Jacques Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach (20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880), composer and cellist of the Romantic era, was one of the originators of the operetta form. He was one of the most influential composers of popular music in Europe in the 19th century, and many of his works remain in the repertory. While associated with light music, he also wrote one fully operatic masterpiece, Les contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann).

Biography

Offenbach was born in Cologne, Germany and was the son of Isaac Juda Eberst a cantor, bookbinder, music teacher and composer. His father was living at a time when the Napoleonic edict required that Jews had to take inheritable family names. An itinerant violinist, he adopted the name Offenbach since he was already known to his audiences as a native of Offenbach am Main called "der Offenbacher". His son received the name "Jakob Offenbach" at birth, though he changed it to Jacques when he settled in France.

Offenbach moved to Paris in 1833 to study the cello. He found employment playing cello in the orchestra of the Opéra Comique, and wrote many pieces for the instrument. In 1844, he converted to Catholicism and married Herminie de Alcain. He returned to Germany with his wife and daughter in 1848 to avoid revolutionary violence in France, but returned a year later to become the musician most closely associated with the reign of Louis Napoleon (III). In 1850 he became conductor of the Théâtre Français, but in 1855 rented his own theatre, the Bouffes Parisiens on the Rue de Monsigny, and began a successful career devoted largely to operetta and opéras comiques until his death.

His most popular works are still performed regularly today. His best-known operettas in the English-speaking world are Orpheus in the Underworld, La vie parisienne, La belle Hélène, La Périchole, The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein. Offenbach's final opera, The Tales of Hoffmann, was more serious than his other works, perhaps reflecting the eternal wish of the clown to be taken seriously. It was still unfinished at his death in 1880, but was completed by his friend Ernest Guiraud and premiered in 1881.

Gaîté Parisienne is an often heard ballet score which is a pastiche of Offenbach melodies arranged and garishly orchestrated by Manuel Rosenthal in 1938. Another posthumous work, Myriame et Daphné, with a libretto by Philippe Gille, debuted in 1907.

Offenbach is buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris, France.

List of opera

1850s Opera

Pépito (1853) - Opéra-comique in one act, Libretto by Léon Battu and Jules Moinaux
Ba-ta-clan (1855) - Chinoiserie musicale in one act, Libretto by Henri Meilhac
Trafalgar – Sur un volcan (1855) - Comédie à ariettes en un acte, Text by Joseph Méry
Le violoneux (The Magic Violin) (1855) - Breton legend in one act, Libretto by Eugène Mestépès and Emile Chevalet
Les deux aveugles (The Two Blindmen) (1855) - Bouffonnerie musicale in one act, Libretto by Jules Moinaux
Oyayaye, ou La reine des îles (1855) - Opéra-bouffe in one act, Libretto by Jules Moineaux
Le 66 (No. 66 or The Two Savoyards) (1856) - Opérette in one act, Libretto by Philippe August Pittaud de Forges and M. Laurencin
Le financier et le savetier (The Shoemaker and the Millionaire) (1856) - Opérette-bouffe in one act , Libretto by Henri Meilhac
Croquefer, ou Le dernier des paladins (Munchiron or The Last of the Paladins ) (1857) - Opéra-bouffe in one act, Libretto by Adolphe Jaime and Etienne Tréfeu
Vent du soir, ou L’horrible festin (Horrible Feast) (1857) - Opérette-bouffe in one act, Libretto by Philippe Gille
Le mariage aux lanternes (1857) - Opérette in one act, Libretto by Michel Carré and Léon Battu
Mesdames de la Halle (The Ladies of the Market) (1858) - Opérette-bouffe in one act, Libretto by Armand Lapointe
Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld) (1858) - Opéra-bouffon in two acts, Libretto by Hector Crémieux (with Ludovic Halévy)
Un mari à la porte (A Husband at the Door) (1859) - Opérette in one act, Libretto by A. Ch. Delacour and Léon Morand
Geneviève de Brabant (1859) - Opéra-bouffon in two acts, Libretto by Louis-Adolphe Jaime and Etiene Tréfeu

