from the Chalet, Crawfordsburn
Though he had passionately wished to live to hear the premier of the opera he loved beyond all the others he had written, Offenbach was already dead when Tales of Hoffmann was introduced to a Paris audience in February, 1881. He had a posthumous reward, however, for it is mainly owing to the success and popularity of Tales of Hoffmann that Offenbach's name is still a live one.
The ' Barcarolle ' which so largely dominates the Second Act is one of the most popular of all operatic arias and has been arranged as a solo for almost every instrument in the orchestra.