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Offenbach, Jacques (Jacob)
Offenbach, Jacques [Jacob] (b Deutz, nr. Cologne, 1819; d Paris, 1880). Ger.-Fr. composer, conductor, and cellist. Orig. surname Eberst, Wiener, or Levy: took name Offenbach because family came from Offenbach-am-Main. Son of cantor of Cologne synagogue. Studied Paris Cons. 1833–7, also playing vc. in Opéra-Comique orch. Cond. at Théâtre Français, 1849–55. From 1853 began to compose operettas, writing no fewer than 90 in the next quarter-cent. Man. of Théâtre Comte, renaming it Bouffes-Parisiens. The best of his lighter works, La Belle Hélène, Orphée aux Enfers, etc., symbolize the Fr. 2nd Empire, but his fame rests equally securely on his sole grand opera Les contes d'Hoffmann, on which he worked for many years. It was prod. after his death in a version rev. and largely orchestrated by Guiraud. Among his chief works are:OPERAS: Die Rheinnixen (Vienna 1864); Les contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) (1877–80).BALLET-PANTOMIME: Le Papillon (1860).OPERETTAS: Barbe-bleue (1866); La Belle Hélène (1864); Les Bergers de Watteau (1865); Daphnis et Chloé (1860); Les Deux Aveugles (1855); Dragonette (1857); La Fille du tambour-major (1879); Genéviève de Brabant (1859, rev. 1875); La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867); Madame Favart (1878); Le Mariage aux lanternes (1857); Monsieur Choufleuri (1861); Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld) (1858, rev. 1874); La Périchole (1868, rev. 1874); Princesse de Trébizonde (1869); Robinson Crusoé (1867); La Vie parisienne (1866, rev. 1873; see also Gaîté parisienne); Pomme d'api (1873); Whittington and his Cat (1874).
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MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Offenbach, Jacques (Jacob)." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Offenbach, Jacques (Jacob)." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-OffenbachJacquesJacob.html MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Offenbach, Jacques (Jacob)." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-OffenbachJacquesJacob.html |
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Jacques Levy Offenbach
Jacques Levy Offenbach , 1819–80, French composer, b. Cologne. The son of a cantor, he went to Paris to study at the conservatory and in 1849 became a conductor at the Théâtre Français. The most successful composer of French operettas, he wrote more than 100 of them, the most successful of which perhaps was Orphée aux enfers (1858). Others include La Belle Hélène (1864), La Vie parisienne (1866), Barbe-bleue (1866), La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867), and La Périchole (1868). Witty, fresh, gay, and cleverly orchestrated, they were immensely popular during the Second Empire, which they often satirized. Offenbach's one serious opera, Les Contes d'Hoffmann ( Tales of Hoffmann, 1881), after E. T. A. Hoffmann, was his masterpiece. Unfinished at his death, the opera was produced posthumously, and in 1951 it was made into a motion picture combining opera and ballet.
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"Jacques Levy Offenbach." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Jacques Levy Offenbach." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-OffenbacJL.html "Jacques Levy Offenbach." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-OffenbacJL.html |
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Offenbach, Jacques
Offenbach, Jacques (1819–80), composer. Although born in Cologne, he achieved his fame in Paris where he became France's finest and best‐known composer of opéra bouffe. In 1867 his The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein was presented in New York and initiated the American rage for the genre. Among his other works popular here were La Belle Hélène (1868), Orpheus in the Underworld (1868), Barbe Bleue (1868), La Perichole (1869), La Vie Parisienne (1869), and The Princess of Trebizonde (1871). This rash of premieres came at the same time as the success of The Black Crook, Humpty Dumpty, and the semimusical Fritz, Our Cousin German and thus helped open American stages to musical theatre.
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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Offenbach, Jacques." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Offenbach, Jacques." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-OffenbachJacques.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Offenbach, Jacques." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-OffenbachJacques.html |
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Offenbach, Jacques Levy
Offenbach, Jacques Levy (1819–80) French composer. His reputation was founded on the brilliance of his numerous operettas, notably Orpheus in the Underworld (1858). Offenbach also wrote one opera Tales of Hoffmann (1881), based on the stories of E. T. A. Hoffmann.
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Cite this article
"Offenbach, Jacques Levy." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Offenbach, Jacques Levy." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-OffenbachJacquesLevy.html "Offenbach, Jacques Levy." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-OffenbachJacquesLevy.html |
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