The first 10 are operas I actually listen to regularly, and am well on the way to knowing by heart (like Onegin my beloved <3) (YES I LIKE VERDI is it clear? I won’t apologize) and 10-20 are operas I have only seen/heard once but either love the story or the music or both.

1. you guessed it: Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin (my beloved)

2. predictable as always! Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro (aber erlich höre ich lieber Die Hochzeit des Figaros – pls don’t hate :D damit kann ich mein Deutsch verbessern!!)

3. Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera

4. Verdi: Il Trovatore

5. Puccini: Tosca (thanks to @notyouraveragejulie for ehmm... strongly suggesting this one, after I was yelling about how "I'm just not a Puccini person!!")

6. Offenbach: Les contes d’Hoffman (@monotonous-minutia :'D thank you for bringing this into my life, I'm not sure I would have appreicated it the same way without you) (although how can anyone resist the music???)

7. Massenet: Werther (mainly the Sad Arias, oh wait that's most of them)

8. Verdi: La Traviata

9. Verdi: Rigoletto

10. Bizet: Carmen

11. Tchaikovsky: Pikovaya Dama

12. Gounod: Faust

13. Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor

14. Rossini: Le comte Ory

15. Bellini: Norma

16. Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia

17. Handel: Agrippina

18. Borodin: Prince Igor (the music is gorgeous, though I haven’t quite come to terms with the story. Then again when HAVEN’t I said that about an opera) (*flashbacks to Il Trovatore*)

19. Massenet: Cendrillon

20. Puccini: La Fanciulla del West

Some people may freak out that Don Carlo and La Bohème are not featured (yeah, I just haven’t clicked with them musically yet, but I am planning on re-visting them). Also I do very much love other Donizetti and Mozart operas, but I’m just not as familiar with them/have only seen them once (okay, I'll admit I have put Così on while I do work many a time).

Top on my list to watch next are Thaïs, Roméo et Juliette, and L’Étoile, the latter on the recommendation of @monotonous-minutia and @notyouraveragejulie… oh and definitely Don Carlos hehe @revedebeatrice. I also need to finish Idomeneo and finally get to Roberto Devereux! I’d also definitely like to see some operas by women and POC :) which reminds me I never got around to my Women’s Opera History Month assignment :( (yet!)

And I always take recommendations!!!!

Thank you so much for the ask, it made my day! (p.s. I ADORE YOUR NEW ICON <3)

#i may or may not have spent a whole hour on this : 'D i got really into it #wow you'd think I'd be WAY more familiar with French opera than I already am #and my German opera exposure? virtually nonexistent #too bad I am too obsessed with Russian right now #asks

[flyingdeskset]

My Guide to Romantic Academia

I have to admit, I’m only new to this myself. I feel like a bit of a hypocrite, trying to teach about something I am myself only learning. But I suppose, I have always been an academic, and I am a bit of an expert in hopeless romanticism. After extensive research, here is what I have come up with (should I put this in two parts? I don’t think so. If you really want to be a romantic academic, you’ll read to the end):

Fashion:

Tops:

Turtlenecks! Any academic’s best friend, they are not only soft and cosy, they are also really cute!

Cowl necks. These are great for winter, and go with literally anything.

Blouses. Specifically with poofy sleeves.

Cardigans. Either the thin, fitted kind or the chunky-knit, over-sized kind; both are great.

Blazers. Don’t know if this should go into outerwear or not. Anyway, these are lovely and go great with fitted skirts and dresses (or jeans, or trousers, if you’re not a skirt-wearer)

Vintage jumpers. I especially love faded mens’ v-necks.

Bottoms:

Pleated skirts. These give off great Catholic school-girl vibes (it doesn’t matter if you’re not catholic. I go to an actual Irish all-girl Catholic school, and I’m not Catholic [nor do I wear pleated skirts, to my dismay])

Woolen skirts. So cosy, and so romantic.

Tweed trousers. I personally don’t own any of these because I don’t really wear trousers, but I intend to buy a pair.

Jeans. Nothing wrong with jeans once in a while! Try to style them with more academic-type tops and outerwear, though.

Outerwear:

Overcoats. Just soft, woolen winter coats. Impractical (since they don’t generally have hoods and I live in the rainiest country ever), but the things we sacrifice for the aesthetic, eh?

Trench coats. These are great for spring.

Hats: berets and caps.

Scarves: honestly, anything. Scarves in and of themselves are very romantic academia.

Gloves: I personally prefer leather, with cotton houndstooth detailing, but this is up to you!

Shoes: oxfords, loafers and pumps (specifically patent) are all great choices. I also love knee-high boots, especially for winter.

Nightwear:

Flannel suits. Stripy flannel. So soft. So cosy. Mine are pink.

Silk suits. Very classy and debonair, and they feel great.

