Offenbach, Jacques (EN)

Offenbach Jacques, Jacob, *20 June 1819 Cologne, †5 October 1880 Paris, French composer of German origin. He came from the Jewish Eberst family, originally from Offenbach am Main, whose name later became his surname. His father, Isaac Juda Eberst, a bookbinder by profession, worked as a violin, flute and guitar teacher in Deutz am Main and as a cantor in the synagogue in Cologne, where he settled permanently in 1816; he was Jacob’s first music teacher, teaching him to play the violin. From 1828, Offenbach took cello lessons, initially with J. Alexander, and later with B. Breuer. In 1833, he left for Paris and was accepted into the cello class at the conservatoire, even though the institution’s statutes prohibited the admission of foreigners. In 1834 he left the conservatoire to study privately with L. Norblin, concertmaster of the Opéra de Paris, and took up a position as a cellist in the orchestra of the Opéra-Comique. In 1835, he took composition lessons from F. Halévy. Offenbach soon became known as a composer of dance music, mainly waltzes performed at balls and concerts by garden orchestras, as well as a virtuoso cellist in Parisian salons, often in a duet with F. von Flotow; he also occasionally gave public concerts from time to time, among others with An. Rubinstein (Paris, 1841) and F. Liszt (Cologne, 1843). In 1844, after converting to Catholicism, he married the Spanish Herminia d’Alcain, with whom he had five children. In the same year, thanks to J. Mitchell, the lessee of the French theatre in London, he went on a concert tour of England, performing at the royal court in Windsor, among other venues. 

Offenbach’s first attempts at dramatic music were unsuccessful; the operetta L’Alcôve was staged at the composer’s expense. During the revolution of 1848, Offenbach settled in Cologne, where he performed in public and composed folk-patriotic songs. In 1849, he staged a German version of L’Alcôve entitled Marielle. Between 1850 and 1855, he was the bandmaster at the Théâtre-Français in Paris, for which he also composed orchestral interludes and songs. In 1853 the comic opera Pépito, dedicated to the wife of E. Perrin, director of the Opéra-Comique, met with limited success; by contrast, the playful Oyayaie ou La reine des îles, staged at the Folies-Nouvelles, was well received.

Shortly before the opening of the World Exhibition in 1855, Offenbach rented a small theatre on the Champs-Élysées near the Palais de l’Industrie. The licence granted by the censorship office allowed the new theatre, named Bouffes-Parisiens, to stage plays with music, limited to two characters on stage. The inaugural programme on 5 July 1855, consisting of three one-act plays, was a huge success (approx. 400 performances of Les deux Aveugles). For the winter season, the theatre moved to the Théâtre des Jeunes Elèves in the Passage Choiseul, which became the permanent home of the Bouffes-Parisiens from 1856 onwards. For many years, the theatre operated successfully, staging Offenbach’s operettas and works by other composers, including A. Adam, L. Delibes, J.L. Duprat, and adaptations of works by Mozart and Rossini. Subsequent productions were characterised by rich, dazzling stage designs, beautiful costumes, impressive stage effects, and light-hearted humour, making Offenbach’s theatre one of the curiosities of Paris. As his reputation grew, the Bouffes-Parisiens company was invited on tours, including to England. However, Offenbach’s extravagance led to financial difficulties, and he was at times forced to flee abroad to escape his creditors (Brussels, Bad Ems).

Many writers collaborated with Offenbach, mostly tabloid journalists (including Ch. de Morny), but the composer valued seasoned librettists most highly: L. Halévy, H. Meilhac and H. Crémieux. Initially, he composed one-act operas with two characters. nitially, he composed one-act operas with two characters. Starting with the two-act operetta Orphée aux enfers (1858), which received with enthusiastic acclaim by audiences and with mixed reactions from critics (e.g. J. Janin’s negative opinion), he also began to write works that completely filled the performance time, such as Geneviève de Brabant, Le Pont des soupirs, Le Roman comique, but he generally staged them at other venues, such as the Théâtre des Variétés (La belle Hélène, Barbe-Bleue, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein) or the Opéra-Comique (Barkouf, Robinson Crusoé). In 1860, Offenbach obtained French citizenship, and in 1861 he was decorated with the the National Order of the Legion of Honour. He then resigned from his position as director of the Bouffes-Parisiens, which allowed him to make longer trips to Bad Ems and Vienna, where his operettas were hugely successful. It was there that, in 1863, he met his greatest rival, J. Strauss Jr. In the same year, he composed a three-act romantic opera, Les Fées du Rhin, staged at the Hofoper in Vienna under the title Die Rheinnixen, which, however, did not gain popularity. The operetta La Belle Hélène was much more successful in 1864, followed by La vie Parisienne.

