1.
Jacques Offenbach
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Jacques Offenbach 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 he was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr. and Arthur Sullivan. His best-known works were revived during the 20th century. The Tales of Hoffman remains part of the opera repertory. Born in Cologne, the son of a 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, from 1835 to 1855 he earned his living as a cellist, achieving international fame, and as a conductor. His ambition, however, was to compose pieces for the musical theatre. Finding the management of Paris Opéra-Comique company uninterested in staging his works, 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, 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, La Vie parisienne, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, Offenbach became associated with the Second French Empire of Napoleon III, the emperor and his court were genially satirised in many of Offenbachs operettas. Napoleon III personally granted him French citizenship and the Légion dHonneur, 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 and 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, Offenbach was born Jacob or Jakob Offenbach to a Jewish family, in the German city of Cologne, which was then a part of Prussia. His birthplace in the Großen Griechenmarkt was a distance from the square that is now named after him. He was the son and the seventh of ten children of Isaac Juda Offenbach né Eberst and his wife Marianne. Isaac, who came from a family, had abandoned his original trade as a bookbinder and earned an itinerant living as a cantor in synagogues. He was generally known as der Offenbacher, after his native town, Offenbach am Main, in 1816 he settled in Cologne, where he became established as a teacher, giving lessons in singing, violin, flute and guitar, and composing both religious and secular music. When Jacob was six years old, his father taught him to play the violin, within two years the boy was composing songs and dances, and at the age of nine he took up the cello
2.
Le docteur Ox
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Le docteur Ox is an opéra bouffe in three acts and six tableaux of 1877 with music by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was by Arnold Mortier and Philippe Gille, adapted from the 1872 short story Une fantaisie du docteur Ox by Jules Verne, Offenbach had already set a libretto based closely on a work by Verne with the opéra-féerie Le voyage dans la lune in 1875. Verne had been a co-librettist for several operas presented at the Théâtre Lyrique, for Le Docteur Ox the novelist collaborated more closely with Offenbach and his librettists, and attended several of the later rehearsals at the Variétés. A first read-through took place on 18 November 1876 and during the course of rehearsals the number of scenes was increased from four to six. In changes to Vernes original story, romance was introduced in the form of Prascovia, a fiancée for Ox, the work is dedicated to Anna Judic. Le docteur Ox had 40 performances in its initial Paris run at the Théâtre des Variétés, Judic, who was the definite star of the evening, was costumed for her entrance as in the 1870 painting Salomé by Henri Regnault. An English language burlesque Oxygen, based on the Offenbach, was performed in both Britain and America in the late 19th century, a revised version of Le docteur Ox was performed in Cologne, premiered on 19 September 1978. The first tableau - the house of Van Tricasse, in Quiquendonne, Monsieur van Tricasse is the mayor of Quiquendone, a peaceful town where things take ten times longer to happen than normal. Dr Ox has noted that a lack of oxygen is causing this languor and he is now housed in a tower inventing a new gas which the Quiquendonniens believe will bring fame to their town but which he hopes will enliven and invigorate the people via a vast lighting system. Van Tricasse, Niklausse and Josse reflect on town business and the oxy-hydrique gas, today they will visit his laboratory, along with a visiting dignitary from the next town, Virgamen. A waltz leads to the arrival of Prascovia, a princess and Schahoura, dressed as gypsies, who want permits to stay in Quiquendone for the festival. As they all leave to go to the office, Docteur Ox and his assistant Ygène enter to collect the regulator key. Ox is horrified when he sees Prascovia, they were engaged, Ox and Ygène enter to prepare the public experiment. Prascovia, Schahoura and the gypsies arrive, intent on revenge, Prascovia and Schahoura confront Ox but he puts them off until the day after tomorrow – by which time he hopes they will be expelled from the city. The Quiquendoniens request to see Ox’s gas, light and gas make everyone behave in a more lively way. Monsieur van Tricasse is attracted to Lotché and Madame van Tricasse falls for Niklausse, Prascovia tries to denounce Ox as a second-hand Don Juan, but she is dismissed. Disguised as traders plying their wares, the plot against Dr Ox. To prevent the marriage of Ox and Suzel, Schahoura plans to kidnap Ox, now Ox dons the costume of the important person as a disguise
3.
