Jacques Offenbach, born Jacob Offenbach ( June 20, Cologne, Paris, 1819 - October 5, 1880) was a French composer and cellist of German-Jewish origin. He ranks as one of the originators of the operetta (a German term that he himself never used). But he has also written an opera, which still keeps repertoire: Les contes d'Hoffmann. It was his swan song, which was still unfinished at his death.
Content[]
Life[Edit][]
Until 1848[Edit][]
Jakob Offenbach was the second oldest son of the Jewish kantor Isaac Judah Offenbach. His father had the family name change Eberst in Offenbach (he came fromOffenbach am Main). He first learned to play violin and later cello; with his sister Isabella (piano) and brother Julius (violin), he formed a trio that performed in lodging houses. In 1833 his father let him go to Paris with his brother Julius. How young he was, then he was admitted on the box violoncello at the Paris Conservatoire national supérieur de musique, but in 1834 he has (perhaps from lack of money) the study discontinued. After all kinds of jobs (with his brother, he performed as the duo Jacques and Jules) he became cellist with several of the boulevard theaters in Paris and eventually the Opéra-Comique . Via Friedrich von Flotow -with whom he composed pieces together and executed-he got access to the Parisian salons. He built a name as a virtuoso cellist and joined in the 1940s on with pianists as Anton Rubinstein and Franz Liszt in Paris and Cologne. In 1844 he converted to Catholicism and married Herminie d'Alcain (they would get four daughters). In London he has in 1844 along with Joseph Joachim and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy as piano trio has occurred. During the February revolution (1848) in France week he briefly forward to Germany.
After 1849[Edit][]
In 1849 he became Kapellmeister at the Théâtre français, where he wrote the music and performed in the plays. His vitriolic lyrics and music were not always equally well. The tide turned during the universal exhibition of 1855, when he (in imitation of the Folies-Nouvelles by Hervé opened under the name of a theatre the Bouffes Parisiens in the Champs-Élysées. After some wandering he ended up in the larger (and perhaps more important: better to heat!) Theatre Salle Choiseul with 900 seats. This was the beginning of a successful operetta career. Initially he had only permission for short a-akters with two or three (solo) roles. However, the restrictions were extended In 1858 , after which he wrote his first feature work: Orphée aux enfers. With its "musiquettes" parodied Offenbach-on hilarious and full of political allusions – the bombast of the Grand-Opera by Giacomo meyerbeer. He had great success with its theatre but had nevertheless, sometimes due to creditors dodging abroad. A three-akter ("Barkouf") not in the Opera Comiquealso resulted in more respect in those circles. On a written out by him in 1856 contest responded much young composers; the first prize went to Georges Bizet.
After 1860[Edit][]
In 1860 he became a British citizen to Frenchman and in 1861 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur. He resigned In 1862 at the "Bouffes"; He continued to compose, however, especially for that theater. In Parishe experienced the highlight of his success with La belle Hélène (1864), and his operettas were performed in London and Vienna . La vie parisienne (1866), La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867), La Périchole(1868) and Les Brigands (1869) are among the best known.
After 1870[Edit][]
The Franco-Prussian War (1870) marked a folder. Offenbach was very attached to his adopted country France. In the German press gold he as a traitor, while the French press in him an agent of Bismarck saw. He had to bring his family to safety in Spain. Back in Paris turned out are no longer the operettas. His specialty "of the kingship of the army make a farce and a joke", that was what had undermined Napoleon III , and thus in the public sentiment – Offenbach – had helped at the fall of his Government. That it may find themselves turned out, by the way, some years later, when he was harassed by the police precisely because he would have been a regular to the emperor. 1875 was the low point. Offenbach went bankrupt. In 1876 he made, for its large lose what offset, a very successful tour to the United States on the occasion of the world exhibition at the centenary of the United States: forty concerts and performances of two of his operettas. Successes that also in Paris still continue here.
From 1877 he was mainly working on his opera the tales of Hoffmann. The year 1880 he spent working on the score by in the Pavillion Henri IV in St Germain-en-Laye. In september of that year he had to because of deterioration of his health back to Paris. It was all rehearsed but on 5 October 1880 he died. Unfinished scores are-at the request of the family – completed by Léo Delibes (Belle Lurette and Ernest Guiraud (Les contes d'Hoffmann). He was buried at Montmartre.
