“LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN”; a fanciful opera in four acts; words by MM. Michel Carré and Jules Barbier; posthumous music by Jacques Offenbach, produced at the Opéra Comique on February 10, 1881. "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" had been played thirty years before, on March 31, 1851, at the Odéon, in the shape of a comedy. Such as it was designed to be, the work offers an excellent frame for the music, bringing on the stage in their fantastic form three of the prettiest tales of the German story-teller, connected with each other in an ingenious fashion, with the contrasts which present themselves. Lyrical adaptation therefore appeared quite natural and it was done with much taste. Offenbach had almost entirely finished its music when death came to surprise him. At the same time he had not put his score into orchestral form and it was Ernest Girard who was charged with finishing this and writing the instrumentation, which it was easy to perceive at hearing it, Girard being a musician taught differently from the author of the "Belle Hélène" and "Orphée aux Enfers." It is right to say that several passages of the Contes d'Hoffmann were welcome and testify to a real effort by the composer. If to that be added the interest that the libretto offers and the excellence of an interpretation entrusted to Mlle. Adèle Isaac (Stella, Olympia, Antonia), to MM. Talazac (Hoffmann), Taskin (Lindorf, Coppélius, Dr. Miracle), Belhomme (Crespel), Grivot (Andrès, Cochenille, Frantz), Gourdon (Spalanzani), Collin (Wilhelm), Mlles. Marguerite Ugalde (Nicklausse), Molé (the nurse), one will understand the success which greeted the work. The Contes d'Hoffmann was reproduced in 1893 at the Renaissance, during the transient directorship of M. Détroyat, who gave to this theatre the title of Théâtre Lyrique.
LAKMÉ
Opera in three acts by Delibes; libretto by Gille and Gondinet.
Lakmé is the daughter of Nilakantha, a fanatical Brahmin priest. While he nurses his hatred of the British invader, his daughter strolls in her garden, singing duets with her slave Mallika. An English officer, one Gerald, breaks through the bambou fence that surrounds Nilakantha's retreat, in a ruined temple in the depths of an Indian forest. He courts Lakmé who immediately returns his love. Nilakantha seeing the broken fence at once suspects an English invader. In act two the old man disguised as a beggar is armed with a dagger. Lakmé is disguised as a street singer. Together they search for the profaner of the sacred spot at a market. It is here that she sings the famous Bell Song. Gerald recognizes Lakmé as Nilakantha recognizes the disturber of his peace. A dagger thrust lays Gerald low. Lakmé and her slave carry him to a hut hidden in the forest. During his convalescence the time passes pleasantly. The lovers sing duets and exchange vows of undying love. But Frederick, a brother officer and a slave to duty, informs Gerald that he must march with his regiment. Lakmé makes the best of the situation by eating a poisonous flower which brings about her death.
Photo copyright, 1916, by Victor Georg
Galli-Curci as Lakmé
The story is based by Gondinet and Gille upon "Le Mariage de Loti." Ellen, Rose, and Mrs. Benson, Englishwomen, hover in the background of the romance. But their parts are of negligible importance, and in fact when Miss Van Zandt and a French Company first gave the opera in London they were omitted altogether, some said wisely. The opera was first presented in Paris at the Opéra Comique with Miss Van Zandt. It was first sung in New York by the American Opera Company at the Academy of Music, March 1, 1886. The first Lakmé to be heard in New York was Pauline L'Allemand, the second Adelina Patti, this time in 1890 and at the Metropolitan Opera House. Mme. Sembrich and Luisa Tetrazzini sang it later.