The Tales of Hoffmann
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The Tales of Hoffmann is an opéra fantastique by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbachs final work, as he died a year before the premiere, Barbier and Michel Carré had previously written a play, Les contes fantastiques dHoffmann, which was produced at the Odéon Theatre in Paris in 1851, and which Offenbach had seen. After returning from America in 1876 he learned that Barbier had adapted the play, Salomon handed the project to Offenbach. Work proceeded slowly interrupted by the composition of more profitable lighter works, Offenbach himself had a premonition that like Antonia he would die prior to its completion. He continued working on the opera throughout 1880, attending some rehearsals, shortly before he died he had written to Léon Carvalho, Hâtez-vous de monter mon opéra. Il ne me reste plus longtemps à vivre et mon seul désir est dassister à la première, the stories used in the opera were, Der Sandmann,1816. Das verlorene Spiegelbild from Die Abenteuer der Sylvester-Nacht,1814, the opera was first performed in a public venue, at the Opéra-Comique on 10 February 1881, without the third act. Besides Léon Carvalho, director of the Opéra-Comique, the director of the Ringtheater in Vienna, both men requested the rights, but Offenbach granted them to Carvalho. The opera reached its hundredth performance at the Salle Favart on the 15 December 1881, a new production by Albert Carré was mounted at the Opéra-Comique in 1911, with Léon Beyle in the title role and Albert Wolff conducting. This production remained in the repertoire until World War II, receiving 700 performances, following a recording by Opéra-Comique forces in March 1948, Louis Musy created the first post-war production in Paris, conducted by André Cluytens. The Paris Opera first staged the work in October 1974, directed by Patrice Chéreau with Nicolai Gedda in the title role. Outside France, the piece was mounted in Geneva, Budapest, Hamburg, New York, and Mexico in 1882, Vienna, Prague, and Antwerp in 1883, and Lvov and Berlin in 1884. Later local premieres included Buenos Aires in 1894, St Petersburg in 1899, Barcelona in 1905, and London in 1910. The Muse appears and reveals to the audience that her purpose is to draw Hoffmanns attention to herself and she takes the appearance of Hoffmanns closest friend, Nicklausse. The prima donna Stella, currently performing Mozarts Don Giovanni, sends a letter to Hoffmann, the letter and the key to the room are intercepted by Councillor Lindorf, who is the first of the operas incarnations of evil, Hoffmanns nemesis. Lindorf intends to replace Hoffmann at the rendezvous, in the tavern students wait for Hoffmann. He finally arrives and entertains them with the legend of Zaches the dwarf, Lindorf coaxes Hoffmann into telling the audience about his lifes three great loves
4.
Theater an der Wien
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The Theater an der Wien is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, since 2006, it has served primarily as an opera house, hosting its own company. Although Wien is German for Vienna, the Wien in the name of the theatre is actually the name of the Wien River, which flowed by the theatre site. In modern times, the river has been covered over in this location and the riverbed now houses the Naschmarkt. The theatre is operated in cooperation with Vereinigte Bühnen Wien which also operates the Raimund Theater, the theatre was the brainchild of the Viennese theatrical impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, who is best known as Mozarts librettist and collaborator on the opera The Magic Flute. Schikaneders troupe had already been performing for several years in Vienna in the smaller Theater auf der Wieden. As the troupes performances often emphasized spectacle and scenery, the librettist felt ready to move to a larger and better equipped venue. He had already granted an imperial licence to build a new theatre in 1786. The building was designed by the architect Franz Jäger in Empire style, the theatre has been described as the most lavishly equipped and one of the largest theatres of its age. The theatre opened on 13 June 1801 with a written by Schikaneder followed by a performance of the opera Alexander by Franz Teyber. The new theatre proved to be a sensation, adolf Bäurle, a local critic, wrote if Schikaneder and Zitterbarth had had the idea. To charge admission simply for looking at the glories of their Theater an der Wien, the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung called it the most comfortable and satisfactory in the whole of Germany. In 1807 the theatre was acquired by a group of nobles that included Count Ferdinand Palffy von Erdöd. He is accompanied by the Three Boys, characters in the same opera, in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, the theatre experienced a golden age during the flourishing of Viennese operetta, as referenced in the list below. From 1945 to 1955, it was one of the homes of the Vienna State Opera. However, in 1955, the theatre was closed for safety reasons and it languished unused for several years, and by the early 1960s, the threat had emerged that it would be converted to a parking garage. Fortunately, in 1962 the theatre found a new and successful role for itself as a venue for musical theatre. Many English-language musicals had their German premieres there, the musical Cats directed and choreographed by Gillian Lynne played successfully for seven years
5.
