Barcarolle (Offenbach) Whom was it for?
Slrdsyj
Offenbach. I used to think that it was a soprano and mezzo-soprano duet,
especially after knowing that Hei-Kyung Hong and Jennifer Larmore recorded it
together on an album and soprano-and-mezzo duets. In a live concert, Katia
Ricciarelli a soprano sang this duet with a mezzo. However, in a recent
televised concert, this duet was sung by two talented young sopranos. Also,
in a Classic Arts Showcase excerpt, there there was an old music video clip
from the 1950's in black-and-white of Mildred Miller and Blanche Thebom singing
the Barcarolle, and they're both mezzos. For which voices was this duet
written and for which characters? In the 1950's clip, Mildred Miller was
dressed like a man so he must have been playing Nicklausse, right? Blanche
Thebom had her hair in a bun and was in a gown being romanced by a male actor.
Was she playing Giulietta? To make this even more confusing, the Classic Arts
Showcase showed a scene from the Pressburger and Powell film of "Tales of
Hoffmann", and the credits mention the Barcarolle and list the characters
Giulietta and Antonia, and the film shows two women - both dressed like women -
singing this duet. So what is the deal? Which is right? Which is wrong?
Which characters was this duet intended for and for which voices? Was licence
taken or were liberties taken when making the Pressburger/Powell movie?
Thanks in advance.
Leonard Tillman
In a performance of the Opera, though, you'll most likely hear a
soprano/mezzo duet when one diva (soprano) sings all of the Heroines
including Giulietta.
Otherwise, mezzos often sing the latter in which case you'll hear a
mezzo/mezzo rendition.
Leonard Tillman
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"A spoon does not know the taste of soup,
nor a learned fool the taste of wisdom"
-- 'twas ever so.
*
"Few things can better validate a point
than a troll's attempt to dispute it"
-- Alexei Pope-ovitch
Slrdsyj
>Date: 9/19/04 10:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time
>Message-id: <14089-41...@storefull-3336.bay.webtv.net>
>
>The assignation isn't that strict, in practice - when done in concerts.
>In a performance of the Opera, though, you'll most likely hear a
>soprano/mezzo duet when one diva (soprano) sings all of the Heroines
>including Giulietta.
> Otherwise, mezzos often sing the latter in which case you'll hear a
>mezzo/mezzo rendition.
>
>Leonard Tillman
>
I thank you for your reply. Now, is it usually sung by Nicklausse and
Giulietta, Antonia and Giulietta, or Nicklausse and Antonia, or two other
characters?
Also, which two characters sang this duet in Powell/Pressburger film "Tales
of Hoffmann"? (To me, in this clip I saw, it looked like two female characters
were singing it, and not a female character and a trouser-role male character.)
I've been told that this film was adapted and altered slightly from the
original opera.
Leonard Tillman
>From: tapef...@webtv.net (Leonard
> Tillman)
Date: 9/19/04 10:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id: <14089-41...@storefull-3336.bay.webtv.net>
"The assignation isn't that strict, in practice - when done in concerts.
In a performance of the Opera, though, you'll most likely hear a
soprano/mezzo duet when one diva (soprano) sings all of the Heroines
including Giulietta.
Otherwise, mezzos often sing the latter in which case you'll hear
a mezzo/mezzo rendition. "
Leonard Tillman "
> I thank you for your reply. Now, is it
> usually sung by Nicklausse and Giulietta,
> Antonia and Giulietta, or Nicklausse and
> Antonia, or two other characters?
Nicklausse and Giulietta, in every performance of the opera I can
recall.
> Also, which two characters sang this duet
> in Powell/Pressburger film "Tales of
> Hoffmann"? (To me, in this clip I saw, it
> looked like two female characters were
> singing it, and not a female character and a
> trouser-role male character.)
> I've been told that this film was adapted and
> altered slightly from the original opera.
Could be, but IIRC, the characters in the scene were the usual pairing
of Nick & Giulie(!), each portrayed by fine-looking mezzos, with
"Nicklausse" of such ultra-feminine beauty, that no clothes or make-up
could ever render her visually-convincing as a "boy".
Now that you mention this, I don't recall ever seeing an unattractive
mezzo as Nicklausse, nor in most other "trouser roles".
Coincidentally or not, there seems to be an extraordinarily high
incidence of visual beauty among singers in that vocal category(!?) :-)
Btw, that film is one of my all-time favorites, and its English
language-version was among the finest ever.
Some background re the film:
http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/HomeVision/V-HoffIndepth.html
Leonard Tillman
film:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044103/
Mark D Lew
<slr...@aol.com> wrote:
> I thank you for your reply. Now, is it usually sung by Nicklausse and
> Giulietta, Antonia and Giulietta, or Nicklausse and Antonia, or two other
> characters?
The main duet is sung by Giulietta and Nicklausse. Later the tune is
picked up by the chorus and then reprised by the chorus at the end of
the act. I can't remember the details, and I don't have a Hoffmann
score here; that's why I didn't answer your original post.
