Unmistakably French

Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann,
reviewed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

In Jacques Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann, the protagonist (a poet and a would-be womanizer, but with very little luck) tells his love stories to a group of drinking buddies while awaiting his latest conquest, the singer Stella with a lead role in Mozart's Don Giovanni in the nearby theatre. The stories he tells are more bitter than sweet; in each act, he unsuccessfully courts a different woman. When Don Giovanni is over and Stella arrives, the fellow is totally drunk. Of course, she goes out to dinner (and what not) with some other chap...

JACQUES OFFENBACH

ITALY