Check out two of the best known arias from Offenbach's magical Tales of Hoffmann. First, Miguel Villabella, the Basque tenor who made his home and his name in Paris, sings, from the second act, "O dieu! de quelle ivresse" ("O God, what intoxication is this with which you set my heart on fire?") with his trademark ease and expressiveness. (The video is from the Archers' film version , which was not sung by Villabella.)
Second, from act one, a clockwork Moira Shearer dances, accompanied by Léonide Massine on "harp" and Frederick Ashton on winding-up duties, under the watchful gaze of Robert Rounseville in a pair of Dr. Coppélius's magic glasses and an appreciative, if somewhat uncoordinated, audience of mechanical dolls. (The aria "Les oiseaux dans la charmille" ("The birds in the hedgerows") is sung, in English, by Dorothy Bond, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham.)
Second, from act one, a clockwork Moira Shearer dances, accompanied by Léonide Massine on "harp" and Frederick Ashton on winding-up duties, under the watchful gaze of Robert Rounseville in a pair of Dr. Coppélius's magic glasses and an appreciative, if somewhat uncoordinated, audience of mechanical dolls. (The aria "Les oiseaux dans la charmille" ("The birds in the hedgerows") is sung, in English, by Dorothy Bond, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham.)
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