Geneviève de Brabant is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach, first performed in Paris in 1859. The plot is based on the medieval legend of Genevieve of Brabant.
Geneviève de Brabant characters as drawn by Yves Marevéry
Grabuge and Pitou, "men-at-arms", Théâtre des Menus-Plaisirs, 1868 (Draner)
Jacques Offenbach 20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Franz von Suppé, Johann Strauss II 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 Hoffmann remains part of the standard opera repertory.
Offenbach by Nadar
Offenbach in the 1840s
Offenbach as a young cello virtuoso: drawing by Alexandre Laemlein from 1850
The composer-conductor caricatured, 1858