The Franco-Prussian War of 1870, during which Offenbach was perceived by the French as German and by the Germans as French, abruptly interrupted his career. The composer left with his family for Spain, then Italy and Austria. In 1871, he returned to Paris but was unable to regain his lost position. The Théâtre de la Gaîté, which he had been managing since 1873, went bankrupt the following year due to poor decisions, both artistic (operettas were replaced by banal, albeit spectacular, féeries), personal (collaboration with V. Sardou as a librettist) and economic (huge production costs). Offenbach’s financial situation improved only after his 1876 tour of America (including New York and Philadelphia). His subsequent works staged in France met with little success, and it was not until 1879 that he scored another hit with the premiere of the operetta La Fille du tambour-major. Despite these failures and increasingly serious health problems, Offenbach did not give up his creative work and even undertook to compose a work more ambitious than all his previous ones – the opera Les contes d’Hoffmann, which he did not manage to complete (the orchestration was carried out in accordance with the composer’s wishes, contained in his will, E. Guiraud); the premiere took place at the Opéra-Comique four months after Jacques Offenbach’s death.  

Offenbach is considered the co-creator (alongside Hervé) of modern French operetta. Initially, he intended to revive the opéra comique genre by giving it a lighter, more entertaining literary, musical, and theatrical form. In the early years of the Bouffes-Parisiens, Offenbach generally wrote one-act pieces in the form of comic sketches set to music. Later, the comedy of Offenbach’s operettas, which he also referred to as bouffonnerie, opéra bouffe or vaudeville (this multitude of terms, sometimes synonymous, makes it difficult to classify his stage works precisely), always had an expository purpose, consisting in mocking the political and social relations prevailing during the reign of Napoleon III. Everything that was pompous, false, absurd and megalomaniacal became the subject of criticism, especially corrupt authorities, court life, the social conventions of Parisian salons, and provincial snobbery; Operas in the style of Meyerbeer or the young Wagner, linguistic customs, sayings and dialects, as well as certain mythological themes (Orpheus in Hell, Helen of Troy) and fairy tales (Bluebeard) were also mocked The targets of his satire included everything marked by pomposity, falseness, absurdity, and megalomania – above all, corrupt authority, court life, the social conventions of Parisian salons, and provincial narrow-mindedness.; operas in the style of Meyerbeer or the young Wagner, linguistic customs, sayings and dialects, as well as certain mythological themes (Orphée aux enfers, La belle Hélène) and fairy tales (Barbe-bleue) were also mocked. The action was typically set in a salon or courtly milieu, but a novelty in this type of theatre was the introduction of characters from lower social class, for example beggars and vagrants from the Parisian populace. Until 1870, however, Offenbach encountered neither censorship nor signs of hostility from state authorities. On the contrary, many of them were regulars at his theatre, and some, such as Count Ch. de Morny (Napoleon III’s half-brother and Minister of the Interior), were even his collaborators. Offenbach’s works were characterised by subtle, allusive humour, but parody and grotesque prevailed. The composer often introduced bizarre and shocking ideas, even scenes of an orgiastic nature, teetering on the edge of good taste. He liked to use texts containing wordplay in the form of funny titles and names (e.g. Oyayaie…, Vert-Vert, Fé-Hi-Han, Ke-Ki-Ka-Ko, the military Piff, Paff, Puff, etc.), and even asemantic ‘gibberish’ pretending to be Chinese (Ba-ta-clan).

