June Anderson - Offenbach: TALES OF HOFFMANN, Doll Song, NYCO Broadcast 1980

THE SONGBIRD: June Anderson rose to the top-tier of coloratura sopranos soon after her professional debut in 1978 as the Queen of the Night at the New York City Opera. She was born in Boston in 1952 and was a finalist in the national Met Auditions at age 17. She spent a few years at NYCO, then expanded her career in Europe starting with "Semiramide" in Rome in 1983. Debuts at the Paris Opera, La Scala, and Covent Garden followed in 1985 and 1986. Her first Met role came in 1989 as Gilda. Though she sang many roles in the standard repertoire, she ended up with a specialization in obscure French operas and Italian bel canto works. Here she sings the Doll Song of Olympia in Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann" -- from a radio broadcast at the NYCO in April 1980. She was also Antonia in this performance, but Giulietta was sung by Joanna Simon. She sang all three Hoffmann roles only for the matinee of March 7, 1981 (per the NYCO annals by Martin Sokol). THE MUSIC: Did you know that Jacques Offenbach composed at least 100 works for the stage in the 34 years between 1847 and 1881? Yet only his masterpiece “Les Contes de Hoffmann” lives in the standard repertory, deservedly so. According to operabase.com, “Hoffmann” is the second most performed French opera in the world, after “Carmen.” The first of three fantasy lovers that the poet Hoffmann conjures in the story is Olympia. Initially she appears luminous to Hoffmann, but she turns out to be a mechanical doll. She only has one aria in the opera, "Les oiseaux dans la charmille," commonly referred to as the Doll Song. And what an aria it is -- an extremely popular and challenging coloratura showpiece. This ditty is so ubiquitous that it’s easy to overlook how clever and original it is: Offenbach ingeniously composed an intricate and precise coloratura vocal line to convey Olympia's wind-up doll characteristics, all with a bit of a wink. It's inevitably a crowd pleaser for sopranos who can display their technique and have a little fun at the same time. The aria has two verses -- the second is often decorated elaborately -- and almost always ends with an interpolated High E-flat in the standard performance key (occasionally the aria is sung in a lower key).