Silk/cotton nightgowns. Another step up with the class! These are great for the summer.

Robes. Any robes, all robes. I recommend having at least three, in various colours, styles and fabrics (you think this is a joke. It’s not. I have four.)

Miscellaneous/Tips:

Dresses (I didn’t know what category to put them in). Vintage is great, but any style that isn’t overly modern is fine.

Fabrics: tweed, wool, cotton, the like. Also, lace. Lace is great.

Colour dos: Muted colours (greys and beiges). Cream is always a win. Jewel tones (emerald, ruby). You can’t go wrong with black, though I try not to go overboard with it.

Colour don'ts: Neon colours are a big no-no. Pastels are a hit-and-miss situation. For example, soft dusky pinks are great, but too much baby blue and you’re straying away from the tortured-academic look. Try and avoid bright scarlets and royal blues.

When wearing basically any top that isn’t a cardigan or a blazer: tuck it in! Whether tucked into a skirt or trousers, this gives off a put together, I-know-what-I’m-doing vibe that is essential (even if you don’t know what you’re doing). It’s also very flattering on a lot of body types.

Of course, fashion isn’t essential to the aesthetic. Adjust this to your tastes!

Media:

Writers/Poets:

Jane Austen

William Blake

Brontë sisters

Lord Byron

Donna Tartt. You know I had to put her in here.

Oscar Wilde (he’s not actually Romantic, but he is Oscar Wilde)(and he’s Irish!)

Maria Edgeworth

Victor Hugo

John Keats

Edgar Allan Poe

Mary Shelley

Henry David Thoreau

William Wordsworth

Feel free to add to this; it’s nowhere near complete.

Composers:

Tchaikovsky

Chopin

Schumann (Clara and Robert)

Liszt

Brahms

Offenbach

Dvořák

Again, not complete!

Movies (because we can’t be 19th century nobility all the time)

Jane Eyre

Dead Poets Society

Kill Your Darlings

Pride and Prejudice

Any other Jane Austen adaptation

Clueless (because of the Jane Austen affiliation!)

10 Things I Hate About You (Taming of the Shrew!)(can you tell I’m making excuses to put 90’s chick flicks in here?)

Becoming Jane

Good Will Hunting

The Princess Bride

Maurice (Hugh Grant!)

Les Misérables

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (honestly, the classy, vintage feeling you’ll get from watching an Audrey Hepburn movie is irreplaceable)

Edgar Allen Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party (not even a movie, it’s just really good)

To be honest, this isn’t even trying to be a complete list. These are just my favourite movies that I can squeeze into the genre.

Lifestyle (the most important bit!):

Carpe Diem. The number one tip for any academic. I feel it’s important to note, this is different for everyone. For some people, ‘seizing the day ’ is skydiving, or dropping everything and travelling the world. For others, it’s simply getting out of the house in the morning, and neither is any better than the other!

Create. This, again, is different for everyone. If you’re a writer, write! This could be a poem, a full blown novel, or just some Oliver/James fanfiction (did I mention I love If We Were Villains?)! If you’re an artist, do art! Whether it’s an oil portrait or a sketch of Richard Papen looking like the lovesick idiot he is, it’s all the same!

Be Mysterious. Honestly, I don’t even know how. I’m still getting the hang of this myself.

Read! Read everything! You don’t have to limit yourself to classics. Also, reading in public is great.

Be polite. Of course, this is a given for everyone. But, if you have the manners of a Victorian lady, it’ll give you definite Mysterious Points.

Drink tea. Or coffee. Or even hot chocolate. And it doesn’t have to be black tea and dark chocolate, because we’re not as bitter as the dark academics.

Take up an instrument. People seem to think this has to be the violin, but it doesn’t. I play the clarinet, and also the ukulele! Whatever is right for you!

Well, I hope this helped people. Remember you don’t have to follow this to the word! Feel free to adapt to your personality, add things, and ask questions!

#romantic academia #dark academia #light academia #fashion #literature #lifestyle #music #romantic academia tips

[chansondefortunio]

My own personal issue personally with Les Contes d'Hoffmann in my personal opinion

This started off as me taking about how much I love Jessye Norman as Giulietta in this recording but not anymore anyways here's me being annoyed at the Keyes edition of Les Contes d'Hoffmann and other things also.

I had never experienced love until I begun listening to Oeser's edition of the tales of Hoffmann. I really stan Offenbach, but I have to say that, imo, the changes that Oeser presents for Giulietta's act are just superior. His version, simply put, takes the hideously cut up story that the Choudens provided us and music from Offenbach's failed opera Die Rheinnixen. With that, he adds two game changers: Hoffmann losing to Schlemiel in cards and Giulietta tricking Hoffmann.

There's more obvi but these are the changes that I think are the most important.