Music and appreciation[Edit][]
His "operettas" seem hardly on the operetta as one who knows in Germany for example, Franz Lehár 's or Johann Strauss jr. One can these pieces (such as Karl Kraus did) "Offenbach iaden" call: this form is specific to Offenbach. Offenbach is always smooth, catchy music with an act that often use satire is based, full of allusions to morals, customs and people from the Second Empire under Napoleon III. Inimitable are its caricatures of soldiers and Germans.
This form of Operetta was only possible because the Napoleonic Government of the Second Empire this brooked. The Government which brooked the stoutmoedigste social satire at Offenbach, Baudelaire andFlaubert dragged before the Court of first instance. But in this period between the Paris exhibitions of 1855 and 1867 was the hall full of audience that was loyal to the Government anyway.
He worked in his most successful productions together with Meilhac and Halévy as librettist. Hortense Schneider as a young soprano was discovered in 1855 by Offenbach, and always had the lead role.
Still comes first the enormous sense of theater and for what hung in the air and the ease with which he made allusions to current events. Used style effects were usually not too subtle. Satire often arose by a totally different kind of music at texts to choose in terms of atmosphere, persiflage on well-known opera arias, roles for animals (Barkouf), put on music of gibberish (Ba-ta-clan). An example of absurd impropriety is the cancan in La belle Hélène he by the gods on the Olympus dance; the term "la vile séducteur" (the evil seducer) Gets an extremely lofty walsmelodie; the utterly banal text "l'homme à la pomme" forms the textual basis for a comprehensive opera-ensemble.
By his colleagues he was variable. It was found the French Theatre is very naughty and superficial. Wagner (which was ridiculed by Offenbach in "Le carnaval des revues") Offenbach knew the "warmth of a dunghill" far, even though he qualified that that later. Ultimately, it is above all the opera Les contes d'Hoffmann has kept that repertoire and even one of the most popular French operas is.
His most famous autonomous numbers are the cancan from the Orphée aux enfers and the Barcarolle from the tales of Hoffmann .
Theatre Works[Edit][]
Following list of 100 well-known compositions for theatre comes from Offenbach, Jacques lemma by Andrew Lamb, in ' The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7.There are differences in count possible because there are often several versions of a work-sometimes under different titles-existence. Also is not always clear whether a work composed by Offenbach, partly composed or only brought on stage.
[1]Grave Statue Montmartre===1847-1855[Edit]===
- L'alcôve (1847)-Opéra-comique in one Act, libretto by Philippe August Pittaud the Forges, a. de Leuven and E.G. Roche
- Blanche (unperformed)-Opéra-comique in one Act, libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges
- La Duchesse d'Albe (unperformed)-Opéra-comique in three acts, libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges
- Le trésor à Mathurin (1853)-Tableau villageois in one Act, libretto by Léon Battu (revised as Le mariage aux lanternes -Opérette in one Act, libretto by Michel Carré and Léon Battu, first performance in 1857)
- Pépito (1853)-Opéra-comique in one Act, libretto by Léon Battu and Jules Moinaux
- Luc et Lucette (1854)-Opéra-comique in one Act, libretto by Philippe August Pittaud the Forges and E.G. Roche
- Le décaméron, ou La grotte d'azur (1855)-Légende napolitaine in one Act, libretto by Joseph Méry
- Entrez, messieurs, known (1855) in one Act, libretto by Piéce d'occasion-Joseph Méry and j. Servières (Ludovic Halévy)
- Une nuit blanche (1855)-Opéra-comique in one Act, libretto by e. Plouvier
- Les deux aveugles (1855)-Buffoonery musicale in one Act, libretto by Jules Moinaux
- Le rêve d'une nuit d ' été (1855)-Saynète in one Act, libretto by Etienne Tréfeu
- Oyayaye, ou La reine des îles (1855)-Anthropophagie musicale in one Act, libretto by Jules Moineaux
- Le violoneux (1855)-Légende bretonne in one Act, libretto by Eugène Mestépès and Emile Chevalet
- Madame Papillon (1855)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by j. Servières (Ludovic Halévy)
- Paimpol et Périnette (1855)-in one Act, libretto by Saynète de Lussan (Philippe August Pittaud the Forges)
- Ba-ta-clan (1855)-Chinoiserie musicale in one Act, libretto by Ludovic Halévy
- Trafalgar – Sur un volcan (1855)-Comédie à ariettes in one Act, libretto by Joseph Méry
1856-1860[Edit][]
- Un postillon and gage (1856)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by e. Plouvier and j. Adenis
- Tromb-al-ca-zar, ou Les criminels Dramatique one-act Bouffonerie musicale-(1856), libretto by C.D. Dupeuty and e. Bourget
