Editing Jacques Offenbach (section)

==={{lang|fr|Orphée aux enfers}}===
[[File:1878 poster for Jacques Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers.jpg|thumb|left|Poster for a 19th-century production of ''[[Orpheus in the Underworld]]''|alt=theatre poster with extravagant lettering and showing characters from the operetta]]
In 1858, the government lifted the licensing restrictions on the number of performers,<!-- DIDN'T Offenbach have something to do with the change in the law? --> and Offenbach was able to present more ambitious works. His first full-length operetta, {{lang|fr|[[Orpheus in the Underworld|Orphée aux enfers]]}} ("Orpheus in the Underworld"), was presented in October 1858. Offenbach, as usual, spent freely on the production, with scenery by {{lang|fr|[[Gustave Doré]]|italic=no}}, lavish costumes, a cast of twenty principals, and a large chorus and orchestra.<ref>Harding, p. 110</ref>

As the company was particularly short of money following an abortive season in Berlin, a big success was urgently needed. At first the production seemed merely to be a modest success. It soon benefited from an outraged review by {{lang|fr|[[Jules Janin]]|italic=no}}, the critic of the {{lang|fr|[[Journal des débats]]}}. He condemned the piece for profanity and irreverence to Roman mythology: the theme was the legend of [[Orpheus and Eurydice]], although Napoleon III and his government were generally seen as the real targets of its satire.<ref>Faris, p. 71; and Gammond, p. 54</ref> Offenbach and his librettist {{lang|fr|[[Hector-Jonathan Crémieux|Hector Crémieux]]|italic=no}} seized on this free publicity, and joined in a lively public debate in the columns of the Parisian daily newspaper {{lang|fr|Le Figaro}}.<ref name=g54>Gammond, p. 54</ref> Janin's indignation made the public agog to see the work, and the box office takings were prodigious. The piece ran for 228 performances, at a time when a run of 100 nights was considered a success.<ref>[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> {{lang|fr|Albert de Lasalle|italic=no}}, 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>Lasalle, p. 81</ref> Among those who wanted to see the satire of the emperor was the emperor himself, who commanded a performance in April 1860.<ref name=g54/> Despite many great successes during the rest of Offenbach's career, {{lang|fr|Orphée aux enfers}} remained his most popular work. Gammond lists among the reasons for its success, "the sweeping waltzes" reminiscent of Vienna but with a new French flavour, the [[patter song]]s, and "above all else, of course, the [[can-can]] which had led a naughty life in low places since the 1830s or thereabouts and now became a polite fashion, as uninhibited as ever".<ref>Gammond, p. 56</ref>

In the 1859 season the {{lang|fr|Bouffes-Parisiens|italic=no}} presented new works by composers including Flotow, Jules Erlanger, {{lang|fr|[[Alphonse Varney]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|fr|Delibes|italic=no}}, and Offenbach himself. Of Offenbach's new pieces, {{lang|fr|[[Geneviève de Brabant]]}}, though initially only a mild success, was later revised and gained much popularity; the comedy duet of the two cowardly gendarmes became a favourite number in Britain as well as France and the basis for the [[Marines' Hymn]] in the US.<ref>Gammond, p. 57</ref><ref>[https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200000011 "Marines' Hymn"], US Library of Congress. Retrieved 26 April 2024</ref>