Editing Jacques Offenbach

{{Short description|German-born French composer (1819–1880)}}
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[[File:Jacques Offenbach by Nadar.jpg|thumb|Offenbach by [[Nadar]]|alt=photograph of ageing white man, balding, with moustache and side whiskers, in a huge fur coat and wearing pince-nez]]
'''Jacques Offenbach''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɒ|f|ən|b|ɑː|x}};{{refn|Also {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|ɔː|f|-}}; {{IPA|fr|ʒɑk ɔfɛnbak|lang}}; {{IPA|de|ˈʔɔfn̩bax|lang|De-Offenbach.ogg}}|group=n}} 20 June 1819{{spnd}}5 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and [[impresario]]. He is remembered for his nearly 100 [[operetta]]s 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.

Born in [[Cologne]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], the son of a synagogue [[hazzan|cantor]], Offenbach showed early musical talent. At the age of 14, he was accepted as a student at the [[Paris Conservatoire]]; he found academic study unfulfilling and left after a year, but remained in Paris. From 1835 to 1855 he earned his living as a cellist, achieving international fame, and as a conductor. His ambition, however, was to compose comic pieces for the musical theatre. Finding the management of Paris's {{langr|fr|[[Opéra-Comique]]}} company uninterested in staging his works, in 1855 he leased a small theatre in the {{langr|fr|[[Champs-Élysées]]}}. There, during the next three years, he presented a series of more than two dozen of his own small-scale pieces, many of which became popular.

In 1858 Offenbach produced his first full-length operetta, {{lang|fr|[[Orpheus in the Underworld|Orphée aux enfers]]}} ("Orpheus in the Underworld"), with its celebrated [[can-can]]; the work was exceptionally well received and has remained his most played. During the 1860s, he produced at least eighteen full-length operettas, as well as more one-act pieces. His works from this period include {{lang|fr|[[La belle Hélène]]}} (1864), {{Lang|fr|[[La Vie parisienne (operetta)|La Vie parisienne]]}} (1866), {{lang|fr|[[La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein]]}} (1867) and {{lang|fr|[[La Périchole]]}} (1868). The risqué humour (often about sexual intrigue) and mostly gentle satiric barbs in these pieces, together with Offenbach's facility for melody, made them internationally known, and translated versions were successful in Vienna, London, elsewhere in Europe and in the US.

Offenbach became associated with the [[Second French Empire]] of [[Napoleon III]]: the emperor and his court were genially satirised in many of Offenbach's operettas, and Napoleon personally granted him French citizenship and the {{Langr|fr|[[Légion d'honneur]]}}. With the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in 1870, and the fall of the empire, Offenbach found himself out of favour in Paris because of his imperial connections and his German birth. He remained successful in Vienna, London and New York. 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 US tour. In his last years he strove to finish ''The Tales of Hoffmann'', but died before the premiere of the opera, which has entered the standard repertory in versions completed or edited by other musicians.
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==Life and career==

