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Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann)

Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880) · sheet music

  • Time 6/8
  • Levels 6
  • Passages 9

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Jacques Offenbach, French (German-born) romantic (1819–1880). The reading release has 9 passages from this piece at level 6; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–8 for the right hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 6.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann).

  1. Right hand alone · bars 1–8 level 6
  2. Left hand alone · bars 1–8 level 6
  3. Hands together · bars 1–4 level 6

How to play Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann)

  1. Tempo:The marking is Allegretto moderato, a gentle moving pace. Count two big beats per bar, each a group of three eighth notes, so the music rocks instead of ticking.
  2. Right hand:The melody has long, curving phrases. Connect the notes smoothly and shape each phrase with a slight swell in the middle and a soft landing.
  3. Left hand:The left hand rocks in a repeating pattern. Keep it quieter than the melody, and let the first beat of each group be a little heavier than the second.
  4. Hands together:Play the left hand alone until the rocking feels automatic, then add the right hand and keep your listening focused on the tune.
  5. Rhythm:Feel the six-eight pulse as two beats, not six. Tap the two big beats with your foot while you play the eighth notes.
  6. Dynamics:Begin soft, let the long phrases swell gently, and fade at the end. The idea is the sound of a boat gliding away.
  7. Practice:Practice in two-phrase chunks. Once each phrase is smooth, link them without a pause so the melody feels continuous.

Common mistakes

  • Counting six quick beats and sounding choppy. Fix: Count in two and tap the beat with your foot so each group of three eighth notes feels like one rock.
  • Letting the accompaniment overpower the tune. Fix: Play the left hand at half the volume of the right and listen for the melody first.
  • Breaking the legato at the end of each phrase. Fix: Practice the last note of one phrase connecting into the first note of the next.
  • Playing every phrase at one flat volume. Fix: Give each phrase a small rise and fall so the melody sounds sung rather than typed.

Structure: duet over a rocking accompaniment

About a minute of orchestral introduction sets up the swaying six-eight accompaniment before anyone sings. Then two women's voices take the long melody, intertwining in the same octave, while a flute figure hints at the tune throughout. For the pianist, the repeated figure in one hand becomes a steady rocking motion under a long melody.

Intro · Orchestral introduction
About a minute of rocking figures sets the water-and-night mood before the melody enters. The accompaniment shape here is what you will keep reading throughout.
A · Duet melody
The long barcarolle tune, sung by two voices that weave around each other in the same range while the rocking continues underneath.

About Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann)

The Barcarolle, whose words begin Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour, is the best-known number in Offenbach's last opera, The Tales of Hoffmann. It opens the Giulietta act, set in Venice, and is sung as a duet by the courtesan Giulietta and Hoffmann's friend Nicklausse. A barcarolle is a gondolier's song, and its swaying six-eight meter imitates the rowing of a boat.

The tune was not new for the opera. Offenbach wrote it in 1864 as an elves' chorus called Komm zu uns in his German opera Die Rheinnixen, which did not stay in the repertory. He took it over for Hoffmann, and the tune found its lasting home there.

Offenbach died on 5 October 1880 before the opera was finished. Ernest Guiraud completed the scoring, and the work opened at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 10 February 1881. That first production left out the Venice act, which returned in later stagings such as the Opéra-Comique's 1911 production.

  • Offenbach first wrote the tune in 1864 as an elves' chorus in his opera Die Rheinnixen.
  • He died four months before The Tales of Hoffmann opened in Paris in 1881.
  • The duet is written for two women's voices, a soprano and a mezzo-soprano, winding around each other in the same octave.
  • The melody appears in the films Life Is Beautiful, Titanic, and Midnight in Paris.

Why the first passage is level 6

That passage is level 6 rather than 5 because it is in 6/8, not 4/4.

The right hand carries a long, mostly stepwise melody while the left hand rocks in a repeating pattern in six-eight. Read in two big beats rather than six small ones.

Questions about Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann)

How hard is Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann) to play?
Its passages grade from level 6 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece sits around early intermediate. The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 6.
Is there an easy part of Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann) for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 6, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–8 for the right hand alone, the level-6 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 6 because it is in 6/8, not 4/4.
What key and time signature is Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann) in?
The engraving on this page is in 6/8 time.
Who composed Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann)?
Jacques Offenbach, French (German-born) romantic (1819–1880). The Barcarolle, whose words begin Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour, is the best-known number in Offenbach's last opera, The Tales of Hoffmann.
Can I practice Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann) online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 9 graded passages from Barcarolle (The Tales of Hoffmann) in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What opera is the Barcarolle from?
It is from Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, where it opens the Venice act. The words begin Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour.
What does barcarolle mean?
A barcarolle is a boat song associated with Venetian gondoliers. Its rocking six-eight rhythm imitates the motion of rowing.
Did Offenbach write the Barcarolle for The Tales of Hoffmann?
Not originally. He wrote the melody in 1864 for his opera Die Rheinnixen and reused it in Hoffmann.
Is Offenbach's Barcarolle in the public domain?
Yes. Offenbach died in 1880, so his music is in the public domain, though modern arrangements and editions may be protected.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 9 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 6
bars 1–4 both hands · bars 1–8 both hands · bars 1–8 left hand · bars 1–8 right hand · bars 5–8 both hands · bars 9–16 both hands · bars 9–12 both hands · bars 9–16 right hand · bars 13–16 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

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