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Jacques Offenbach

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Jacques Offenbach was a French composer, cellist and impresario, born in Germany. He was born in 1819 in Cologne, the son of a synagogue cantor. At fourteen he entered the conservatoire in Paris, but he left it after a year and stayed in the city. From 1835 to 1855 he earned his living as a cellist and conductor, and became internationally known. His real ambition was comic music for the theatre.

Music and breakthrough

Because the Opéra-Comique would not perform him, in 1855 he rented a small theatre on the Champs-Élysées. There in three years he brought out more than twenty small pieces, many of which became popular. In 1858 followed his first full-length operetta, Orphée aux enfers, with the famous can-can. The work was a great success and is still the most often performed. In the 1860s followed La belle Hélène (1864), La Vie parisienne (1866), La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867) and La Périchole (1868). They were also performed in Vienna, London and the United States.

Influence

The pieces combine spicy humour about love intrigues with mild satire, often of the empire of Napoleon III, and infectious melodies. In all he wrote almost a hundred operettas. He influenced Franz von Suppé, Johann Strauss II and Arthur Sullivan. His last work, the opera The Tales of Hoffmann, remained unfinished when he died in 1880. It is now frequently performed in adapted versions.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the Galop infernal from Orphée aux enfers and notice the tempo: how the music gets faster and wilder, and how the recognisable can-can melody drives the orchestra on.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsOperetta and the waltz