OFFENBACH, Jacques 1819-1880

Les Contes d'Hoffmann Opéra fantastique en 4 actes de Jules Barbier ... Paroles Italiennes de Zanardini ... Paroles Allemandes de J. Hopp ... Partition Chant et Piano transcrite par A. Bazille. [Piano-vocal score]

Paris: Choudens [PN A.C. 5301], 1907.

Large octavo. Quarter dark yellow cloth with green cloth boards, spine with raised bands. 1f. (recto title illustrated by E. Buval, verso blank), 1f. (recto publisher's note in French and German, verso blank), 1f. (recto notes on first performance, cast list, and contents, verso blank), 1f. (recto contents, verso blank), 3-344 pp. Text in Italian and German.

Binding slightly worn, rubbed, bumped; lower stained. Some signatures split or partially split; occasional reinforcement to inner margins; minor soiling and creasing to corners of title; tape repair to lower margin of publisher's notes; small tear to blank outer edge of p. 15.

Fifth version.

Les contes d’Hoffmann, to a libretto by J. Barbier completed by Guirard, was first performed in Paris at the Opéra-Comique on 10 February 1881.

"[Offenbach] was, with Johann Strauss (ii), one of the two composers of outstanding significance in popular music of the 19th century and the composer of some of the most exhilaratingly gay and tuneful music ever written. His opera Les contes d’Hoffmann has retained a place in the international repertory ... Moreover, it was through the success of Offenbach’s works abroad that operetta became an established international genre, producing outstanding national exponents in Strauss, Sullivan and Lehár and evolving into the 20th-century musical." Andrew Lamb in Grove Music Online.

Item #28788

Price: $40.00  other currencies