Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann)

Jacques Offenbach · Level 3 (Late beginner) · Romantic · Piano

“Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour”: the barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann (1881), in D major, with its gondola-like 6/8 sway. The mezzo’s melody, then the soprano’s (“Le temps fuit et sans retour”). In Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni, 1997), Guido plays it for Dora even in the camp, on a gramophone.

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• A swaying 6/8: two big beats per bar, like a rocking boat. The left hand gives this motion (bass, then chord). The two slurred eighths F♯–E (bars 4, 5, 8, 9) are played like a sigh. Second phrase (bar 11) a little more singing, the melody climbs a sixth.

Source : Arrangement Note after Note d’après la partition chant et piano originale (Choudens, 1881, transcription d’A. Bazille), Gallica · Public Domain