===Early years===
[[File:Offenbach-in-1840s.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Offenbach in the 1840s|alt=Drawing of young white man, seated, clean shaven, in 19th century day clothes, with longish but neat dark hair]]
Offenbach was born on 20 June 1819, as '''Jacob''' (or '''Jakob'''{{refn|Biographers are divided on the original form of his given name: Faris (1980),<ref name=f21>Faris, p. 21</ref> Pourvoyeur (1994),<ref>Pourvoyeur, p. 28</ref> Yon (2000),<ref>Yon, p. 49</ref> and Lamb (''Grove's Dictionary'', 2007)<ref name=grove/> give it as "Jacob"; Henseler (1930),<ref>Henseler, title page ''et passim''</ref> Kracauer (1938),<ref>Kracauer, p. 38</ref> Almeida (1976)<ref name="Almeida, p. iv">Almeida, p. iv</ref> Gammond (1980),<ref name=g15/> and Harding (1980)<ref>Harding, pp. 9–11</ref> give it as "Jakob". Gammond reproduces the title page of Offenbach's Opus 1 (1833), where his name is printed as "Jacob Offenbach".<ref>Gammond, p. 14</ref>|group= n}}) '''Offenbach''' to a Jewish family in the German city of [[Cologne]], which was then a part of [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]].<ref>Gammond, p. 13</ref> His birthplace in the {{langr|de|Großer Griechenmarkt}} was a short distance from the square that is now named after him, the {{langr|de|Offenbachplatz}}.<ref name=grove>{{cite Grove|last=Lamb|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Lamb (writer)|id=20271|title=Offenbach, Jacques [Jacob]|year=2001}} {{subscription required}}</ref> He was the second son and the seventh of ten children of Isaac Juda Offenbach {{né}} Eberst (1779–1850) and his wife Marianne {{née}} Rindskopf ({{circa|1783}}–1840).<ref>Faris, p. 14</ref> Isaac, who came from a musical family, had abandoned his original trade as a bookbinder and earned an itinerant living as a [[hazzan|cantor]] in synagogues and playing the violin in cafés.<ref>Faris, p. 17</ref> He was generally known as "{{langr|de|der Offenbacher}}", after his native town, [[Offenbach am Main]], and in 1808 he officially adopted Offenbach as a surname.{{refn|Gammond and Almeida state that Isaac was already using the surname Offenbach by the time of his marriage in 1805. Yon states that the formal adoption of the surname in 1808 was in compliance with a Napoleonic decree requiring Jewish surnames to be regularised.<ref>Gammond, p. 13, Almeida, p. ix, and Yon, p. 10</ref>|group= n}} 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.<ref name=g15>Gammond, pp. 13 and 15</ref>

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.<ref name=g15/> As Isaac was by then the permanent cantor of the local synagogue, he could afford to pay for his son to take lessons from the well-known cellist Bernhard Breuer. Three years later, the biographer [[Gabriel Grovlez]] records, the boy was giving performances of his own compositions, "the technical difficulties of which terrified his master", Breuer.<ref name=grovlez>[[Gabriel Grovlez|Grovlez, Gabriel]]. "Jacques Offenbach: A Centennial Sketch", ''[[The Musical Quarterly]]'', Vol. 5, No. 3 (July 1919), pp. 329–337 {{JSTOR|738195}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Together with his brother Julius (violin) and sister [[Isabella Offenbach Maas|Isabella]] (piano), Jacob played in a trio at local dance halls, inns and cafés, performing popular dance music and operatic arrangements.<ref>Faris, p. 18</ref>{{refn|Offenbach was accustomed to giving the year of his birth as 1821, possibly a legacy of his days as a child prodigy, when his age was routinely understated for effect.<ref name=g15/><ref name=grovlez/>|group= n}} In 1833 Isaac decided that his musically talented sons Julius and Jacob (then aged 18 and 14) needed to leave the provincial musical scene of Cologne to study in Paris. With generous support from local music lovers and the municipal orchestra, with whom they gave a farewell concert on 9 October, the two young musicians, accompanied by their father, made the four-day journey to Paris in November 1833.<ref>Faris, p. 19</ref>

Isaac had been given letters of introduction to the director of the [[Paris Conservatoire]], [[Luigi Cherubini]], but had to persuade Cherubini even to give Jacob an audition. The boy's age and nationality were both obstacles to admission.{{refn|Yon notes that although foreign nationality was an absolute barrier to entry for the Conservatoire's prestigious competitions, it was a lesser obstacle to enrolment as a student.<ref>Yon, p. 23</ref>|group= n}} Cherubini had several years earlier refused the twelve-year-old [[Franz Liszt]] admission on similar grounds,<ref>Faris, p. 20</ref> but he eventually agreed to hear the young Offenbach play. He listened to his playing and stopped him, saying, "Enough, young man, you are now a pupil of this Conservatoire."<ref name=g17>Gammond, p. 17</ref> Julius was also admitted. Both brothers adopted French forms of their names, Julius becoming Jules and Jacob becoming Jacques.<ref>Harding, p. 19</ref>

