"The Tales of Hoffmann" opera premiered at the stage of Volgograd "Tsaritsyn Opera" theater on May 13, 2022. It owes the ingenuity of its composition and the painstaking approach to its production to the theater's guest of honor – a famous Russian opera director Mikhail Pandzhavidze. With the talented scenography by a German stage designer Harry Hummel and the costumes created by a Moscow costume designer Tatiana Kondrychina, Mikhail Pandzhavidze managed to accentuate the finest nuances of this multilayered, ambiguous, somewhat absurd production, as well as visualize the phantasmagoric visions and nightmares of the genius storyteller who wrote it first.

Jacques Offenbach (June 20, 1819 – October 5, 1880)

Jacques Offenbach is one of the most prominent French composers of the second half of the XIX century. He wrote 6 operas, a number of lyrical songs for soloists and ensemble casts, but his genre of preference had always been operetta (of which he created over 100). His operettas are very versatile in plot: some of them take place in the Ancient times ("Orpheus in the Underworld", "The Beautiful Helen"), some of them – in popular fairytales ("The Blue Beard"), some – in the Middle Ages ("Genevieve of Brabant"), some – in the exotic Peru ("La Périchole"), and some – in the XVIII century France ("Madame Favart"), or in his own days ("Parisian Life"), etc. Yet, though outwardly his works are most versatile, their inner theme remains the same – the morals of contemporary society.

The basis for "The Tales of Hoffmann" and the history of this production:

The opera dates back to a play of the same name, based on three short stories by Hoffmann ("The Sandman", "The Lost Reflection" and "Councillor Krespel") and produced in Paris in 1851 by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier who made Hoffmann himself the protagonist of each story. Later Barbier rewrote the play into an opera libretto.

Offenbach worked on the opera most studiously until his very death in 1880, yet never managed to finish it. He completed the orchestra recitatives for the first Act, but had to leave the rest to another composer, Ernest Guiraud. The opera premiered in Paris on February 10, 1881, and enjoyed a tremendous success, going through 101 performances during its first season.

The opera's storyline:

A tavern in Nuremberg. In the midst of a friendly party, Hoffmann – poet, composer and vagabond drinker in love with the prima donna Stella – tells the audience about his three great loves. All of them end in tragedy. The courtesan actress Giulietta turns out to be a swindler seducing Hoffmann under the orders of her theatrical agent. The young and loving Antonia dies from an incurable illness. The beautiful Olympia turns out to be an ugly mechanical doll. Yet, all women Hoffmann describes are nothing but a reflection of Stella, his one and only love. Hoffmann's life itself is an illusion, just like his love affairs and romantic fantasies. His stories are just fairytales for merry crowds and tipsy students. Their author, drowning in his own hallucinations and losing his grip on reality, eventually disappears, dissolving in alcohol.

Hoffmann is my favorite character, and he is best described by the man performing his role – Vitaly Reviakin:

"The Hoffmann you see in our production is a Bohemian, an alcoholic sunk to his lowest, a licentious and reckless spender. There is pain I see behind his smile. What pains him is that his soul – the soul of an artist – cannot find a release for its creative energy. To some extent, I see myself in him – the concept of art yearning for recognition. This is why this character is very dear to me. My favorite episode is when his Muse finally recognizes him. It is in his Muse that Hoffmann dissolves, disappears from our world, breaks away from his wheel of Sansara. I believe that this is the moment when he finally finds peace."

Mikhail Pandzhavidze, the production's director:

"This is the story of a man who, in his pursuit of true love, sold his soul to the Devil. To me, Nicklausse, Hoffmann's friend and philosopher, is an incarnation of Mephistopheles. Aided by alcohol, he corrupts talents, tempting their real owners with art, new knowledge, and forbidden pleasures, and steals these talents for himself. In his hallucinations, Hoffmann descends lower and lower, coming to loneliness and emptiness. The opera ends with the main character's excarnation – he literally ceases to exist."