WASHINGTON AP Placido Domingo wants to film a favorite century-old French opera ``The Tales of Hoffmann based on the composer's original music which has been newly brought to light by an American musical sleuth. ``I don't know if I'll sing 'Hoffmann' any more'' said Domingo who has played the role nearly 100 times. He said his next job probably would be to conduct the work. He is musical director of the Washington Opera as well as its star and recently took on the additional job of artistic director at the Los Angeles Opera. But he doesn't want to abandon the Hoffmann role one of his favorites. ``Maybe I'll do it'' he said ``because there's a possibility a strong possibility of doing it like I did with 'Tosca' on the original locations.'' Singing in a film can be less wearing than a live performance because it's done in bits and pieces. Domingo starred in a film of the opera ``Tosca'' by Giacomo Puccini against the background of the tourist sites in Rome where the story takes place. ``The Tales of Hoffmann'' has scenes in German cities and climaxes with a wild party in a palazzo on a canal in Venice. Five years ago Michael Kaye of Chevy Chase Maryland discovered 144 measures from the climactic fourth act of ``Hoffman'' in the handwriting of composer Jacques Offenbach. A French collection owns the manuscript. ``It's got Offenbach's initials and the date just 10 days before he died'' Kaye said. Last summer Kaye finally got permission to use the music after 12 years spent cobbling together improved versions from hundreds of pages of the composer's notes culled from European archives. The new music will get its world premiere on Jan. 24 at the Hamburg State Opera in Germany. Offenbach had done over 100 frothy musicals that suited the taste of Paris in the mid-1800s. But his last most ambitious work ``The Tales of Hoffmann'' has become one of the world's most popular operas. Offenbach died however while the first production was being rehearsed and numerous changes were made over the years in both the musical score and the text. ``The Tales of Hoffmann'' is based on three fantastic tales by E.T.A. Hoffmann an influential German novelist of the early 1800s. In the opera the climactic scene of the standard version has Hoffmann's love Giulietta floating off in a gondola with a rival. In recent years Kaye has helped restore the text which critics complained made no sense at many points. The new text was used in a production by the New York City Opera last spring: Hoffmann blinded by magic tries to stab Giulietta but kills his rival instead. The gondolas belong to guests at a party in her apartment. But at that point the original music for the scene was still not available. Among the many changes in the music over the years adapters had given the melody of the famous Barcarolle heard in the popular Italian film ``Life Is Beautiful' to the cellos. Kaye has put back the oboe clarinet and piccolo parts that Offenbach wrote perhaps to recall light glistening on the canals. The newly available music includes the composer's own instrumentation the singers' parts and a piano version. Offenbach wrote the piano version first filling in the parts for the voices and instruments later. Kaye 50 spent 10 years writing ``The Unknown Puccini'' which compiles songs that Puccini composer of ``Tosca'' ``La Boheme'' and ``Madame Butterfly'' wrote in addition to his stage music. His next project: preparing the American premiere of Ottarino Respighi's opera ``Sleeping Beauty.'' APW19981201.0062.txt.body.html APW19981201.0166.txt.body.html