[[File:Offenbach's-mentors.png|thumb|right|Early influences (clockwise from top left) [[Luigi Cherubini]], [[Fromental Halévy]], [[Friedrich von Flotow]], [[Louis-Pierre Norblin]]|alt=head shots of four middle-aged white men, all clean-shaven, except that Flotow has a moustache]]
Isaac hoped to secure permanent employment in Paris but failed to do so and returned to Cologne.<ref name=g17/> Before leaving, he found several pupils for Jules; the modest earnings from those lessons, supplemented by fees earned by both brothers as members of synagogue choirs, supported them during their studies. At the conservatoire, Jules was a diligent student; he graduated and became a successful violin teacher and conductor, and was {{lang|fr|[[concertmaster|premier violon]]}} of his younger brother's orchestra for several years.<ref>Gammond, p. 18</ref> By contrast, Jacques was bored by academic study and left after a year. The conservatoire's roll of students notes against his name "Struck off on 2&nbsp;December 1834 (left of his own free will)".<ref>Faris, p. 224</ref>{{refn|Harding gives the date as 24 December.<ref>Harding, p. 20</ref>|group=n}}

===Cello virtuoso===
Having left the conservatoire, Offenbach was free from the stern academicism of Cherubini's curriculum, but as the biographer [[James Harding (music writer)|James Harding]] writes, "he was free, also, to starve".<ref>Harding, p. 21</ref> He secured a few temporary jobs in theatre orchestras before gaining a permanent appointment in 1835 as a cellist at the {{langr|fr|[[Opéra-Comique]]}}. He was no more serious there than he had been at the conservatoire, and regularly had his pay docked for playing pranks during performances; on one occasion, he and the principal cellist played alternate notes of the printed score, and on another they sabotaged some of their colleagues' music stands to make them collapse in mid-performance.<ref name=f21/> Nevertheless, the earnings from his orchestral work enabled him to take lessons with the celebrated cellist [[Louis-Pierre Norblin]].<ref>Gammond, p. 19</ref> He made a favourable impression on the composer and conductor [[Fromental Halévy]], who gave him lessons in composition and orchestration and wrote to Isaac Offenbach in Cologne that the young man was going to be a great composer.<ref>Gammond, pp. 19–20</ref> Some of Offenbach's early compositions were played by the fashionable conductor [[Louis-Antoine Jullien]].<ref>Harding, p. 27</ref> Offenbach and another young composer, [[Friedrich von Flotow]], collaborated in 1839 on a series of works for cello and piano.<ref name=grove/><ref>Faris, pp. 23 and 257</ref> Although Offenbach's ambition was to compose for the stage, he could not gain an entrée to Parisian theatre at this point in his career; with Flotow's help, he built a reputation composing for and playing in the fashionable salons of Paris.<ref>Faris, p. 23 and Gammond, pp. 22–23</ref> Through contacts he made there he gained pupils.<ref name=grove/> In 1838 the {{lang|fr|[[Théâtre du Palais-Royal]]|italic=no}} commissioned him to compose songs for the play {{lang|fr|Pascal et Chambord}}, staged in March 1839.<ref>Yon, p. 44</ref> In January 1839, together with his elder brother, he gave his first public concert.<ref>Yon, p. 45</ref>