Offenbach possessed a rich melodic imagination and a good knowledge of the art of instrumentation, but he employed banal compositional techniques. The music composed for operettas, most often in the form of chansons, couplets and fashionable dances (waltz, galop, cancan, quadrille), marches and parodies of ‘serious’ opera forms, was characterised by a cheerful mood, and thanks to its melodiousness and typical harmonic means, it quickly gained popularity. Offenbach emphasised musical movement, electrifying rhythm and dizzying, sometimes stunning tempo, especially in the finales. He treated dances not only as genre scenes or social realities, but also as a means of drama; for example, the waltz in La belle Hélène served to build the dramatic climax of the entire work, while also being a sign of widespread demoralisation and life in a state of intoxication. Offenbach also tried his hand at opera, which was only crowned with success in Les contes d’Hoffmann. This five-act work, composed in the opéra comique convention (with spoken texts), is based on then-popular stories by the author E.T.A. Hoffmann, with the author himself incorporated into the dramatis personae. The individual stories were reshaped as episodes from his life and combined to form the content of the five acts, entitled: Prologue – Olympia – Antonia – Giulietta – Epilogue. The famous Barcarolle and the music for Hoffmann’s songs in Act 2 were transferred here from Offenbach’s earlier opera Die Rheinnixen. Other “numbers” taken from Offenbach’s oeuvre were also added to the score published in 1907, e.g. the septet for Act 2, and recitatives accompanied by the orchestra were introduced in place of spoken dialogue. Compared to the style of operettas, the music of Les contes d’Hoffmann is characterised by greater dramatic expressiveness, especially in the demonic and fantastical scenes (chromaticism, sharp dissonances, emphasis on the colouristic qualities of individual instruments, frequent tremolos) reminiscent of the German Romantic opera of Weber and Marschner. 

After many years of international popularity, during which Offenbach’s works fulfilled the expectations of a bourgeois audience and played a historical role in the reception of music and musical institutions, his output was later overshadowed by other representatives of the French (Ch. Lecocq, R. Planquette) an Vienesse operetta (J. Strauss Jr., F. von Suppé, I. Kálmán). Since the 1920s, several operettas (Le mariage aux lanternes, Orphée aux enfers, La belle Hélène, Barbe-bleue, La vie Parisienne, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, Périchole and Les brigands) have been part of the regular repertoire of operetta theatres, where they are usually staged with newer versions of the libretto.

Literature:

Biographies, catalogues, manuscripts, letters – R. L. Folstein and S. Willis A Bibliography on Jacques Offenbach, “Current Musicology” 1971 No. 12; Th. Schipperges Bibliotheca Offenbachiana. Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880), eine systematisch-chronologische Bibliographie, Cologne 1980; R. Didion Musikautographen von Jacques Offenbach, Berlin 1989; J.-C. Yon Offenbach Catalogue, Paris 1996; U. Mattusch Jacques Offenbach. Notenmanuskripte und Notendrucke, Cologne 1999; J.-C. Yon M. Offenbach. Nous ecrit: Lettres du compositeur au Figaro et autres propos, Paris 2019.

Mentions, comments – J. Brindejont-Offenbach Offenbach, mon grand-père, Paris 1940; P.W. Jacob Jacques Offenbach in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten, Reinbek k. Hamburga 1969, 2nd ed. 1980; G. Knepler Karl Kraus liest Offenbach. Erinnerungen, Kommentare, Dokumentationen, Frankfurt am Main 1979.