- La rose de Saint-Flour (1856)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by m. Carré
- Les dragées du baptême (1856)-Pièce d'occasion in one Act, libretto by C.D. Dupeuty and e. Bourget
- Le 66 (1856)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by Philippe August Pittaud the Forges and m. Laurencin
- Le financier et le savetier Opérette-bouffe (1856)-in one Act, libretto by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux and e. About
- La bonne d'enfant Opérette-bouffe (1856)-in one Act, libretto by Eugène Bercioux
- Les trois baisers du diable (1857)-Opérette fantastique in one Act, libretto by e. Mestépès
- Croquefer, ou Le dernier des paladins (1857)-Opéra-bouffe in one Act, libretto by Louis-Adolphe Jaime and Etienne Tréfeu
- Dragonette (1857)-Opéra-bouffe in one Act, libretto by e. Mestépès and Louis-Adolphe Jaime
- Vent du soir, ou L'horrible festin (1857)-Opérette-bouffe in one Act, libretto by Philippe Gille
- Une demoiselle and loterie (1857)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by Louis-Adolphe Jaime and Hector-Jonathan Crémieux
- Les deux pêcheurs, ou Le lever du soleil (1857)-Opérette-bouffe in one Act, libretto by C.D. Dupeuty and e. Bourget
- Known de la Halle (1858)-Opérette-bouffe in one Act, libretto by Arms Lapointe
- La chatte metamorphosée en femme (1858)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by Eugène Scribe and Baron Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier de Mélésville (1787 — 1865)
- Orphée aux enfers (1858)-Opéra bouffon-in four acts, libretto by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy
- Le mari à la porte (1859)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by A.Ch. Delacour (A.C. Lartigue) and Léon Morand
- Les vivandières de la grande-armée (1859)-Opérette-bouffe in one Act, libretto by Philippe Louis-Adolphe Jaime and August Pittaud the Forges
- Geneviève de Brabant (1859)-Opéra bouffon in two acts, libretto by Louis--Adolphe Jaime and Etienne Tréfeu (revised by Etienne Tréfeu and Hector Crémieux)
- Le carnaval des revues (1860)-Revue in one Act, libretto by e. Grangé, Philippe Gille and Ludovic Halévy
- Daphnis et Chloé (1860)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by n. Clairville (N.F. Nicolaie) and Jules Cordier (E.T. de Vaulabelle)
- Barkouf (1860)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Eugène Scribe and h. Boisseaux to Abbé Blanchet (revised as Boule de neige, 1871, libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter and Etienne Tréfeu)
1861-1865[Edit][]
- La chanson de Fortunio (1861)-Opéra-comique in one Act, libretto by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy
- Le pont des soupirs (1861)-Opéra-bouffon in two acts, libretto by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux ven Ludovic Halévy
- M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le ... (1861)-Opéra-bouffe in one Act, libretto by m. de Saint Rémy, e. L'Epine, Hector-Jonathan Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy
- Apothicaire et perruquier (1861)-Opérette-bouffe in one Act, libretto by e. Frébault
- Le roman comique (1861)-Opéra bouffon-in three acts, libretto by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy
- M et Mme Denis (1862)-Opéra-comique in one Act, libretto by Laurencin (Chapelle) and Michel Delaporte
- Le voyage de MM. Dunanan père et fils (1862)-Opéra bouffon-in three acts, libretto by p. Siraudin and Jules Moinaux
- Les bavards (1862)-Opéra-bouffe in two acts, libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter to Cervantes
- Jacqueline (1862)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by p. d'Arcy (Hector-Jonathan Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy)
- La baguette (Fédia) (not completed)-Opéra-comique in two acts, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
- Il signor Fagotto (1863)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter and Etienne Tréfeu
- Fritzchen Lischen et (1863)-Conversation alsacienne in one Act, libretto by p. Dubois (p. Boisselot)
- Les fées du Rhin (1863)-Romantic opera in four acts, libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter (the song of the Ghost is by Ernest Guiraud in Tales of Hoffmann Barcarolle if the processed after the death of Offenbach)
- L'amour singer (1864)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter and L'Epine
- Les géorgiennes (1864)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Jules Moinaux
- Le fifre enchanté, ou Le soldat magicien (1864)-Opéra-comique in one Act, libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter and Etienne Tréfeu
- Jeanne qui pleure et Jean qui rit (1864)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne 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-Louis-Etienne Nuitter and Etienne Tréfeu