Giulietta's aria (linked above) proves her character to be more intelligent and clever than in the other two versions. I mean, in those ones the entire process of Giulietta getting Hoffmann is like:

she says "ily so u gotta leave" Hoffmann is like "no because I love u lalala o dieu de quelle ivresse" and she's like "chile ok give me ur reflection " and he's like "aight heart eyes cat emoji"

I have to give the Micheal Keyes edition (the one most accurate to og intentions) some credit, because Giulietta's couplets (below) in it do include a process of tempting Hoffmann. However, I find that the whole act flows weirdly and is quite convoluted.

eThe aforementioned couplets were composed by Offenbach on my birthday! It's really ironic that I don't like them.

Anyways, here are the lyrics for Giulietta's aria in Oesers edition. (english translation beneath)

Nº 20. Air

Giulietta [elle s'asseoit sur le divan, près du miroir]

Qui connaît donc la souffrance

dont mon âme est affligée!

Chacun fuit ce malheur immense

d'une existence enchainée!

Comme les vagues du rivage

rongent les madriers usés,

je ronge les barreaux de ma cage,

mais malgré tout mon courage,

l'espoir ne m'est pas donné...

Ah, si seulement de cet outrage,

je me libérais!

Ah! si une fois seulement

une fois quelqu'un me secourait! Ah!

Ah, si cet homme m'accordait grâce,

à moi, un être infame!

Bonheur de marcher sur ses traces,

moi, sienne de corps et âme!

-

Who then knows of the suffering

which my soul is afflicted by?

Everyone flees from the immense misfortune

of an enchained existence!

Like how the waves on a shore

eat away at worn planks,

I gnaw at the bars of my cage,

but despite all my courage,

I'm not given hope...

Ah, if only from this outrage,

I could be free!

Ah, if just once,

just once somebody could save me,

Ah, if this man could grant me mercy,

to me, an infamous being!

Happiness to follow in this footsteps,

me, to be his in body and soul.

-

full libretto: http://opera.stanford.edu/Offenbach/Hoffmann/acte4.html

In this aria Giulietta describes how, despite her best efforts to escape this cage, (whatever that means) only a man can save her. Woe is she, as no other man has been courageous enough.

For context, Hoffmann just faced his devastating loss to Schlemiel. You can expect that when Giulietta gives him the chance to redeem himself and earn her love, Hoffmann desperately agrees.

I'm gonna go off a little but, but I find that the major flaw in every production of Les Contes d'Hoffmann that I've seen is that the story feels fake. I think directors spend so much time trying to make the 3 main acts fantastical and cool and crazy that they forget that they are supposed to be based off of a reality. The stories don't connect, there are no signs of anything affecting anything else. The most I've seen is the metropolitan opera bringing the pink dolls back in the end of Giulietta's act.

They miss a crucial part of the story; how do these three women connect to one another? How do they come together to become Stella?

Some believe that these are three entirely separate women, but I won't indulge in that as I am not of that perspective :D

Like at the end of each of these acts, all the characters press reset and I feel like I get whiplash. Nothing that just happened even matters, because we're onto the next lady. There's the barest reference to previous events in the text, but the effects of those events are rarely ever shown. How could being objectified as Olympia affect Antonia's behaviour? What about Giulietta's? How does Spalanzani and the obsession with physics change Hoffmann's perspective on love throughout the opera? These are questions that should be asked when creating anything with a narrative; how does x interact with y?

With that, I come back to why I love this version of Les Contes d'Hoffmann. The superficial, shallow and misogynistic values of the society in Olympia's act taught Hoffmann that women are but an object at the will of men. In this aria, Giulietta weaponizes the ideologies that previously oppressed her against one of her main oppressors (edit: not in a violent way. but he does have a pattern of generally not treating her like a a complex human being). She proves herself to not only be a ruthless manipulator, but intrinsically linked to her past self. It gives the existence of Olympia's act a reason to be within the story.

Individually, sure, Olympia's act is effective as a satire of our society. But making it essentially inconsequential is robbing this opera of the nuance and complexity that it holds.

This little rant doesn't even begin to cover my interpretations of this story, because this recording that I base them on is three and a half hours long and the tales of Hoffmann is one of the most vague operas out there. However, I hope that it was useful to you in whatever way that may be!

Also mind that I haven't watched every single production of Les Contes d'Hoffmann, and that I do have ones that I love dearly despite the flaws I describe here.

Please let me know what you think! please! :D

(If you got here, thank you for reading this!)

#my friends dont like opera :( #les contes d'hoffmann #stan offenbach #offenbach #the tales of hoffmann #opera #operablr #opera tag #i could talk about this forever #one day..... one day ill be a theatre director......

