Editing Jacques Offenbach (section)

==={{lang|fr|Salle Choiseul|italic=no}}===
Offenbach's first piece for the company's new home was {{lang|fr|[[Ba-ta-clan]]}} (December 1855), a well-received piece of mock-oriental frivolity, to a libretto by {{lang|fr|Halévy|italic=no}}.<ref>Harding, p. 253</ref> He followed it with fifteen more one-act operettas over the next three years.<ref name=grove/> They were all for the small casts permitted under his licence, although at the {{lang|fr|Salle Choiseul|italic=no}} he was granted an increase from three to four singers.<ref name=birth/>

[[File:Hortense-Schneider-Grande-Duchesse.jpg|thumb|left|[[Hortense Schneider]], the first star created by Offenbach|alt= photograph of young white woman standing in ducal robes and coronet, holding a folded fan]]
Under Offenbach's management, the {{lang|fr|Bouffes-Parisiens|italic=no}} staged works by many composers. These included new pieces by [[Leon Gastinel]] and [[Léo Delibes]]. When Offenbach asked [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]]'s permission to revive his comedy {{lang|it|[[Il signor Bruschino]]}}, Rossini replied that he was pleased to be able to do anything for "the Mozart of the Champs-Élysées".{{refn|Rossini wrote a short piano work dedicated to Offenbach: the {{lang|fr|Petit caprice (style Offenbach)}} in can-can rhythm, in which the performer is directed to use only the index and little finger of each hand.<ref>Ragni, Sergio. [http://www.chandos.net/pdf/CHAN%2010319.pdf "Rossini: Complete Piano Edition, Volume 2"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321204406/http://www.chandos.net/pdf/CHAN%2010319.pdf |date=21 March 2012 }}, Chandos Records. Retrieved 16 July 2011</ref> The biographers who identify Rossini as the originator of the "Mozart of the Champs-Élysées" tag include Faris,<ref>Faris, p. 66</ref> Gammond,<ref>Gammond, p. 45</ref> Harding,<ref>Harding, p. 82</ref> Kracauer,<ref>Kracauer, p. 164</ref> and Yon.<ref>Yon, p. 175</ref> [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] is also thought by some to have used this nickname for Offenbach,<ref>Pourvoyeur, p. 180</ref> although for most of his life Offenbach's music was anathema to him; it was only in the last year of his life that Wagner wrote, "Look at Offenbach. He writes like the divine Mozart".<ref>Faris, p. 27</ref>|group= n}} Offenbach revered [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] above all other composers. He had an ambition to present Mozart's neglected one-act comic opera {{lang|de|[[Der Schauspieldirektor]]}} (''The Impresario'') at the {{lang|fr|Bouffes-Parisiens|italic=no}}, and he acquired the score from Vienna.<ref name=birth/> With a text translated and adapted by {{lang|fr|[[Léon Battu]]|italic=no}} and {{lang|fr|Ludovic Halévy|italic=no}}, he presented it during the Mozart centenary celebrations in May 1856 as {{lang|fr|L'impresario}}; it was popular with the public<ref>Yon, p. 179</ref> and also greatly enhanced the critical and social standing of the {{lang|fr|Bouffes-Parisiens|italic=no}}.<ref name="f58"/> By command of the emperor, [[Napoleon III]], the company performed at the [[Tuileries Palace]] shortly after the first performance.<ref name=birth/>

In a long article in {{lang|fr|[[Le Figaro]]}} in July 1856, Offenbach traced the history of comic opera. He declared that the first work worthy to be called {{lang|fr|opéra-comique|italic=no}} was [[François-André Danican Philidor|Philidor]]'s 1759 {{lang|fr|[[Blaise le savetier]]}} (Blaise the Cobbler), and he described the gradual divergence of Italian and French notions of comic opera, with verve, imagination and gaiety from Italian composers, and mischief, common sense, good taste and wit from the French composers.{{refn|{{lang|fr|"Où l'Italien donnait carrière à sa verve et à son imagination, le Français s'est piqué de malice, de bon sens et de bon goût; où son modèle sacrifiait exclusivement à la gaité, il a sacrifié surtout à l'esprit."|italic=no}}<ref>Offenbach, Jacques. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k269487z/f6.textePage.r=offenbach.langEN "Concours pour une opérette en un acte"], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115093556/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k269487z/f6.textePage.r=offenbach.langEN/ |date=15 November 2016 }}, ''Le Figaro'', 17 July 1856</ref>|group= n}} He concluded that comic opera had become too grand and inflated. His disquisition was a preliminary to the announcement of an open competition for aspiring composers.<ref name=curtiss>Curtiss, Mina. "Bizet, Offenbach, and Rossini", ''[[The Musical Quarterly]]'', Vol. 40, No. 3 (July 1954), pp. 350–359 {{JSTOR|740074}} {{subscription required}}</ref> A jury of French composers and playwrights including {{lang|fr|[[Daniel Auber]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|Fromental Halévy|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|[[Ambroise Thomas]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|[[Charles Gounod]]|italic=no}} and {{lang|fr|[[Eugène Scribe]]|italic=no}} considered 78 entries; the five short-listed entrants were all asked to set a libretto, {{lang|fr|Le docteur miracle}}, written by {{lang|fr|Ludovic Halévy|italic=no}} and {{lang|fr|Léon Battu|italic=no}}.<ref>Gammond, p. 42</ref> The joint winners were [[Georges Bizet]] and [[Charles Lecocq]]. {{lang|fr|Bizet|italic=no}} became, and remained, a friend of Offenbach. {{lang|fr|Lecocq|italic=no}} and Offenbach took a dislike to each other, and their subsequent rivalry was not altogether friendly.<ref name=curtiss/><ref>Gammond, p. 43</ref>

Although the {{lang|fr|Bouffes-Parisiens|italic=no}} played to full houses, the theatre was constantly on the verge of running out of money, principally because of what his biographer [[Alexander Faris]] calls "Offenbach's incorrigible extravagance as a manager".<ref name=f58>Faris, p. 58</ref> An earlier biographer, {{lang|fr|André Martinet|italic=no}}, wrote, "Jacques spent money without counting. Whole lengths of velvet were swallowed up in the auditorium; costumes devoured width after width of satin."{{refn|{{lang|fr|"Des pièces de velours se sont englouties dans le salle, les costumes ont dévoré des lés de satin."|italic=no}}<ref name=martinet>Martinet, p. 44</ref> The English translation is given in Faris.<ref name=f58/>|group= n}} Moreover, Offenbach was personally generous and liberally hospitable.<ref name=martinet/> To boost the company's finances, a London season was organised in 1857, half the company remaining in Paris to play at the {{lang|fr|Salle Choiseul|italic=no}} and the other half performing at the [[St James's Theatre]] in the [[West End theatre|West End]] of London.<ref name=birth/> The visit was a success, but did not cause the sensation that Offenbach's later works did in London.<ref>Gammond, p. 46</ref>