Editing Orpheus in the Underworld (section)

==Background and first productions==
[[File:Offenbach-by-Fritz-Luckhart.jpg|thumb|upright=.5|alt=Balding, middle-aged man, with side-whiskers and pince-nez|Offenbach {{circa|1860}}]]
Between 1855 and 1858 [[Jacques Offenbach|Offenbach]] presented more than two dozen one-act [[List of operettas by Jacques Offenbach|operettas]], first at the [[Théâtre des Folies-Marigny|Bouffes-Parisiens, Salle Lacaze]], and then at the [[Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens|Bouffes-Parisiens, Salle Choiseul]]. The theatrical licensing laws then permitted him only four singers in any piece, and with such small casts, full-length works were out of the question.<ref name=g49/> In 1858 the licensing restrictions were relaxed, and Offenbach was free to go ahead with a two-act work that had been in his mind for some time. Two years earlier he had told his friend the writer [[Hector-Jonathan Crémieux|Hector Crémieux]] that when he was musical director of the [[Comédie-Française]] in the early 1850s he swore revenge for the boredom he suffered from the posturings of mythical heroes and gods of Olympus in the plays presented there.<ref>Teneo, Martial. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/738103 "Jacques Offenbach: His Centenary"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815032837/http://www.jstor.org/stable/738103 |date=15 August 2016}}, ''The Musical Quarterly'', January 1920, pp. 98–117</ref> Cremieux and [[Ludovic Halévy]] sketched out a [[libretto]] for him lampooning such characters.<ref name=l106>Luez, p. 106</ref>{{refn|The original sketch contained only four characters, [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluton]], [[Eurydice]] and [[Proserpina|Proserpine]].<ref name=l106/>|group=n}} By 1858, when Offenbach was finally allowed a large enough cast to do the theme justice, Halévy was preoccupied with his work as a senior civil servant, and the final libretto was credited to Crémieux alone.<ref name=g49>Gammond, p. 49</ref>{{refn|Halévy, mindful of his reputation as a senior government official, contributed anonymously though extensively to the final version of the text. Offenbach and Crémieux dedicated the work to him.<ref>Kracauer, p. 173; and Faris, pp. 62–63</ref>|group=n}} Most of the roles were written with popular members of the Bouffes company in mind, including [[Désiré (baritone)|Désiré]], [[Léonce (actor)|Léonce]], [[Lise Tautin]], and [[Henri Tayau]] as an Orphée who could actually play Orpheus's violin.<ref name=grove>Lamb, Andrew. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000004618  "Orphée aux enfers"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2002. Retrieved 27 April 2019 {{subscription required}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227200532/http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000004618 |date=27 February 2023 }}</ref>{{refn|[[Ovid]]'s and Gluck's Orpheus, the son of Apollo, plays the lyre; Crémieux makes him a rustic violin teacher.<ref name=menestrel>Dureau, Alexis. [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5616745k/f3.item.zoom "Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428074636/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5616745k/f3.item.zoom |date=2019-04-28 }}, ''Le Ménestrel'', 24 October 1859, p. 3 (in French)</ref>|group=n}}