[literaltrashforeverything]

obnoxious songs they blast while picking you up | pt. 1

Ft. Daichi, Sugawara, Tanaka, Hinata, Kuroo, Yaku, Oikawa, Matsukawa, Hanamaki, Daisho

Warnings: Language, dorky boys, some songs are 18+ lmao sorry kids

A/n: I don’t really know where this idea came from. I was just vibing and listening to music and had the epiphany that I listen to obnoxious shit and decided to put some of them into writing and then it turned into this lol.  I feel like half the boys in this show are petty as fuck and would do this just because of a small fight.  This is also published to Ao3 and there will be a part 2!

Daichi – Bad Boys from COPS

This fucker probably pulls up to your job in a police car, windows rolled down, and blasts this song. Everyone in the general vicinity is just staring.  You are too, but you’re staying in place because your husband is the worst human on earth.

He points at you and motions for you to get in the car, smirking.

You can’t even see his eyes. He’s wearing the classic cop aviators.

Honestly, fuck this guy.

You’re head is lowered as you shamble toward the car, face red, before getting in the passenger seat.

“I’m never asking you to pick me up again, Daichi.”

“Awe, you love it, babe. Plus you’re riding in style.”

This isn’t what you’d call style, especially when he blasting this particular song.

He even has the audacity to turn on the sirens and the lights as he drives away from your workplace.

You’ll have your revenge. . .

Sugawara – Can-Can by Offenbach

You think the person pulling up in a car that’s blasting Can-Can is a genius while also being extremely annoying, until you realize that’s your genius but annoying ass husband.

Sugawara rolls down the window and smirks at you. He’s trying to look cool, doing the whole single-hand on the steering wheel and one arm out the window thing.

And really, he would look cool if he wasn’t playing Can-Can.

“Twerk for me babe.”

You pull the hood of your jacket up and awkwardly walk to the car.

Your face is bright red, but let’s be real, the second you are both in the car together you’re headbutting your asses off to Can-Can because it’s an amazing song.

Fuck y’all if you disagree.

(Jk I love you anyway)

Yeah, he blasts Can-Can a lot at home just because it's amazing.

Usually he does it before cleaning the house because it's very motivating.

Tanaka – Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes

First off, this is the best song that’s ever been created in the history of music.

You can fight me on that.

Anyway-

Tanaka pulls up in your guys’ mini van because it just had the oil changed, and as payback for making him drive a mini van, he thinks he’ll be a little cooler if he just blasts the most badass song ever.

It’s really not. . .

Everyone is staring at Tanaka because for some reason your mini van has hella bass so it’s just vibrating everything in the general vicinity.

You stare at him, smiling, but internally raging. Your husband stares back, smirking widely and very mischievously.

He even dares to lean over the passenger seat and open the door for you.

“C’mon, baby. Get in and be cool with me.”

Hinata – Fur Elise by Beethoven (Klutch Dubstep Remix)

He’s not even trying to be embarrassing. He’s just legitimately vibing with this song when he picks you up.

He probably just got out of volleyball practice, too, so he’s in a tanktop and shorts, sunglasses on his head, and looks like he’s on top of the world as he waits for you to come over to where he’s pulled up and he’s literally headbanging to the song.

It takes you like a whole minute before you realize that’s literally your husband.

You’re like *surprised pikachu face*.

Just let him vibe. . . Don’t ruin his vibe. . .

You just go to the car and get in the passenger seat quietly. He doesn’t even notice because he’s vibing so hard.  He’s doing hand movements and everything, as if he’s the one playing the piano.

When the song ends and he sees you sitting there, his face just lights up.

“Hey, baby! How was work?”

You smile and go on to tell him about your day. You don’t bother to tell him that your entire workplace just witnessed him aggressively headbanging to Fur Elise.

Kuroo – WAP by Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion (but the Rihanna S&M mashup)

You and your husband had a fight earlier that morning. It was over basically nothing (it was about you not making him breakfast because you woke up late -.- This petty fucker—), and you did not apologize to him.

Never let a fight linger with Kuroo’s petty ass.

You watch your husband’s car pull up to the curb, where you’re waiting for him. The music could literally be heard from three blocks away.

Kuroo rolls down the window, smirking, and turns to you.

Deadass, this fucker is shirtless, and wearing aviator sunglasses that he casually pulls down to look at you from over the rim.  His hair is even slicked back and he looks hot.

His arm is dangling over the steering wheel and the song is just blasting.

“Hey, kitten~”

Your face is absolutely burning. Everyone in the general vicinity is staring at this shirtless, attractive motherfucker who you unfortunately chose to marry.

“I’m not making you breakfast for a week, Kuroo.”

You don’t even call him by his first name even though you literally have the same last name as him.

“What!? >:(“

This is probably how he picks you up everyday until you make him breakfast.

Yaku – S my D by Blood on the Dancefloor

This is another case of the man being a petty bitch because of a minor fight.