1860s Opera

Daphnis et Chloé (1860) - Opérette in one act, Libretto by N. Clairville and Jules Cordier
Barkouf (1861) - opéra-comique
Le pont des soupirs (The Bridge of Sighs) (1861) - Opéra-bouffon in two acts, Libretto by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy
M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le . . . (Monsieur Choufleuri restera chez lui ) (1861) - Opéra-bouffe in one act, Libretto by M. de Saint Rémy, E. L’Epine, Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy
La chanson de Fortunio (The Song of Fortunio) (1861) - Opéra-comique in one act, Libretto by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy
M et Mme Denis (Monsieur und Madame Denis) (1862) - Opéra-comique in one act, Libretto by Laurencin et Michel Delaporte
Les bavards (The Chatterbox) )(1862) - Opéra-bouffe in two acts, Libretto by Charles Nuitter;
Lischen et Fritzchen (1863) - Alsatian Singspiel in one act, Libretto by Paul Boisselot and Poly Henrion
Les fées du Rhin (The Rhine Nixies) (1863) - Romantic opera in four acts, Libretto by Nuitter and Jacques Offenbach
Il signor Fagotto (1864) - Opérette in one act, Libretto by Charles Nuitter and Etienne Tréfeu
Le soldat magicien (The Regiment Magician) (1864) - Opéra-comique in one act, Libretto by Charles Nuitter and Etienne Tréfeu
Les géorgiennes (The Women of Georgia) (1864) - Opéra-bouffe in three acts, Libretto by Jules Moinaux
Jeanne qui pleure et Jean qui rit ( Joan who Cries, and John who Laughs) (1864) - Opérette in one act, Libretto by Charles Nuitter and Etienne Tréfeu
La belle Hélène (1864) - Opéra-bouffe in three acts, Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
Coscoletto, ou Le lazzarone (1865) - Opéra-comique in two acts, Libretto by Charles Nuitter and Etienne Tréfeu
Barbe-bleue (Bluebeard) (1866) - Opéra-bouffe in three acts, Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
La vie parisienne (1866) - Opéra-bouffe in five or four acts, Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
Robinson Crusoé (1867) - Opéra-comique, Libretto by Eugène Cormon and Hector-Jonathan Crémieux
La permission de dix heures (The 10 o’clock Leave-Pass) (1867) - Opéra-comique in one act, Libretto by Mélesville and Pierre Carmouche
La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (The Grand Duchess of Gérolstein) (1867) - Opéra-bouffe in three acts, Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy
La leçon de chant électromagnétique (The Electromagnetic Singing Lesson) (1867) - Bouffonnerie-musicale in one act, Libretto by Ernest Bourget
La Périchole (1868) - Opéra-bouffe in three acts, Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
L'ile de Tulipatan ('Die glückliche Insel' - German adaptation) (1868) - Opéra-bouffe in one act, Libretto by Henri Ch. Chivot and Alfred Duru
Die klassische Witwe (The Classical Widow) (1969) - Play in one act, Libretto by Max Christian Feiler
Les brigands (The Bandits) (1869) - Opéra-bouffe in three acts , Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
Eine Frau von heute (1969) - Play in one act, Text by Max Christian Feiler, Bernhard Thieme and Bert Grund
La princesse de Trébizonde (1869) - Opéra-bouffe in three acts, Libretto by Charles Nuitter and Etienne Tréfeu
Vert-Vert (1869) - Opéra-comique in three acts, Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Charles Nuitter

1870 ~ 1880 Opera

Fantasio (1872) - Opéra-comique in three acts , Libretto by Paul de Musset and Charles Nuitter
Madame Favart (1878) - Opéra-comique in three acts , Libretto by Alfred Duru and Henri Charles Chivot.
La fille du tambour-major (1879) - Opéra-comique, Libretto by Alfred Duru and Henri Charles Chivot
Les contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) (1880) – Unfinished opera

Works

Offenbach wrote 97 complete works for the stage (of which 94 were performed). They are as follows (complete list):

L'alcôve
Blanche
La Duchesse d'Albe
Le trésor à Mathurin (revised as Le mariage aux lanternes)
Pépito
Luc et Lucette
Le décaméron, ou La grotte d'azur
Entrez, messieurs, mesdames
Un nuit blanche
Le rêve d'une nuit d'été
Madame Papillon
Paimpol et Périnette
Un postillon en gage
Tromb-al-ca-zar, ou Les criminels dramatiques
La rose de Saint-Flour
Les dragées du baptême
La bonne d'enfant(s)
Les trois baisers du diable
Dragonette
Une demoiselle en loterie
Les deux pêcheurs, ou Le lever du soleil
La chatte metamorphosée en femme
Le mari à la porte
Les vivandières de la grande-armée
Le carnaval des revues
Barkouf (revised as Boule de neige)
Le chanson de Fortunio
Apothicaire et perruquier
Le roman comique
Le voyage de MM. Dunanan père et fils
Jacqueline
La baguette (Fédia)
Fleurette (also performed as Fleurette, oder Trompeter und Näherin)
L'amour chanteur
Le fifre enchanté, ou Le soldat magicien
Les refrains des bouffes
Les bergers
Le château à Toto
La diva
La romance de la rose
[Mam'zelle] Moucheron
Le roi Carotte
Le corsaire noir (also performed as Der schwarze Corsar)
Les braconniers
Pomme d'api
La jolie parfumeuse
Bagatelle
Madame l'archiduc
Whittington (also performed as Le chat du diable)
Le hannetons
La boulangère a des écus
Le voyage dans la lune
La créole
Tarte à la crême
Pierrette et Jacquot
La boîte au lait
Le docteur Ox
La foire Saint-Laurent
Maître Péronilla
La marocaine
Belle Lurette

References

Faris, Alexander: Jacques Offenbach. London: Faber & Faber, 1980. ISBN 0-571-11147-5
Offenbach, Jacques: "The Story of a Waltz" in The Gaiety, Spring 2006, pp 28-33. Editor: Roderick Murray.
Ganzl, Kurt. The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre (3 Volumes). New York: Schirmer Books, 2001.
Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983.
Piat, Jean-Bernard. Guide du mélomane averti, Le Livre de Poche 8026. Paris 1992

See also:

Alexander Faris, in: Les contes d'Hoffmann. EMI Records.

External links

Musical sample

Can-Can (Orpheus in the Underworld). Performed on the accordion by R. Liraz