Jacques Offenbach was born Jacques Oberst in Cologne, Germany, on June
20, 1819; his father was a cantor in one of the city synagogues. After
attending the Paris Conservatory, Offenbach played the cello in the
orchestra of the Opéra-Comique. Then, in 1849 he became conductor at the
Théâtre Français. In 1850 he achieved his initial success as a composer
with the song, “_Chanson de Fortunio_” interpolated into a production of
the Alfred de Musset drama, _Chandelier_. Three years later his first
operetta, _Pepito_, was produced at the Théâtre des Variétés. Between
1855 and 1866 he directed his own theater where operettas were given,
Les Bouffes Parisiens, which opened on July 5, 1855 with a performance
of one of his own works, _Les Deux aveugles_. For his theater Offenbach
wrote many operettas including his masterwork in that genre, _Orpheus in
the Underworld_, in 1858. After closing down the Bouffes Parisiens,
Offenbach went to Germany and Austria where he had produced several more
of his operettas. But in 1864 he was back in Paris. The première of _La
Belle Hélène_ at the Variétés that year enjoyed a spectacular success.
Among his later operettas were _La Vie parisienne_ (1866), _La Grande
Duchesse de Gérolstein_ (1867), and _La Périchole_ (1868). In 1877 he
toured the United States, an account of which was issued in America in
1957 under the title of _Orpheus in America_. Towards the end of his
life Offenbach devoted himself to the writing of his one and only grand
opera, _The Tales of Hoffmann_ (_Les Contes d’Hoffmann_). He did not
live to see it performed. He died in Paris on October 5, 1880, about
half a year before the première of his opera at the Opéra-Comique on
February 10, 1881.
Offenbach was the genius of the opéra-bouffe, or French operetta. His
music never lacked spontaneity or gaiety, sparkle or engaging lyricism.
His writing had the warmth of laughter, the sting of satire, and the
caress of sincere and heartfelt emotion. His lovable melodies woo and
win the listener. The lightness of his touch and the freshness of his
humor give voice to the joy of good living. Like his celebrated Viennese
contemporary, Johann Strauss II, Offenbach is a giant figure in
semi-classical music. To the lighter musical repertory he brings the
invention and imagination of a master.
The _Apache Dance_ is the dashing music that invariably accompanies a
performance of French Apache dances, though there are few that know
Offenbach wrote it. Actually, the _Apache Dance_ is an adaptation of the
main melody of a waltz (“_Valse des Papillons_”) from Offenbach’s comic
opera, _Le Roi Carotte_ (1872).
_La Belle Hélène_ (_Fair Helen_), first performed in Paris on December
17, 1864, draws material for laughter and satire from mythology. Henri
Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy prepared the text which is based on the love
of Paris and Helen that led to the Trojan war. But this story is told
with tongue-in-cheek frivolity, and the life of the Greeks is gaily
parodied. One of the most familiar musical excerpts from _La Belle
Hélène_ is whirling Can-Can music—the Can-Can being the voluptuous
French dance which first became popular in Paris in 1830 and which
contributed to the quadrille high kicks, skirt-lifting and other
suggestive and at times vulgar movements. (Offenbach also wrote
brilliant Can-Can music for _Orpheus in the Underworld_, _Barbe-Bleue_,
and _La Vie parisienne_.) Other delightful episodes from this operetta
are Helen’s invocation with chorus, “_Amours divins_,” and her highly
lyrical airs, “_On me nomme Hélène_,” “_Un mari Sage_,” and “_La vrai!
je ne suis pas coupable_.”
The Galop is almost as much a specialty with Offenbach as the Can-Can.
This is a spirited, highly rhythmic dance of German origin introduced in
Paris in 1829. Two of Offenbach’s best known Galops appear respectively
in _La Grande Duchess de Gérolstein_ (1867) and _Geneviève de Brabant_
(1859).
It is perhaps not generally known that the famous “Marine’s Hymn”
familiar to all Americans as “From the Halls of Montezuma” also comes
out of _Geneviève de Brabant_. The Hymn was copyrighted by the Marine
Corps in 1919. It is known that the lyric was written in 1847 by an
unidentified Marine. The melody was taken from one of the airs in
Offenbach’s operetta, _Geneviève de Brabant_.