You may or may not have called your husband short earlier this morning, and you both laughed it off after he scolded you for calling him short. You genuinely thought it was over with until. . .

. . . he’s picking you up for work.

You didn’t even know this song existed until this exact moment, but the lyrics are so vulgar.

Yaku has all the windows down and is screaming this song as it blasts from the speakers.

You deadass just turn around and pretend you don’t know him.

You’re literally five seconds away from just walking home, honestly.

“Isn’t that your husband, Yaku-chan?” one of your coworkers asks.

You glance at the car where your husband is still jamming.

“Hm, nope. Don’t know that guy.  What a weirdo.”

Yeah, everyone knows you’re married to that lunatic but no one says anything.

Oikawa – I’m a Barbie Girl by Aqua

Why wouldn’t he? This fucker probably thinks he’s a living Ken doll.

Jk, but seriously.

You guys had a fight a whole week ago about his haircut. All you said was that he should cut it a little because it was growing into his eyes and he gasps like you’ve just murdered his whole family.

Yeah, he’s dramatic.

So, the next time you ask him to pick you up from work? Well, he’s obviously playing this song and he’s actually jamming to it.

He’s wearing sunglasses and staring at you like he’s staring into your soul.

He only sings the Ken parts and points at you at the Barbie parts like he expects you to actually sing back.

You’re so embarrassed because everyone is staring.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows the obvious implications of the song so all the older people around are mildly horrified.

“C’mon, Barbie. Let’s go home,” Oikawa says, winking.

You’ve never wanted to murder your husband as bad as you do right now.

Matsukawa – Skibidi by Little Big

First off, go watch the music video if you haven’t.

. . is this even a surprise?

Your husband is chaotic and he probably forced you to learn the dance with him. You both will randomly turn it on at inopportune moments and fully expect the other person to start the dance (someone do this with me).

You shouldn’t be surprised when your husband pulls up, looking innocent, before beginning to blare the song with all the windows rolled down.

Suddenly he looks like a maniac with the way he’s grinning.

Your jaw drops to the ground and you just stand there for a moment in shock.

Your face is bright red but you’re smiling stubbornly as you begin the horrific dance.

Matsukawa laughs. He literally gets out of the car and starts dancing with you like an idiot.

Everyone is watching in awe and honestly they should be jealous that you guys have so much fun.

Best husband.

Hanamaki – I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers

This is probably a common occurrence honestly. This bitch is chaotic as shit so if you think he wasn’t going to be harassing you every time he picks you up then you’re wrong.

At this point it’s just a challenge to see how far he can go.

Pulls up blaring this song and rolls down the window revealing him to be wearing a beach-themed button up (ya know, the classic dad ones) and he’s smirking like a fucking maniac.

Points at you just before the chorus.

You’re smiling like an idiot because he’s just so stupid and lovable.

“I WOULD WALK 500 MILES AND I WOULD WALK 500 MORE~!!”

He’s screaming so loud that you can’t believe his vocal chords haven’t snapped.

Maki starts doing the rope-pull thing and you play along and go to the car.

Yes, you guys sit in the parking lot screaming that song together until it ends.

Honestly, everyone at your workplace just thinks your husband is the coolest guy ever.

Daisho – Daddy by PSY

Probably thought he was the funniest guy on the face of the Earth when he pulled up to your job blaring this song. He looks like a real cool guy, too.

Sunglasses, short-sleeved shirt to show off muscular biceps, slicked hair.

Ya man has the whole shebang.

You just stare at him, jaw dropped when Daisho turns to you with a smirk. He’s nudges his sunglasses down a little to look at you over the rim.

“Hey, babe,” he greets, too casually for your liking.

The music is so loud that you barely even hear him.

His smirk only stretches wider when he sees your growing embarrassment.

“C’mon, you like my body, just admit it!” he calls.

You get into the car before he can keep talking. You quickly roll up your window but the other three are still down and you know in your heart that there’s no escaping your husband’s will to embarrass you.

“I’ll get payback.”

“Sure you will, babe.”

#haikyuu #haikyu #haikyuu!! #daichi x reader #sugawara x reader #tanaka x reader #hinata x reader #kuroo x reader #yaku x reader #oikawa x reader #matsukawa x you #hanamaki x reader #daisho x reader #daichi sawamura #sugawara koshi #tanaka ryunosuke #hinata shoyo #kuroo tetsurou #yaku morisuke #oikawa toru #matsukawa issei #hanamaki takahiro #daishou suguru #headcanons #funny #comedy #smut #haikyuu smut #haikyuu x reader smut #haikyuu x reader

[sweatyninjafury]

Saw your boxing in D.C. video on YouTube. Watching you and The Hammer duking it out like REAL MEN. 2 shirtless sweaty daddy bears. WOOF. How were you able to concentrate while fighting a hot man like The Hammer?