> Also, which two characters sang this duet in Powell/Pressburger film
> "Tales
> of Hoffmann"? (To me, in this clip I saw, it looked like two female characters
> were singing it, and not a female character and a trouser-role male
> character.)
> I've been told that this film was adapted and altered slightly from the
> original opera.
A few points: The duet introduces the scene in a dreamy,
impressionistic way. The characters are not actually having a
conversation directly connected to the plot. Thus the director has
plenty of leeway to have them offstage, symbolically represented, or
possibly even replaced by different singing voices, if that's what
happens to work for the production.
Remember that the structure of the opera is that the Hoffman of the
outer story is recounting the tales that make up the individual acts,
in which some of the characters recur -- Hoffmann and Nicklausse
certainly, and perhaps the others depending on what scheme of multiple
casting you're doing. How much you want to connect the identities of
separate characters played by the same performer is part of the
interpretation.
In many versions Nicklausse is also identified with Hoffmann's Muse,
who is a female character. (In some versions the Muse is reduced to a
separate speaking role, and in others the Muse is eliminated entirely
-- likewise for Stella, on both points.) This opens the door to
possible ambiguity over whether Nicklausse is actually male while
singing the Barcarolle.
Because Hoffmann was never completed during the composer's lifetime,
there isn't one definitive version of the opera. There are several
other operas which have many variations -- Don Carlos, Carmen, Boris
Godunov, etc. -- but off the top of my head I can't think of any that
is more variable than Hoffmann.
Antonia is completely uninvolved in the duet except in two senses: (1)
If you're doing the casting where one soprano sings all three (/four)
heroines, then the singer who plays Antonia also sings the barcarolle,
but she's still not Antonia when doing so. (2) At the premiere, the
producers were in a hurry to scrape something together out of
Offenbach's unfinished score. Since the Giulietta act had so many
holes, they cut that act completely. They wanted to salvage the
barcarolle tune, however, so they relocated the Antonia scene to Venice
and had her sing the barcarolle instead. (I can't remember the details
on this either....) Subsequently the Giulietta act was restored, with
the holes filled in by music from various sources. Since then, the
opera is virtually never done with the Giulietta act missing as in the
premiere.
mdl
Steve Crook
In the Powell & Pressburger film the Barcarolle is sung by Giulietta &
Giulietta :)
She is taken to her lair in a Venetian gondola and she looks at her
reflection in the lagoon and she and her reflection sing to each other.
Yes, there were some adaptations & alterations. These were mainly
proposed by Sir Thomas Beecham who, as the person who had introduced The
Tales of Hoffmann to Britain, felt justified in doing so.
It's not just a film of a stage production but a truly filmic version of
the opera making full use of all the tricks you can do on film but can't
do on stage.
Stella was made into a ballerina (Moira Shearer), she performs a lovely
Dragonfly Ballet in the theatre that Hoffmann watches. He then goes to
the cellar for a drink with the students and begins to tell them his
Tales. There's a preliminary Tale, that of Kleinsach, then the tales of
Olympia, Giulietta & Antonia (in that order) and then the big finale
where all is revealed.
The soundtrack, orchestra and singing, was made before the film was shot
and the actors then performed it with the soundtrack being played in the
studio.
Most of the major roles were performed on screen by ballet dancers with
their roles sung by the singers. They made the film just a few years
after their classic ballet film, "The Red Shoes" and they used many of
the same performers.
It generally works very well and most people wouldn't guess it's
different people dancing & singing the role. The biggest giveaway is
that Olympia (Moira Shearer again) sometimes forgets to mime when the
footwork gets a bit tricky during the Doll Dance. Dorothy Bond sings
Olympia.
Ludmilla Tchérina plays a very slinky Giulietta (sung by Margherita Grandi).
The villains, Lindorf, Coppelius, Dapertutto and Dr Miracle are danced
by Robert Helpmann and sung by Bruce Dargavel.
Spalanzani, Schlemil and Franz are danced by Léonide Massine and sung by
Grahame Clifford.
Nicklaus is performed by the suitably androgynous Pamela Brown and sung
by Monica Sinclair.
Kleinsach and Cochenille are danced by Frederick Ashton (who also did
most of the choreography) and Cochenille is sung by Murray Dickie.
The only two who act & sing their own roles are Robert Rounseville as
Hoffmann and Anne Ayars as Antonia, but they don't have to move as much
as the dancers. Anne looks very healthy for someone dying of consumption :)
Some love it, some hate it, some think the Antonia segment is too long
(or could be cut entirely). I'd be interested to hear the views of
people in this newsgroup.
Steve
Steve Crook
The Powell and Pressburger Appreciation Society
http://www.Powell-Pressburger.org
Leonard Tillman
>In the Powell & Pressburger film the Barcarolle
> is sung by Giulietta & Giulietta :)
>She is taken to her lair in a Venetian gondola
> and she looks at her reflection in the lagoon
> and she and her reflection sing to each other.
Ah, now I recall it! Thank you!
Daniel Kessler
singing the barcarole.