Jacques Offenbach, Champs-Elysees
French Composer Hailed as the "Father of French Operetta"
Brief biography of Jacques Offenbach - his life, operettas and works. Famous for his masterpiece and only opera, "The Tales of Hoffman" (Les Contes d'Hoffmann).
Jacques Offenbach, (1819-1880), German-born French composer, was one of the two outstanding composers of 19th century's popular music, the other one was Johann Strauss Junior. Offenbach, famous for his only opera Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann), had a rare gift for catchy tunes particularly in dance rhythms. He was dubbed as "Father of French Operetta" and "the Mozart of Champs-Élysees."
Early Life of Jacques Offenbach
Son of a Jewish cantor, Jacques Offenbach was born on the 20th of June, as Jakob Eberst, in Cologne, Germany. He moved to Paris at the age of 14 and entered the conservatoire.
Offenbach's music was known for his cheerful and exuberant music. His music career began with some years of experience as a solo and orchestral cellist, and a year study at the Paris Conservatoire.
Offenbach's Later Life
In 1850, aged 49, he became a theatre conductor, then got his own stage works performed. He started working on Tales of Hoffmann in the 1870s but left it unfinished when he died of a heart attack in Paris. He was 61. The music score was completed by Ernest Guiraud a year after his death, with a posthumous premiere presentation.
The Composer of Operettas or "Little Operas"
In spite the popularity of Tales of Hoffmann, Offenbach's most significant achievements and international success lie in the operettas (“little operas”) he wrote in the 1860s for Bouffes Parisiens (Parisian Comedy), a company he owned which staged shows in a small theatre he rented in fashionable Champs-Elysees.
Through Offenbach, the operetta became an established international genre evolving into the 20th-century, heavily influencing English composer Arthur Sullivan and Franz Lehar of the famous operetta The Merry Widow, among others.
Offenbach created more than hundreds of scores for the theatre, some of the noteworthy ones are Orphee aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld), best-known for its famous overture and 'can-can', La Belle Helene (Beautiful Helen), Barbe-Bleue (Bluebeard) and La Vie Parisienne (Parisian Life), La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein (Grand Duchess of Gerolstein) and Le Perichole.
Offenbach's Operettas
- Le marriage aux lanterns 1853
- Les Deux aveugles (The Two Blind Men) 1855
- Orpheé aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld) 1858 (This was later revised)
- La Belle Hélene 1864
- Barbe-Blue (Bluebeard) 1866
- La Vie Parisienne 1866
- La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein) 1867
- La Périchole 1868
- Madame Favart (1878)
Offenbach's Opera
Les Contes d'Hoffman (The Tales of Hoffmann), orchestration was completed posthumously by Ernest Guiraud 1880. This opera is based on the strange tales of E.T.A. Hoffmann, a German writer. One of Offenbach's most popular and enchanting melodies "Barcarolle" is included.
Sources:
The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition, edited by Stanley Sadie (2000)
The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham, OUP (2002)