Hey man...I loved boxing Jack.  That was on one of my big boxing trips.  In fact, it was during my most recent FightOdyssey, which is what I call my big boxing trips.  This was the fourth FightOdyssey.  I organized NINE different boxing camps and events around the world.  My welterweight husband Rob and I started here in Adelaide, flew to Dubai, then to London.  The first event was at a private ring in Grove Park London, simply called Boxing at Grove Park.  Next up was Frankfurt, where I hosted The Challenge Fights at a boxing gym in Offenbach, The Challenge Boxing Club.  My co-host, Marco, was the boxer in residence.  I’ll tell you...the German boxers are awesome...every single one who signed up, showed up, and we had two rings going at once...magnificent disply of manhood for sure.  Third in Europe was Barcelona, where we had a small gathering for an event called Barcelona Bruisers.  We sparred some guys and had a blast.

Then across the Atlantic to the USA, my homeland.  First stop, NY.  I had lived in NYC for a couple of decades so I was back home, where my heart is.  Up in New Rochelle, New York, I hosted a camp called Fighting Champs at Champs Boxing Gym.  It was blowing two feet of snow that day, as this was in January of 2017, but all my boys showed up to BOX.  Hell yeah...BOXING brings the real men out!  Fifth stop on the world tour was Boston.  In the southern suburb of Hanover, we presented It Ain’t Over Till It’s Hanover.  This was a heavyweight event.  All heavyweights except for me and Rob.  I got in there with the biggest of em, bud...HELL YEAH.

Then down to Toms River, New Jersey, where I got coached myself.  My good boxing bud Darren Maciunski owns and runs his own gym there, called Checkmates, so the event was called Checkmate!  This event was exactly what I said...me getting coached.  After all, the coach needs a coach sometimes, too.  Darren was Middleweight Champ of the WORLD for a while in the 90s, so I got some prime training off him.  He is an awesome sweetheart of a fuckin FIGHTING MAN!

Then...what you’ve been waiting for and asking about...COACH JACK!  Next stop was DC, in Chuck Brunn’s Matt Room.  We did a tournament here, called Maryland vs. Virginia.  I was captain of the Virginia Team and Jack was the captain of the Maryland Team.  We had all our boys fight first, then our boys got to watch The Two Coaches fight.  Damn it was GOOD.  I loved boxing that big Jack...hell yeah.  We really put it out for our boys...showin em HOW TO DO IT!  Yep, I can definitely say that was one of my favorite stops along the way on this trip.  Jack loved it to, I can assure you.  Let me say, though...about getting all worked up in the ring...when I fight I FIGHT...nothing else matters.  That was the way it was...Jack and I were BOXING...DOING WHAT MEN NEED TO DO TOGETHER...FIGHT!

At this point there were two events left.  Rob and I drove to Nashville, Tennessee first to see my dad, then drove up to Cincinnati, where we hosted Cincinnati Fisticuffs at the Cincinnati Fitness Boxing Gym.  Again, we had two 20x20 rings going at once here and it was awesome.  Lots of guys from the midwest showed up here...another magnificent display of pure manhood!

Rob and I then drove back to NY, where we had rented a car.  We returned it, got on a plane, and flew to our last stop on the trip, Los Angeles.  This was the final event of the tour.  We went out easy.  The event, called California Spar, was just that...two afternoons of sparring and training guys from the area.  AWESOME.

Well,  I bet you didn’t think you’d get this long an answer from one simple question about Jack.  But there you have it.  I will say, now that you’ve brought him up, though, my fight with Jack was definitely a highlight, if not THE HIGHLIGHT of my World Boxing Tour.  When we got on the plane to cross the Pacific to return home to Australia, I put my feet up and took a nice, slow, long look at the two-month boxing tour I had just done.  I felt complete.  I boxed a total of 80 rounds that trip.  I don’t know how familiar you are with music, or musical comedy, and what-not, but there is a song called Around the World in Eighty Days.  I turned that tune on its back and ended up giving FightOdyssey IV a new name, I’ll Daze the World in Eighty Rounds!!!

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Anonymous asked: You’ve written about Wagner, do you enjoy light opera? (Though compared to Wagner, all opera is light opera...). But seriously do you enjoy The Merry Widow and such fare?

I think you are right next to Wagner any other opera might well be considered light opera. It’s like going from reading Thomas Mann, James Joyce or Marcel Proust to Alexandre Dumas, Jane Austen, and P.G. Wodehouse.

I do enjoy ‘light opera’ (or also known as operettas) but it’s been a while since I’ve attended a performance. I suspect it’s because the cost of going to operas is quite steep these days so you have to discriminate. Alongside how lucrative ticket availability is and the time free one actually has to attend then like many others, I tend to save my money, effort, and time, on going to the really big operas instead of the lighter variety.  You want more bang for your buck as they say.

