Michael Polenzani sings compositions based on poems Cal Performances

Vittorio Grigolo and Matthew Polenzani take turns playing the tortured poet and unwitting adventurer, Hoffmann. The roles of the three heroines are shared by an impressive lineup of singing actresses, including Hibla Gerzmava, Susanna Phillips, Erin Morley, Audrey Luna, Christine Rice, and Elena Maximova. Thomas Hampson sings the Four Villains, and James Levine and Yves Abel conduct Offenbach’s sparkling score.  Today, thee elegant mezzo Kate Lindsey was Hoffmann's friend "Nicklausse", her voice silvery with a hint of cream..." Conductor Yves Abel "led a graceful, agile orchestral performance." Listened to "Tales of Hoffman" broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera, NYC.  

Who is here,  in Berkeley, but Matthew Polenzani, with Julius Drake on piano.  Fortunately I had gotten a ticket early on...Matthew Polenzani  sang all songs written to poems, including Beethoven's "Adelaide" (text: Frederich von Matthisson),which celebrates nature, with loss of love.... In Franz Liszt in German, "Der Gluckliche", and in "Wie singt die Lerche schon, by Hoffmann von Fallersleben as well as Die stille Wasserrose by Emmanuel von Gei bel, concluding with Heinrich Heine's text for Im Rhein, im schonen Strome.   Then, they move on to Liszt's Four Songs on Poems of Victor Hugo, and further on, after an intermission, we hear Eric Satie's "Trois Melodies" followed by  Maurice Ravel's Cinq Melodies Populaires Grecques.    The final piece is Samuel Barber's arrangement of Hermit Songs, the text being anonymous Irish poetry. So a wonderfully varied program.  A truly splendid evening; not a moment of disappointment.  The performance was brought to Berkeley by Cal Performances and held at the Congregational Church, host to the Philharmonia Baroque.  

See the Metropolitan Opera for short 5 minute video of mechanical doll's singing, as she is the first "love" of Hoffmann. 

Full synopsis: 

  Prologue 

Luther’s tavern in a German town. The poet Hoffmann is in love with Stella, the star singer of the opera. Lindorf, a rich counselor, also loves her and has intercepted a note she has written to Hoffmann. Lindorf is confident he will win her for himself. Entering with a group of students, Hoffmann sings a ballad about a disfigured dwarf named Kleinzach. During the song, his mind wanders to recollections of a beautiful woman. When Hoffmann recognizes Lindorf as his rival, the two men trade insults. Hoffmann’s Muse, who has assumed the guise of his friend Nicklausse, interrupts, but the encounter leaves the poet with a sense of impending disaster. He begins to tell the stories of his three past loves...

Act I
The eccentric inventor Spalanzani has created a mechanical doll named Olympia. Hoffmann, who thinks she is Spalanzani’s daughter, has fallen in love with her. Spalanzani’s former partner Coppélius sells Hoffmann a pair of magic glasses through which he alone perceives Olympia as human. When Coppélius demands his share of the profits the two inventors expect to make from the doll, Spalanzani gives him a worthless check.

Guests arrive and Olympia captivates the crowd with the performance of a dazzling aria, which is interrupted several times in order for the doll’s mechanism to be recharged. Oblivious to this while watching her through his glasses, Hoffmann is enchanted. He declares his love and the two dance. Olympia whirls faster and faster as her mechanism spins out of control. During the melee Hoffmann’s glasses are broken. Coppélius, having discovered that the check was worthless, returns in a fury. He grabs Olympia and tears her apart as the guests mock Hoffmann for falling in love with a machine.

Act II
Antonia sings a plaintive love song filled with memories of her dead mother, a famous singer. Her father, Crespel, has taken her away in the hopes of ending her affair with Hoffmann and begs her to give up singing: she has inherited her mother’s weak heart, and the effort will endanger her life. Hoffmann arrives and Antonia joins him in singing until she nearly faints. Crespel returns, alarmed by the arrival of the charlatan Dr. Miracle, who treated Crespel’s wife the day she died. The doctor claims he can cure Antonia but Crespel accuses him of killing his wife and forces him out. Hoffmann, overhearing their conversation, asks Antonia to give up singing and she reluctantly agrees. The moment he has left Miracle reappears, urging Antonia to sing. He conjures up the voice of her mother and claims she wants her daughter to relive the glory of her own fame. Antonia can’t resist. Her singing, accompanied by Miracle frantically playing the violin, becomes more and more feverish until she collapses. Miracle coldly pronounces her dead.

Act III
The Venetian courtesan Giulietta joins Nicklausse in a barcarole. A party is in progress, and Hoffmann mockingly praises the pleasures of the flesh. When Giulietta introduces him to her current lover, Schlémil, Nicklausse warns the poet against the courtesan’s charms. Hoffmann denies any interest in her. Having overheard them, the sinister Dapertutto produces a large diamond with which he will bribe Giulietta to steal Hoffmann’s reflection for him—just as she already has stolen Schlémil’s shadow. As Hoffmann is about to depart, Giulietta seduces him into confessing his love for her. Schlémil returns and accuses Giulietta of having left him for Hoffmann, who realizes with horror that he has lost his reflection. Schlémil challenges Hoffmann to a duel and is killed. Hoffmann takes the key to Giulietta’s boudoir from his dead rival but finds the room empty. Returning, he sees her leaving the palace in the arms of the dwarf Pitichinaccio.

Epilogue
Having finished his tales, all Hoffmann wants is to forget. Nicklausse declares that each story describes a different aspect of one woman: Stella. Arriving in the tavern after her performance, the singer finds Hoffmann drunk and leaves with Lindorf. Nicklausse resumes her appearance as the Muse and tells the poet to find consolation in his creative genius.