_Orpheus in the Underworld_ (_Orphée aux enfers_) is Offenbach’s
masterwork, first produced in Paris on October 21, 1858. This delightful
comic opera, with book by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy, is a
satire on the Olympian gods in general, and specifically on the legend
of Orpheus and Eurydice. _Orpheus in the Underworld_ was not at first
successful since audiences did not seem to find much mirth in a satire
on Olympian gods. But when a powerful French critic, Jules Janin,
violently attacked it as a “profanation of holy and glorious antiquity,”
the curiosity of Parisians was aroused, and the crowds began swarming
into the theater. Suddenly _Orpheus in the Underworld_ became a vogue;
it was the thing to see and discuss; its music (particularly the
waltzes, galops, and quadrilles) were everywhere played. The operetta
had a run of 227 performances.
The Overture is a perennial favorite of salon and pop orchestras
throughout the world. It opens briskly, then progresses to the first
subject, a light and gay tune for strings. The heart of the overture is
the second main melody, a sentimental song first heard in solo violin,
and later repeated by full orchestra.
The Can-Can music in _Orpheus in the Underworld_ is also famous. Much of
its effect is due to the fact that Offenbach presented the can-can
immediately after a stately minuet in order to emphasize the contrast
between two periods in French history. A contemporary described this
Can-Can music as follows: “This famous dance ... has carried away our
entire generation as would a tempestuous whirlwind. Already the first
sounds of the furiously playing instruments seem to indicate the call to
a whole world to awake and plunge into the wild dance. These rhythms
appear to have the intention of shocking all the resigned, all the
defeated, out of their lethargy and, by the physical and moral upheaval
which they arouse, to throw the whole fabric of society into confusion.”
_The Tales of Hoffmann_ (_Les Contes d’Hoffmann_) is Offenbach’s only
serious opera; but even here we encounter some semi-classical favorites.
This opera, one of the glories of the French lyric theater, was based on
stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, adapted into a libretto by Jules Barbier
and Michel Carré. It concerns the three tragic loves of the poet
Hoffmann: Olympia, a mechanical doll; Giulietta, who is captive to a
magician; and Antonia, a victim of consumption.
The “Barcarolle” from this opera is surely one of the most popular
selections from the world of opera. It opens the second act. Outside
Giulietta’s palace in Venice, Hoffmann hears the strains of this music
sung by his friend Nicklausse and Giulietta as they praise the beauty of
the Venetian night. Harp arpeggios suggest the lapping of the Venetian
waters in the canal, providing a soothing background to one of the most
radiant melodies in French music. It is interesting to remark that
Offenbach did not write this melody directly for this opera. He had
previously used it in 1864 as a ghost song for an opera-ballet, _Die
Rheinnixen_.
Two dance episodes from _The Tales of Hoffmann_ are also frequently
performed outside the opera house. One is the infectious waltz which
rises to a dramatic climax in the first act. To this music Hoffmann
dances with the mechanical doll, Olympia, with whom he is in love. The
second is an enchanting little Minuet, used as entr’acte music between
the first and second acts.
A collation of some of Offenbach’s most famous melodies from various
operettas can be found in _La Gaieté parisienne_, an orchestral suite
adapted from a score by Manuel Rosenthal to a famous contemporary
ballet. This one-act ballet, with choreography by Leonide Massine and
scenario by Comte Étienne de Beaumont, was introduced in Monte Carlo by
the Ballet Russe in 1938. The setting is a fashionable Parisian
restaurant of the 19th century; and the dance offers a colorful picture
of Parisian life and mores of that period, climaxed by a stunning
Can-Can. Musical episodes are used from _Orpheus in the Underworld_, _La
Périchole_, _La Vie parisienne_, and several other Offenbach
opéra-bouffes. Beloved Offenbach melodies from various opéra-bouffes
were adapted for the score of a Broadway musical produced in 1961, _The
Happiest Girl in the World_.