Les brigands
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Les brigands is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Meilhac and Halévys libretto lampoons both serious and light theatre, the plot is cheerfully amoral in its presentation of theft as a basic principle of society rather than as an aberration. As Falsacappa, the chieftain, notes, Everybody steals according to their position in society. The piece premiered in Paris in 1869 and has received periodic revivals in France and elsewhere, les brigands has a more substantial plot than many Offenbach operettas and integrates the songs more completely into the story. In addition to policemen, financiers receive satiric treatment, les brigands was first performed at the Théâtre des Variétés, Paris on 10 December 1869, this version was in three acts. A four-act version was prepared for a production at the Théâtre de la Gaîté. The piece achieved great success as the Second Empire came to an end, only the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in the following months dampened audience enthusiasm. The piece was translated in three acts as The Brigands by English dramatist W. S, Gilbert was displeased with his own work, which he had created merely to secure the British copyright, and he attempted to prevent its performance in London, without success. He also objected to new songs inserted in the piece but written by another lyricist, many of the characters and situations in the piece are echoed later in Gilbert and Sullivans The Pirates of Penzance and The Gondoliers. An earlier English version by H. S. Leigh was presented at the Globe Theatre in London under the name Falsacappa, camille Dubois starred as Fragoletto, Julia Vokins was the Princess of Granada and Nelly Bromley was the Prince of Popoli. This version had also given an 1871 performance in London. A wild rocky place The brigands assemble at dawn, but some of them complain to Falsacappa that they cannot live properly on the rewards of their work and he promises an imminent and profitable venture. The marriage of the Princess of Grenade with the Duc de Mantoue has been announced, and his daughter Fiorella has fallen for the young farmer Fragoletto, whose farm the gang recently raided, and she is beginning to have doubts about their calling. She shows Piétro, the second-in-command a small portrait she has had painted of herself, Fragoletto is brought in by some of the brigands, not unwillingly, as he asks for Fiorellas hand, and to join the band. Falsacappa agrees on condition that Fragoletto prove himself, Fiorella is left with Piétro, and a handsome stranger enters. He – fascinated by her – has lost his way, when Piétro goes to find help, she decides to warn him – in fact the Duke of Mantua – to flee. Fragoletto arrives with a message about the union of the Duke. Falsacappa frees the messenger, replacing the portrait in the briefcase with that of his daughter
6.