Biographies and monographs – A. Martinet Offenbach, sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris 1887, 2nd ed. 1892; P. Bekker Jacques Offenbach, «Die Musik», ed. R. Strauss, XXXI/XXXII, Berlin 1909; E. Rieger Offenbach und seine Wiener Schule, «Theater und Kultur» IV, Vienna 1920; M. Teneo, Th. Baker Jacques Offenbach: His Centenary, “The Musical Quarterlyˮ VI/1 (1920); Jacques Offenbach. Beiträge zu seinem Leben und seinen Werken, ed. K. Soldan, Berlin 1924; R. Brancour Offenbach, «Les Musiciens Célèbres» XLIII, Paris 1929; L. Schneider Offenbach, Berlin 1930; S. Kracauer Jacques Offenbach und das Paris seiner Zeit, Amsterdam 1937, 2nd ed. titled Pariser Leben. Jacques Offenbach und seine Zeit, Munich 1962, 3rd ed. Frankfurt am Main 1976, French edition entitled Jacques Offenbach ou le secret du Second Empire with an introduction by D. Halevy, translation by L. Astruc, Paris 1937, reprint 1994, English edition entitled Orpheus in Paris. Offenbach and the Paris of his Time, translation by G. David, E. Mosbacher, London, New York 1938, 2nd ed. New York 2002, Polish ed. Jacques Offenbach i Paris jego czasów, transl. A. Sąpoliński, Warsaw 1992; A. Moss, E. Marvel Cancan and Barcarole. The Life and Times of Jacques Offenbach, New York 1954; A. Decaux Offenbach, roi du Second Empire, Paris 1958, 3rd ed. 1975, German ed. Offenbach. König des Zweiten Kaiserreichs, Munich 1960; I. I. Sollertinskij Offenbach, Moscow 1962; O. Schneidereit Jacques Offenbach, Leipzig 1966, 2nd ed. 1970; D. Rissin Offenbach, ou Le rire en musique, Paris 1980; P. Gammond Offenbach. His Life and Times, Tunbridge Wells 1980, 2nd ed. 1981; J. Harding Jacques Offenbach, London 1980; A. Faris Jacques Offenbach, London 1980; R. Pourvoyeur Offenbach – Idillio e Parodia, Madrid 1980; A. Lamb Offenbach in One Act, “Musical Timeˮ CXXI No. 1562 (X 1980), pp. 615-617; H. MacDonald Hoffmann’s Melancholy Tale, “Musical Timeˮ CXXI No. 1652 (X 1980); C. Dufresne Jacques Offenbach, ou La gaîté parisienne, Paris 1992; H. Hadlock Return of the repressed: The Prima donna from Hoffmann’s “Tales” to Offenbach’s “Les contes,” “Cambridge Opera Journalˮ VI/3 (1994); R. Pourvoyeur Offenbach, Paris 1994; Jacques Offenbach “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” dossier de presse parisienne (1881), ed. A. Jacobshagen, Bietigheim 1995; G. Wehmeyer Höllegalopp und Götterdämmerung. Lachkultur bei Jacques Offenbach und Richard Wagner, Cologna 1997; A.Ch. Brade Kundry und Stella. Offenbach contra Wagner, Bielefeld 1997; J. Kaufmann Isaac Offenbach und sein Sohn Jacques, «Conditio Judaica», Tübingen  1998; Offenbach und die Schauplätze seines Musiktheaters, ed. R. Franke, Laaber 1999; H. Reil Siegfried Kracauers Jacques Offenbach: Biographie, Geschichte, Zeitgeschichte, New York 1999, Frankfurt am Main 2003; P. Hawig  Jacques Offenbach: Facetten zu Leben und Werk, Bergheim 1999; L. Kydryński Offenbach, Warsaw 1999; Th. Schipperges Jacques Offenbach und musikalische Analyse. Zum “Galop infernal aus Orphée aux enfers,” “International Journal of Musicologyˮ VIII (1999); J. C. Yon La carrière posthume d’un musicien ou Offenbach aux enfers, “Histoire, Économie et Sociétéˮ, XXII/2, 2003; J. C. Yon Jacques Offenbach, Paris 2000, reprint 2010; Jacques Offenbach und das Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens 1855, materials from the symposium in Bad Ems, 2005, entitled “Jacques-Offenbach-Studien.” Band 1, eds. P. Ackermann, R.-O. Schwarz, J. Stern, Fernwald (Hesse) 2005; R.-O. Schwarz Vaudeville und Operette. Jacques Offenbachs Werke für das Théâtre du Palais-Royal, “Jacques-Offenbach-Studienˮ vol. 2, Fernwald 2007; P. Hawig Einladung nach Gerolstein. Untersuchungen und Deutungen zum Werk Jacques Offenbachs, “Jacques-Offenbach-Studienˮ vol. 3, Fernwald 2008; R. Pourvoyeur Jacques Offenbach: Essays zur Rehabilitierung eines Komponisten, “Jacques-Offenbach-Studienˮ vol. 5, Fernwald 2009; N. d’Estienne d’Orves Jacques Offenbach, Arles, Paris 2010; Jacques Offenbach oder der Verlust des Authentischen, ed. P. Ackermann, “Jacques-Offenbach-Studienˮ vol. 4, Fernwald 2010; L. Sanelick Jacques Offenbach and the Making of Modern Culture, Cambridge 2017; J.-Ph. Biojout Jacques Offenbach, Paris 2018; R.-O. Schwarz Jacques Offenbach. Ein Europäisches Porträt, Cologna, Weimar, Vienna 2018; P. Hawig, A. S. Riemer Musiktheater als Gesellschaftssatire. Die Offenbachiaden und ihr Kontext, Fernwald 2018; A. Henseler Jacques Offenbach, Los Angeles 2019; Der “andere” Offenbach. Bericht über das internationale Symposium anlässlich des 200. Geburtstages von Jacques Offenbach in der Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main am 18. und 19. Oktober 2018, eds. A. Grün, A.S. Riemer and R.-O. Schwarz, Cologna 2019; A. Flores: Jacques Offenbach und sein Werk bei Siegfried Kracauer und darüber hinaus, Münster 2021.