Korea National Opera presents essence of French opera ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’
- 5 years ago
Time now for our "Life & Info" segment...where we focus on information useful for your everyday life. It's Thursday so we are going to turn our focus to culture.
To introduce some cultural events to check out, we have our Lee Min-sun in the studio.
Min-sun, what do you have for us today?
Hi Mark,
Today I'm going to tell you about a classical music performance that'll be fun to watch and listen to. Next week, the Korea National Opera presents 'The Tales of Hoffmann,' an opera by the French-German composer Jacques Offenbach.
In fact, it's Offenbach's only opera but it's a much-loved classic, and this is the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth.
They're putting it on at Seoul Arts Center from October 24th to 27th.
Now, the Tales of Hoffmann is based on three short stories by the writer E-T-A Hoffman, who in the opera is inserted into his own stories.
This is considered a masterpiece of 19th century French romanticism.
What would you say is special about the 'Tales of Hoffmann'?
It's composed in a typical French romantic style. The Tales of Hoffmann brings together the spectacle of Grand Opera, elements of romance and fantasy... and the satire and wit of the operetta.
The protagonist Hoffmann... tells three love stories in dreamlike or even surreal settings, where a kind of evil interrupts his love.
This production is directed by Vincent Boussard from France... and the orchestra is conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing from Germany.
Interestingly, opera directors and conductors get to make their own versions of this work... with different visuals and even different endings.
They explained why that is... and what they think this work represents.
"The Tales of Hoffmann has wide possibility for stage directing and music conducting because the composer died before completing the opera."
"This is a piece by a composer who actually wrote operatic comedy or operetta. And writing at the end of his life a serious very serious opera is very significant. He, I think for him it's like his own requiem and his own belief of what it means to be an artist."
Sounds like this might be worth checking out. You said in ,The Tales of Hoffmann'... there are three love stories?
That's right. It's interesting because Hoffmann is the main character and the narrator.
As a poet, he tells love stories from his past... and then when those stories play out on the stage, he joins as part of the story.
It's important to know this... because switching back and forth might be confusing, but the director does it in an interesting way.
The singer who plays Hoffmann explained his role like this.
"From the first to the fifth act, Hoffmann's character goes on journey of love and rebirth as an artist. I tried to show every detail as he grows and develops as a person and the frustrations that crush him as an artist. I'm trying to make it easier for audiences to understand when I switch between who the character is in the present and who he was in the past."
Now, aside from the main charac
To introduce some cultural events to check out, we have our Lee Min-sun in the studio.
Min-sun, what do you have for us today?
Hi Mark,
Today I'm going to tell you about a classical music performance that'll be fun to watch and listen to. Next week, the Korea National Opera presents 'The Tales of Hoffmann,' an opera by the French-German composer Jacques Offenbach.
In fact, it's Offenbach's only opera but it's a much-loved classic, and this is the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth.
They're putting it on at Seoul Arts Center from October 24th to 27th.
Now, the Tales of Hoffmann is based on three short stories by the writer E-T-A Hoffman, who in the opera is inserted into his own stories.
This is considered a masterpiece of 19th century French romanticism.
What would you say is special about the 'Tales of Hoffmann'?
It's composed in a typical French romantic style. The Tales of Hoffmann brings together the spectacle of Grand Opera, elements of romance and fantasy... and the satire and wit of the operetta.
The protagonist Hoffmann... tells three love stories in dreamlike or even surreal settings, where a kind of evil interrupts his love.
This production is directed by Vincent Boussard from France... and the orchestra is conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing from Germany.
Interestingly, opera directors and conductors get to make their own versions of this work... with different visuals and even different endings.
They explained why that is... and what they think this work represents.
"The Tales of Hoffmann has wide possibility for stage directing and music conducting because the composer died before completing the opera."
"This is a piece by a composer who actually wrote operatic comedy or operetta. And writing at the end of his life a serious very serious opera is very significant. He, I think for him it's like his own requiem and his own belief of what it means to be an artist."
Sounds like this might be worth checking out. You said in ,The Tales of Hoffmann'... there are three love stories?
That's right. It's interesting because Hoffmann is the main character and the narrator.
As a poet, he tells love stories from his past... and then when those stories play out on the stage, he joins as part of the story.
It's important to know this... because switching back and forth might be confusing, but the director does it in an interesting way.
The singer who plays Hoffmann explained his role like this.
"From the first to the fifth act, Hoffmann's character goes on journey of love and rebirth as an artist. I tried to show every detail as he grows and develops as a person and the frustrations that crush him as an artist. I'm trying to make it easier for audiences to understand when I switch between who the character is in the present and who he was in the past."
Now, aside from the main charac