Jacques Offenbach (1819 – 1880) was a German-born
French composer, cellist and impresario of the romantic
period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas
of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The
Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later
composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann
Strauss, Jr. and Arthur Sullivan. His best-known works
were continually revived during the 20th century, and
many of his operettas continue to be staged in the
21st. The Tales of...(+)
Jacques Offenbach (1819 – 1880) was a German-born
French composer, cellist and impresario of the romantic
period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas
of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The
Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later
composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann
Strauss, Jr. and Arthur Sullivan. His best-known works
were continually revived during the 20th century, and
many of his operettas continue to be staged in the
21st. The Tales of Hoffman remains part of the standard
opera repertory.
Born in Cologne, the son of a synagogue cantor,
Offenbach showed early musical talent. At the age of
14, he was accepted as a student at the Paris
Conservatoire but found academic study unfulfilling and
left after a year. From 1835 to 1855 he earned his
living as a cellist, achieving international fame, and
as a conductor. His ambition, however, was to compose
comic pieces for the musical theatre. Finding the
management of Paris' Opéra-Comique company
uninterested in staging his works, in 1855 he leased a
small theatre in the Champs-Élysées. There he
presented a series of his own small-scale pieces, many
of which became popular.
In 1858, Offenbach produced his first full-length
operetta, Orphée aux enfers ("Orpheus in the
Underworld"), which was exceptionally well received and
has remained one of his most played works. During the
1860s, he produced at least 18 full-length operettas,
as well as more one-act pieces. His works from this
period included La belle Hélène (1864), La Vie
parisienne (1866), La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein
(1867) and La Périchole (1868). The risqué humour
(often about sexual intrigue) and mostly gentle satiric
barbs in these pieces, together with Offenbach's
facility for melody, made them internationally known,
and translated versions were successful in Vienna,
London and elsewhere in Europe.
Offenbach became associated with the Second French
Empire of Napoleon III; the emperor and his court were
genially satirised in many of Offenbach's operettas.
Napoleon III personally granted him French citizenship
and the Légion d'Honneur. With the outbreak of the
Franco-Prussian War in 1870, Offenbach found himself
out of favour in Paris because of his imperial
connections and his German birth. He remained
successful in Vienna and London, however. He
re-established himself in Paris during the 1870s, with
revivals of some of his earlier favourites and a series
of new works, and undertook a popular U.S. tour. In his
last years he strove to finish The Tales of Hoffmann,
but died before the premiere of the opera, which has
entered the standard repertory in versions completed or
edited by other musicians.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Offenbach).
Although originally composed for Solo Piano, I created
this Arrangement of the Dernier Souvenir (Valse de
Zimmer) for Cello and Piano.
SHEET MUSIC