I admit you sucker yourself into thinking you are going to a ‘major cultural event’ by going to a big heavyweight opera. But of course it’s not true at all.

I think part of the problem is the term light opera or operetta itself. It’s a problem of definition. How on earth does one describe it? It comes across as a bit of a derogatory term and not something to take seriously.

It’s very difficult to define the lines between musical theatre, operetta, and opera, especially when opera companies occasionally mount musical theatre or operetta productions. People have proposed a number of possible criteria: Perhaps in musicals and operettas, the words matter more than the music and vice versa in operas. This is somewhat true, but one can think of counterexamples - for instance, the primacy of the music - some of it stolen from operas–in several of Weber’s musicals. Perhaps it is the presence or absence of dialogue. But it begs the question does that make The Magic Flute, Ariadne auf Naxos, Carmen, and other examples of Singspiel and opera comique musicals? And does it make Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera operas?

There doesn’t seem to be a workable, clear criterion.

The best anyone can come up with is that an operetta is something that falls between opera and a musical. I’m not sure how helpful that really is but essentially it’s the least offensive definition I have come across. Like a musical, an operetta (most often) contains spoken dialogue, as well as song. Operettas are often satirical and witty, and tend to be much shorter and less complex than traditional operas. But the mistake would be to get sniffy about it and not treat it with a sensible level of seriousness because it has a great musical lineage and popular mileage to match.

Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus walks the line between opera and operetta. It is performed at the world’s leading opera houses (like the Met in NYC), which usually sniffily shun operettas. Interestingly when it was first performed in Vienna at the Theatre an der Wien in 1874, it was to an unmoved audience. It wouldn’t be for another two years that the Viennese audience took to the operetta, and another 16 years before the Vienna Opera added Die Fledermaus to its repertoire. But now it’s well known and beloved all over the world. I know from experience that it’s also a go-to piece for Gilbert and Sullivan societies looking to mix up their annual repertoire. It is frequently performed in English in English-speaking countries, but it is also frequently performed in the original German in English-speaking countries. It has gotten the Regie treatment - which operettas are usually spared–on several occasions, but when directors aren’t super-imposing dark political or psychological messages onto it, it’s about as silly and contentless as an opera/etta could possibly be. I love it.

Johann Strauss the younger of course modelled his operettas on Jacques Offenbach, the 19th Century French composer. Strauss’s satire was often generic, unlike Offenbach who commented on real-life matters. Also unlike Offenbach’s, and other operettas of the time, Die Fledermaus relies on the power of the orchestra, and only one role can be performed by an untrained voice.

I do enjoy the works of Jacques Offenbach. Which is just as well as he is credited with inventing the operetta art form and composing over 100 of them. His achievement of course paved the way for Strauss, Gilbert & Sullivan, and the musicals of the 20th century, which stemmed from the genre.

I have enjoyed watching and listening to his works such as  Orpheus in the Underworld (Orphée aux enfers), and Beautiful Helen (La belle Helene). Up until 1858, when Offenbach composed Orpheus, his theatrical licence prevented him from staging any operas with more than one act, or four characters. After negotiation (with Napoleon III’s government) he was finally allowed to stage full-length operettas, and Orpheus in the Underworld was premiered. To get back at the young Napoleon’s strict regime, Offenbach wrote an operetta that satirised Paris and its government. Surprisingly, the emperor allowed Offenbach to stage the operetta without any censoring.

Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár’s operetta Die lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow), is one I do enjoy immensely. The melodies and songs - Vilja, The Merry Widow Waltz, You’ll Find Me At Maxim’s, to name but a few - are lovingly played and sung the whole world over, making it one of the surest box-office attractions of all time.

There is no question I think that the Austro-Hungarian Franz Lehár revitalised the world of Viennese operetta after the golden age of this genre with composers such as Suppé, Strauss and Millöcker was over. While Strauss, who transplanted the light waltz of the 19th-century bourgeoisie into Offenbach’s harshly satirical tradition, is regarded as the inventor of the Viennese operetta, Lehár’s The Merry Widow was an extraordinary and unexpected success in the Vienna of Freud, Mahler, Schnitzler and Schönberg. It was Lehar’s merit to have revived this genre to much critical acclaim.

Apparently, Hitler referred to the operetta as ‘the equal of the finest opera,’ and it is rumoured to be the only piece of music the dictator would play during the last two years of the war. Thankfully, Lehár and his operetta remain untarnished by their association with Hitler, largely because the composer kept a low profile during the war and died shortly afterwards. The Merry Widow is still popular worldwide. And rightly so.

