Classical Music / Composers Datebook: June 20
Brief biography of Jacques Offenbach – his life, operettas and other works. Hailed as 'The Mozart of Champs-Elysees' and 'Father of French Operetta', he is famous for his masterpiece and only opera 'The Tales of Hoffman' completed by Giraud.
Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), French composer, cellist and impressario, of German origin, was one of the two outstanding composers in popular music of the 19th-century, the other one was Johann Strauss Junior. He is best known for his only opera Les contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffman) with its fantasy and appealing melody. Offenbach had a rare gift for catchy tunes particularly in dance rhythms. He had been dubbed as 'Father of French Operetta' and 'The Mozart of Champs-Élysees.'
Earlier Years
Jacques Offenbach was born on June 20, 1819, in Cologne, Kingdom of Prussia, the son of a synagogue cantor, Offenbach showed early musical talent. At the age of 14, he was accepted as a student at the Paris Conservatoire; He found academic study unfulfilling and left after a year, but remained in Paris. From 1835 to 1855 he earned his living as a cellist, achieving international fame, and as a conductor. His ambition, however, was to compose comic pieces for the musical theatre. Finding the management of Paris's Opéra-Comique company uninterested in staging his works, in 1855 he leased a small theatre in the Champs-Élysées. There, during the next three years, he presented a series of more than two dozen of his own small-scale pieces, many of which became popular.
Jacques Hoffmann's The Tales of Hoffmann. Youtube, uploaded by Altea Media / I Love TV. Accessed June 20, 2024. Opera in 3 acts, with prologue and epilogue libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on three short stories by E.T.A. Hoffman premiered in Paris, Opéra Comique, February 10, 1881. Director: Jean-Louis Grinda. Hoffmann: Juan Diego Florez. Chorus of the Monte-Carlo Opera Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra Musical direction: Jacques Lacombe.
The Composer
Offenbach's music was known for his cheerful and exuberant music. He career began with some years of experience as a solo and orchestral cellist, and a year study at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1850 he became a theatre conductor and five years later, he got his own stage works performed. He started working on Tales of Hoffmann in the 1870s leaving it unfinished when he died of a heart attack in Paris. The score was completed by Ernest Guiraud in 1881, with a posthumous premiere presentation.
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 him the operetta became an established International genre evolving into the 20th-century, heavily influencing Arthur Sullivan and Franz Lehar, among others.
He 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 died in Paris, October 5, 1880.
Offenbach's Legacy
Jacques Offenbach is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Franz von Suppé, Johann Strauss II and Arthur Sullivan. His best-known works were continually revived during the 20th century, and many of his operettas continue to be staged in the 21st. The Tales of Hoffmann remains part of the standard opera repertory.
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.
Photo credit:
Jacques Offenbach by Nadar. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain.
Resources:
(c) June 2009. Updated June 20, 2024. Tel Asiado. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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