The Real ‘Tales of Hoffmann’ is a commendable collaboration of the opera historian par excellence, Vincent Giroud and Michael Kaye, who is something of a genius—a tireless researcher, an original thinker, a musicological historian unencumbered with prefabricated aesthetic prejudices—who has given the world rare, often revisionary, always profoundly valuable insights into the mind of Jacques Offenbach and the circuitous creation ... Read more(also re-creation over time) of Les contes d’Hoffmann. They have earned unbridled admiration and gratitude from all who seek broadened horizons regarding the universal presentation of conventional, also unconventional, music and theater.
Martin Bernheimer, Pulitzer Prize winning critic and New York correspondent for the Financial Times and Opera Magazine., New York correspondent for the Financial Times, editorial board member of Opera Magazine, and Pulitzer Prize-winning former music critic of the Los Angeles Times This scrupulously historical reconstitution of the origins and destiny of Les contes d’Hoffmann, perhaps the most misunderstood work in the operatic repertory, and certainly one of my favorite operas, will be a revelation to musicians and to everyone who has ever fallen under the spell of Offenbach’s immortal masterpiece.
Neil Shicoff, internationally renowned star-tenor and one of the 20th century’s foremost interpreters of Hoffmann The authors of The 'Real Tales of Hoffmann' have performed an invaluable service to all opera theaters, audiences, and scholars by presenting in one volume so much information about Offenbach’s masterpiece and important source material that is not readily available. Stage directors, designers, dramaturgs, conductors, and singers will also find the advice on choosing a version particularly illuminating.
Ronny Dietrich, Dramaturg and Director of Publications of the Salzburg Festival (2012–2016) Show Less