One reason why I love it is within the story itself. Today, Hanna would be called a modern woman. At the time of the world premiere in 1905 such a role design caused a sensation. Valencienne, on the other hand, is the counterpart to her; she corresponds more to the traditional, conservative role model.

So I would put Die Fledermaus, Orphée aux Enfers, and Die Lustige Witwe in the tier one of operettas.

But it’s the next tier that I have a more personal attachment to and those would be the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan. And why not? They are such jolly good fun and an immensely enjoyable spectacle. 

I have known G&S aficionados get sniffy or bristle with annoyance about G&S works being described as operattas - including many of the older generations in my family. One of my great aunts practically snorts with disdain in her dram of Scotch whisky at the very suggestion. She just sees that as another sign of civilisational decay. I think Gilbert & Sullivan themselves thought of their works as comic operas more than anything else.

But they do share one major trait with Offenbach and that is they do satire in such biting ways. Indeed they often poke fun at the establishment and use wit and humour as a way of expressing political opinion. But what sets them apart from everyone, including Offenbach, is how unpretentious they are in the music and to tell it as a story with such gaeity and wit that puts on dry English humour at its best.

I would say The Mikado, Iolanthe, and The Pirates of Penzance would be three of my favourite G&S comic operas from the fourteen they did.

Before Gilbert, a lawyer by training, died in 1911 he asked that The Mikado, an operetta set in Japan (although in fact a commentary on British issues), be updated to reflect current issues. Indeed it’s one of the many highlights that I love the most about The Mikado is how inventive they are going to be when they come to do ‘It’s on the list’. As G&S afficianados know ‘The List’ is list of gripes on current personalities and current affairs that have nothing to do with the opera. It’s very funny.

One of my favourite parts of The Pirates of Penzance’s is the famous Major General’s song that parodies the military leader who, although well educated, knows basically nothing about warfare or technology.

Another favourite of mine is from The Mikado - the beloved Three Little Maids From School Are We.

Other operettas on my list would include, in no order:

Auber - Haydée ou Le Secret Bernstein - Candide Carl Zeller - Der Vogelhändler Chabrier - L'Étoile Franz von Suppé - Boccaccio Gilbert & Sullivan - H.M.S. Pinafore Johan Strauss II - Der Zigeunerbaron Karl Joseph Millöcker - Der Bettelstudent Karl Joseph Millöcker - Gasparone Lehár - Das Land des Lächelns Lehár - Zigeunerliebe Offenbach - La Vie Parisienne Offenbach - La Belle Hélène

Thanks for your question

#question #ask #operetta #opera #light opera #offenbach #strauss #gilbert & sullivan #lehar #music #personal

[ddumplingsmusic]

give iida the aux cord, you cowards - playlist by ddumpling (xxx)

now i just KNOW y’all be clowning on poor Iida because he’d listen to classical music in the car so here are some pieces that go hard as FUCK

Summer in G minor (from The Four Seasons): III. Presto - Antonio Vivaldi

Winter in F minor (from The Four Seasons): I. Allegro non molto - Antonio Vivaldi

Can Can (from Orpheus in the Underworld) - Jacques Offenbach

Souvenir de Florence: I. Allegro con spirito - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 

Suite No. 2 in F Major: IV. Fantasia on the Dargason - Gustav Holst

Concerto for Strings in G Major, “Alla rustica”: III. Presto - Antonio Vivaldi

Rhapsody in Blue - George Gershwin

Hungarian Dance No. 5, Johannes Brahms

Jazz Suite No. 2: IV. Waltz I - Dmitri Shostakovich

Die Walkure, Act III: Ride of the Valkyries - Richard Wagner

William Tell Overture - Gioachino Rossini

Carnival Overture, Op. 92 - Antonin Dvorak

Radetzky March - Johann Strauss I

Suite No. 1 in E-Flat Major: III. March - Gustav Holst

Bacchanale - Camille Saint-Saens

Die Fledermaus: Overture - Johann Strauss II

i am completely joking when i say this: the amount of slander put on his name because of his taste in music? far too much. there isn’t anything wrong with classical music, y’all are just mean

but in all seriousness, i don’t quite understand why classical music garnered the reputation of being boring or uppity. actually... maybe i do understand... 

REGARDLESS, there are some really cool hidden gems on the classical music scene and i feel like iida would be able to pick up on the bits that make classical music cool! he kind of gives off the vibe of genuinely listening to and analyzing the aspects of a piece of music that makes it really wonderful to listen to. i honestly can’t put my finger on a genre of music that he would listen to other than classical music; i am willing to bet there is probably a good chunk of iida stans/simps who have a better handle on his personality than me and would be able to answer this question of mine haha!

anyway, that’s just my perception of him haha. Whether you like his music taste or not, hope you enjoy some of these pieces that i consider bangers!!

#ddumpling's playlists #iida tenya #bnha #playlist #music recs