Which opera by Jacques Offenbach follows the poet Hoffmann through three troubled love stories?

Jacques Offenbach’s opera following Hoffmann through three troubled love stories is The Tales of Hoffmann.

Its French title is Les contes d’Hoffmann. The opera premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 10 February 1881, several months after Offenbach’s death. Jules Barbier wrote the libretto, drawing on stories by the German writer and composer E. T. A. Hoffmann.

The central character is a fictionalized version of Hoffmann, who recalls his failed relationships with Olympia, Antonia, and Giulietta. The Muse appears in disguise as Nicklausse, while the villainous figures Lindorf, Coppélius, Dr Miracle, and Dapertutto are often performed by the same singer.

The famous “Doll Song,” “Les oiseaux dans la charmille,” belongs to Olympia’s act. The opera exists in multiple versions because Offenbach left orchestration and ordering decisions incomplete. It should not be confused with Offenbach’s lighter operetta Orpheus in the Underworld.