[[File:Bouffes-Parisiens-Salle-Choiseul.png|upright|thumb|left|alt=Drawing of exterior of small, neo-classical theatre|The [[Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens|Bouffes-Parisiens, Salle Choiseul]]]]
The first performance took place at the Salle Choiseul on 21 October 1858. At first the piece did reasonably well at the box-office but was not the tremendous success Offenbach had hoped for. He insisted on lavish stagings for his operas: expenses were apt to outrun receipts, and he was in need of a substantial money-spinner.<ref>Gammond, p. 49; and Yon, p. 213</ref> Business received an inadvertent boost from the critic [[Jules Janin]] of the {{lang|fr|[[Journal des débats]]}}. He had praised earlier productions at the Bouffes-Parisiens but was roused to vehement indignation at what he maintained was a blasphemous, lascivious outrage – "a profanation of holy and glorious antiquity".<ref name=g54>Gammond, p. 54</ref> His attack, and the irreverent public ripostes by Crémieux and Offenbach, made headlines and provoked huge interest in the piece among the Parisian public, who flocked to see it.<ref name=g54/>{{refn|Janin's article was published on 6 December 1858;<ref>[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k451821t/f1.image "Feuilleton du Journal des débats"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501145845/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k451821t/f1.image |date=2019-05-01 }}, ''Journal des débats politiques et littéraires'', 6 December 1858, p. 1 (in French)</ref><ref name=correspondance/><ref>Hadlock, p. 177; and Yon, pp. 211–212</ref> Crémieux's riposte was published in {{lang|fr|[[Le Figaro]]}} on 12 December 1858.<ref name=correspondance>[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k269742m/f5.item "Correspondance"], ''Le Figaro'', 12 December 1858, p. 5 (in French)</ref> [[Alexander Faris]] and [[Richard Traubner]] incorrectly date the events to the following February.<ref>Faris, p. 71; and Traubner (2003), p. 32</ref>|group=n}} In his 1980 study of Offenbach, [[Alexander Faris]] writes, "{{lang|fr|Orphée}} became not only a triumph, but a cult."<ref name=f71>Faris, p. 71</ref>{{refn|[[Peter Gammond]] (1980) adds that the public kept sneaking into the theatre, hoping not to be seen by anyone they knew.<ref>Gammond, p. 53</ref>|group=n}} It ran for 228 performances, at a time when a run of 100 nights was considered a success.<ref name=op>[http://www.operette-theatremusical.fr/2015/07/04/edmond-audran "Edmond Audran"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330011116/http://www.operette-theatremusical.fr/2015/07/04/edmond-audran/ |date=30 March 2019 }}, Opérette – Théâtre Musical, Académie Nationale de l'Opérette (in French). Retrieved 16 April 2019</ref> Albert Lasalle, in his history of the Bouffes-Parisiens (1860), wrote that the piece closed in June 1859 – although it was still performing strongly at the box-office – "because the actors, who could not tire the public, were themselves exhausted".<ref name=al>[https://www.artlyriquefr.fr/dicos/operas%20-%20O.html "Orphée aux enfers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902083657/http://artlyriquefr.fr/dicos/operas%20-%20O.html |date=2 September 2018}}, '' Encyclopédie de l'art lyrique français'', Association l'art lyrique français (in French). Retrieved 26 April 2019</ref>

In 1874 Offenbach substantially expanded the piece, doubling the length of the score and turning the intimate [[opéra bouffon]] of 1858 into a four-act [[opéra féerie]] extravaganza, with substantial ballet sequences. This version opened at the [[Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin)|Théâtre de la Gaîté]] on 7 February 1874, ran for 290 performances,<ref>[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k281593c/f2 "Le succès au théâtre"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227203729/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k281593c/f2 |date=2023-02-27 }}, ''Le Figaro'', 23 August 1891, p. 2</ref> and broke box-office records for that theatre.<ref name=ano>[http://www.operette-theatremusical.fr/2015/08/19/orphee-aux-enfers/ "Orphée aux enfers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421193911/http://www.operette-theatremusical.fr/2015/08/19/orphee-aux-enfers/ |date=21 April 2019 }}, Opérette – Théâtre Musical, Académie Nationale de l'Opérette (in French). Retrieved 21 April 2019</ref>{{refn|The production took 1,784,683 francs at the box office,<ref>"The Drama in Paris", ''The Era'', 29 August 1891, p. 9</ref> roughly equivalent in 2015 terms to €7,234,820.<ref>[https://www.historicalstatistics.org/Currencyconverter.html "Historical currency converter"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815152147/http://www.historicalstatistics.org/Currencyconverter.html |date=15 August 2018}}, Historicalstatistics.org. Retrieved 21 April 2019</ref>|group=n}} During the first run of the revised version Offenbach expanded it even further, adding ballets illustrating the kingdom of [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]] in Act 3{{refn|This interlude consisted of ten tableaux, including "Toads and Chinese fish", "Prawns and shrimps", "March of the Tritons", "Sea-horses' polka", "Pas de trois for seaweed", and "Pas de quatre for flowers and flying fish".<ref name=g1552/>|group=n}} and bringing the total number of scenes in the four acts to twenty-two.<ref name=ano/>{{refn|According to ''The Penguin Opera Guide'' the running time of the 1858 version is 1 hour 45 minutes, and that of the 1874 revision 2 hours 45 minutes.<ref name=traubner/>|group=n}}
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