Description

Offenbach – Hoffmanns Erzählungen (Große Opern-Querschnitt)

UPC: 8 20 420

Product Details:

Label: VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin
Format: Vinyl, LP, Stereo
Country: East Germany
Released: 1969
Genre: Opera Highlights

Product Features

A condensed “Querschnitt” of Jacques Offenbach’s final, unfinished opera Hoffmanns Erzählungen in four acts.
Features the opera’s prologue, famous arias, ensembles, and the closing afterplay.
Soloists include Wilfriede Lüttgen (Olympia), Erika Zimmermann (Antonia), Christiane Sorell (Giulietta), Waldemar Kmentt (Hoffmann), Walter Berry (Dapertutto), Herbert Prikopa (Nathanael), Tom Krause (Lindorf), and more.
Performed by the Chor und Orchester der Wiener Volksoper, conducted by Franz Bauer-Theussl.
Includes detailed libretto excerpts (Helmina von Chézy) printed on the sleeve for dramatic context and narration.

Overview

This LP presents the most celebrated episodes of Offenbach’s Hoffmanns Erzählungen: from the student revelry in Luther’s tavern to Hoffmann’s tragic love stories with the automaton Olympia, the courtesan Giulietta, and the fragile singer Antonia—culminating in the disillusioned afterplay. The Wiener Volksoper’s chorus and orchestra, under Franz Bauer-Theussl, deliver lush Romantic orchestration, while a stellar cast brings each character vividly to life. Although Offenbach died in 1880 before completing his instrumentation, Ernest Guiraud’s posthumous realization and the cuts introduced by Felsenstein’s 1958 “Komische Oper” revival have given this recording the shape still heard today.

Track Listing

Side 1

Einleitung & Lied und Szene (Hoffmann, Nathanael, Niklaus, Chor)
“Pfui! Dieses Bier ist obszönlich!” / “Meine Geliebte! Stella, du!” (Finale des Vorspiels)
Zwischenspiel & “Phöbus stolz im Sonnenwagen”
Lied der Olympia mit Chor
Walzer
Finale – 1. Akt
Zwischenspiel & Barkarole: “Schöne Nacht, du Liebesnacht”

Side 2 8. Rezitativ und Arie des Dapertutto (“Spiegelarie”) 9. Lied des Hoffmann (2. Akt) 10. Romanze der Antonia (“Sie entfloh, die Taube”) 11. Lied des Franz (“Tag und Nacht verteil’ ich mich”) 12. Szene und Duett Antonia & Hoffmann 13. Szene und Terzett (Antonia & Mirakel & eine Stimme) 14. Nachspiel (“Meine drei Liebesgeschichten habt ihr nun gehört”)

Key Credits

Composer: Jacques Offenbach Librettists: Jules Barbier & Michel Carré (after E. T. A. Hoffmann) Hoffmann: Waldemar Kmentt (tenor) Nathanael: Herbert Prikopa (tenor) Olympia: Wilfriede Lüttgen (soprano) Giulietta: Christiane Sorell (soprano) Antonia: Erika Zimmermann (mezzo-soprano) Dapertutto: Walter Berry (baritone) Lindorf: Tom Krause (bass) Chorus & Orchestra: Wiener Volksoper Conductor: Franz Bauer-Theussl