Les deux aveugles
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Les deux aveugles is an 1855 one-act French bouffonerie musicale by Jacques Offenbach. The libretto was written by Jules Moinaux and was a condensation of his 3-act Les musiciens ambulants, the half-hour long piece is a comic sketch about two blind beggars, consisting of an overture and four numbers. Offenbach was bold in making light of the poor. Most Parisians had been pestered by beggars on Parisian street corners, the little piece was an instant hit, praised for its catchy dance tunes, and it soon spread Offenbachs name and music around the world. Les deux aveugles premiered on the night of the Bouffes-Parisiens on 5 July 1855 at the companys first theatre. It was the hit of the evening and was performed at the Salle Lacaze into the fall, after Offenbachs new winter theatre, the Salle Choiseul, opened in December, the show continued to be presented there. A revised version was presented in Paris at a gala at the Opéra-Comiques second Salle Favart on 28 May 1858, with revivals on 6 November 1900,14 December 1910. The first work by Offenbach to be presented in Vienna, it influenced the subsequent career of Karl Treumann. The Opéra de Monte Carlo performed it in French on 7 May 1902 and it had clearly become one of Offenbachs most successful one-act works. A complete performance of Les deux aveugles forms part of the 1996 television film Offenbachs Geheimnis, with Les deux aveugles Offenbach became the darling of Second Empire Paris. His later pieces would continue to mock customs of the day, Offenbachs early operettas were small-scale one-act works, since the law in France limited musical theatre works to one-act pieces with no more than three singers and, perhaps, some mute characters. In 1858, this law was changed, and Offenbach was able to offer full-length works, when passers-by drop coins, the beggars are able to see well enough to retrieve them. To impress each other, they fabricate wild stories, accompanied by singing, the music consists of an overture and four short numbers, of which the bolero, a duet which begins La lune brille, le ciel scintille, is probably the standout. The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, second edition, london, John Calder,1980 ISBN0714538353 ISBN 0-7145-3835-3, Flemington, NJ, Riverrun Press,1980. Les deux aveugles in Sadie 1992, vol, totowa, New Jersey, Rowman and Littlefield. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Jacques Offenbach, His Centenary, translated by Theodore Baker, in The Musical Quarterly, vol. Théâtre de lOpéra-Comique Paris, répertoire 1762-1972, OCLC44733987,2174128,78755097 Yon, Jean-Claude
7.
Orpheus in the Underworld
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Orphée aux enfers, whose title translates from the French as Orpheus in the Underworld, is an opéra bouffe, or opéra féerie in its revised version. Its score was composed by Jacques Offenbach to a French text written by Ludovic Halévy, the work, first performed in 1858, is said to be the first classical full-length operetta. Offenbachs earlier operettas were small-scale one-act works, since the law in France did not allow full-length works of certain genres, Orpheus was not only longer, but more musically adventurous than Offenbachs earlier pieces. This also marked the first time that Offenbach used Greek mythology as a background for one of his pieces. The operetta is an irreverent parody and scathing satire on Gluck and his Orfeo ed Euridice, the Infernal Galop from Act 2, Scene 2, is famous outside classical circles as the music for the can-can. Saint-Saëns borrowed the Galop, slowed it to a crawl, the first performance of the two-act, opéra bouffe version took place at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris on 21 October 1858 and ran for an initial 228 performances. It then returned to the stage a few later, after the cast had been given a rest. In America the work played in German at the Stadt Theatre, on Broadway and it had its Czech premiere in 1864, under Adolf Čech. It had a run of 76 performances at Her Majestys Theatre, in London, beginning on 26 December 1865, a four-act version, designated as an opéra féerie, was first performed at the Théâtre de la Gaîté on 7 February 1874. Sadlers Wells opera presented an English version by Geoffrey Dunn beginning on 16 May 1960, in the 1980s, English National Opera staged the opera freely translated into English by Snoo Wilson with David Pountney. The production was notable for its portrayal of the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as the character Public Opinion. The first performance was at the Coliseum Theatre in London on 5 September 1985, the DOyly Carte Opera Company performed the work in the 1990s. The Toronto Operetta Theatre staged a performance in Dec. 1993-Jan. 1994 in which heaven was Club Med, and hell was a leather bar, in the eyes of Clément and Larousse the piece is une parodie grotesque et grossière, full of vulgar and indecent scenes that give off une odeur malsaine. In the opinion of Piat, however, Offenbachs Orphée is, like most of his major operettas, Scene 1, Near Thebes A melodrama opens the work. Public Opinion explains who she is – the guardian of morality and she seeks to rework the story of Orphée and Eurydice – who, despite being husband and wife, hate each other – into a moral tale for the ages. However, she has her work cut out for her, Eurydice is in love with the shepherd, Aristée, who lives next door, and Orphée is in love with Chloë, a shepherdess. When Orphée mistakes Eurydice for her, everything comes out, however Orphée, fearing Public Opinions reaction, torments her into keeping the scandal quiet using violin music, which she hates
