San Antonio College Library

The opera is based on a play by the writers Jules Barbier, who wrote the opera's libretto, and Michel Carre. The play takes the real life German poet, E.T.A. Hoffmann, and makes him a character in some of his own, fanciful stories. Offenbach's drama follows the same scheme, placing the title character into three, fanciful stories of failed love.

E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) was a man of diversified talents, an artist, composer, conductor, critic, jurist, and writer. Although he is best known for his stories, he was a music critic and composer for years before he wrote his celebrated Tales. Hoffmann has long been considered an extremely important force in the shaping of musical romanticism, yet this volume is the first adequate documentation of his influence. Because much of the primary material...