The Real Tales of Hoffmann: Origin, History, and Restoration of an Operatic Masterpiece by Vincent Giroud and Michael Kaye (review)

During his lifetime, Jacques Offenbach composed more than 120 musical stage works. As was his habit, he altered and amended each opérette and opera multiple times during the rehearsal process and even expanded or completely reworked them years after their premieres. This penchant for revision, and the fact that Offenbach died before the last rehearsal, left his final opera, Les contes d'Hoffmann, without a definitive version. In his essay on the various productions, George Loomis describes the problem presented by Offenbach's untimely death: "Hoffmann is perhaps unique among operas by having a performance tradition that has conditioned audiences to expect to hear unauthentic music that they are reluctant to be without" (p. 123). In their book The Real "Tales of Hoffmann": Origin, History, and Restoration of an Operatic Masterpiece, Vincent Giroud and Michael Kaye do not attempt to solve the issue by constructing an authentic version of the work. Rather, they provide background information, Offenbach's own rewrites, and past production details that allow conductors choosing performance editions to make informed decisions.

As the authors state in their joint introduction, "little is available in English regarding Offenbach and Les contes d'Hoffmann," adding, "sadly, there is not even a decent scholarly biography of the composer in English" (p. xiii). Giroud himself is one of the few authors to address these subjects; his book French Opera: A Short History (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010) contains a brief overview of Offenbach's career (pp. 188–94) and includes a two-page summary of how Hoffmann was altered from the composer's original intent (pp. 193–94). In the note that ends the chapter, Giroud alludes to the then-forthcoming Kaye and Jean-Christophe Keck edition of the opera (Mainz: Schott, 2006) that became the foundation of The Real "Tales of Hoffmann" (p. 328n120). In this subsequent book, Giroud expands on the ideas initially presented in his brief summary and, along with the other authors invited to contribute essays, describes a more complete background of the opera's genesis and evolution.

Three essays by Giroud, four by Kaye (and one coauthored), one by Charlie Richards, and one by George Loomis form the first part of the book. They begin with a background of E. T. A. Hoffmann himself and the impact of his writings in France before Jules Barbier and Michel Carré wrote the play that influenced Offenbach's opera. The next three essays, by Giroud and Kaye, detail the creation and reception of the play and offer a brief biography of both Barbier and Carré. Musical versions of Hoffmann that predated Offenbach's rendering are discussed in Kaye's next essay, ending with a description of the composer's unrealized opéra-féerie version of material later worked into the full-length opera. Essays 6 and 7, by Richards and Giroud, respectively, describe how Barbier turned his play into a libretto and altered the text to fit couplet form. The concluding essays, by Kaye, Loomis, and Giroud, detail chronologically how, when, where, and by whom the opera was performed. These essays also describe changes in the work by the various conductors who staged Hoffmann and their divergence from Offenbach's original intentions. The final essay of this section provides a summary of changes in the opera over time and makes a case for Kaye's critical edition, which is based on the extant Offenbach sketches for the unfinished parts of Hoffmann. As stated above, the authors do not intend this edition to be the "definitive text" but rather aim "to provide all the necessary information so that opera theaters can make the best possible informed decision about what version they wish to stage" (p. 139).

Part 2 of the book includes...