- Les refrains des bouffes (1865)-fantasy musicale in one Act, the libretto has been lost
- Les bergers (1865)-Opéra-comique in three acts, libretto by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux and Philippe Gille
1866-1870[Edit][]
- Barbe-bleue (1866)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
- La Vie Parisienne (1866)-Opéra-bouffe in five acts, libretto by Henri Meilhac and or four Ludovic Halévy
- La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein -bouffein (1867)-Opéra in three acts, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy
- La permission de dix heures (1867)-Opéra-comique in one Act, libretto by Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier called: Pierre Carmouche Mélesville and
- Robinson Crusoé (1867)-Opéra-comique in three acts, libretto by Eugène Cormon and Hector-Jonathan Crémieux
- La leçon de chant électromagnétique (1867)-Buffoonery-musicale in one Act, libretto by Ernest Bourget
- Le château à Toto (1868)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
- L ' île de Tulipatan (1868)-Opéra-bouffe in one Act, libretto by Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru Charles
- La Périchole (1868)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
- Vert-Vert (1869)-Opéra-comique in three acts, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter
- La diva (1869)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
- La princesse de Trébizonde (1869)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter and Etienne Tréfeu
- Les brigands (1869)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
- La romance de la rose (1869)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by Etienne Tréfeu, j.-Louis-Etienne Nuitter Prével and Charles
1871-1875[Edit][]
- Le roi Carotte (1872)-Opéra-bouffe-enchanting performance in four acts, libretto by Victorien Sardou to e.t.a. Hoffmann
- Fantasio (1872)-Opéra-comique in three acts, libretto by Paul de Musset to a. de Musset
- Le corsaire noir -Opéra-comique in three acts, libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter, Etienne Tréfeu, and Offenbach (execution as Der schwarze Corsar, 1872)
- Fleurette -Opéra-comique in one Act, libretto by Philippe August Pittaud the Forges and m. Laurencin (performed as Fleurette, oder trompeter und Näherin, 1872)
- Les poachers (1873)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru Charles
- Pomme d'Api (1873)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by Ludovic Halévy and w. Busnach
- La jolie parfumeuse (1873)-Opéra-comique in three acts, libretto by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux and Ernest Blum
- Bagatelle (1874)-Opéra-comique in one Act, libretto by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux and Ernest Blum
- Madame l'archiduc (1874)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy Millaud, a.
- Whittington (1874)-Opéra-bouffe-enchanting performance in three acts, libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter and Etienne Tréfeu (also performed as Le chat du diable, 1893)
- Les hanne tons (1875)-Revue in three acts, libretto by Millaud and a. Grangé
- The Circuit de La Sarthe a des écus (1875)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
- Le voyage dans la lune (1875)-Opéra-enchanting performance in four acts, libretto by Eugène Leterrier and Albert Vanloo, A Mortar
- La créole (1875)-Opéra-comique in three acts, libretto by Henri Meilhac and A very good
- Tarte à la cream (1875)-false in one Act, libretto by a. Millaud
- Pierrette et Jacquot (1876)-Opérette in one Act, libretto by j. Noriac and Philippe Gille
1876-1881[Edit][]
- La boîte au lait (1876)-Opéra-bouffe in four acts, libretto by Grangé and j. Noriac
- Le docteur Ox (1877)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by a. mortar and Philippe Gille, to Jules Verne
- La foire Saint-Laurent (1877)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux, and a. de Saint-Albin
- Maître Péronilla (1878)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter, p. Ferrier and Offenbach
- Madame Favart (1878)-Opéra-comique in three acts, libretto by Alfred Duru and Henri Charles Chivot
- La marocaine (1879)-Opéra-bouffe in three acts, libretto by Ferrier and Ludovic Halévy
- La fille du tambour-major (1879)-Opéra-comique, libretto by Alfred Duru and Henri Charles Chivot
- Belle Lurette (1880)-Opéra-comique in three acts, libretto by Ernest Blum, e. Blau and r. Toché
- Les contes d'Hoffmann (1880, unfinished)-Opéra in three acts, libretto by Jules Barbier
- Mam'zelle Moucheron Opérette-bouffe (1881)-in one Act, libretto by Eugène Leterrier and Albert Vanloo
Packages[Edit][]
- Gaîté Parisienne (1938)-a ballet-pastiche of Offenbach-melodies of Manuel Rosenthal.