[[File:Young Offenbach.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Offenbach as a young cello virtuoso: drawing by Alexandre Laemlein from 1850|alt=sketch of young white man with side whiskers (no moustache) playing the cello]]
Among the salons at which Offenbach most frequently appeared, from 1839, was that of Madeleine-Sophie, {{lang|fr|comtesse de Vaux|italic=no}}.<ref>Yon, p. 43; and Schwarz, p. 45</ref> There he met Hérminie d'Alcain, the fifteen-year-old daughter of a [[Carlist]] general.<ref name=f28>Faris, p. 28</ref><ref>Yon, p. 62</ref> They fell in love, and in 1843 they became engaged, but he was not yet in a financial position to marry.<ref name=g28>Gammond, p. 28</ref> To extend his fame and earning power beyond Paris, he undertook tours of France and Germany.<ref>Yon, p. 59</ref> Among those with whom he performed were [[Anton Rubinstein]] and in September 1843 in a concert in Offenbach's native Cologne, Liszt.<ref name=grove/><ref>Yon, p. 59</ref> In 1844, probably through English family connections of Hérminie,<ref>Harding, p. 39</ref> he embarked on a tour of England. There, he was immediately engaged to appear with some of the most famous musicians of the day, including [[Felix Mendelssohn]], [[Joseph Joachim]], [[Michael Costa (conductor)|Michael Costa]] and [[Julius Benedict]].<ref name=g28/> ''[[The Era (newspaper)|The Era]]'' wrote of his debut performance in London, "His execution and taste excited both wonder and pleasure, the genius he exhibited amounting to absolute inspiration."<ref>"Madame Puzzi's Concert", ''The Era'', 19 May 1844, p. 5</ref> The British press reported a triumphant [[Royal Command Performance|royal command performance]]; ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'' observed, "Herr Jacques Offenbach, the astonishing Violoncellist, performed on Thursday evening at [[Windsor Castle|Windsor]] before the [[Nicholas I of Russia|Emperor of Russia]], the [[Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach|King of Saxony]], [[Queen Victoria]], and [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Prince Albert]] with great success."<ref>''The Illustrated London News'', 8 June 1844, p. 370</ref> The use of the German "{{langr|de|Herr}}", reflecting the fact that Offenbach remained a Prussian citizen, was common to all the British press coverage of Offenbach's 1844 tour.<ref>"Varieties", ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'' 12 June 1844, p. 5; and "Madame Dulcken's Concert", ''[[The Times]]'', 12 June 1844, p. 7</ref> The ambiguity of his nationality sometimes caused him difficulty in later life when France and Prussia became enemies.<ref name=ashley/>

Offenbach returned to Paris with his reputation and his bank balance both much enhanced. The last remaining obstacle to his marriage to Hérminie was the difference in their professed religions; he converted to Roman Catholicism, with the {{lang|fr|comtesse de Vaux|italic=no}} acting as his sponsor. Isaac Offenbach's views on his son's conversion from Judaism are unknown.<ref name=h40>Harding, p. 40</ref> The wedding took place on 14 August 1844; the bride was seventeen years old, and the bridegroom was twenty-five.<ref name=h40/> The marriage was lifelong, and happy, despite some extramarital affairs on Offenbach's part.<ref>Harding, p. 52 and Faris, p. 103</ref>{{refn|In addition to a long affair with [[Zulma Bouffar]], Offenbach was known to have had shorter affairs with the singers [[Marie Cico]] and [[Valtesse de la Bigne|Louise Valtesse]].<ref>Yon, pp. 214, 393 and 407</ref>|group= n}} After Offenbach's death, a friend said that Hérminie "gave him courage, shared his ordeals and comforted him always with tenderness and devotion".<ref>[[Victorin de Joncières|De Joncières, Victorin]], ''quoted'' in Gammond, p. 30</ref>

[[File:Jacques Offenbach by Édouard Riou & Nadar.jpg|thumb|upright|right|The composer-conductor caricatured, 1858|alt=sketch of gaunt, beaky, bewhiskered man, wearing Pince-nez eyeglasses, with a cello]]
Returning to the familiar Paris salons, Offenbach gradually shifted the emphasis of his work from being a cellist who also composed to being a composer who also played the cello.<ref>Gammond, p. 30</ref> He had already published many compositions, and some of them had sold well, but now he began to write, perform and produce musical [[Burlesque#Burlesque in music|burlesques]] as part of his salon presentations.<ref name=g32>Gammond, p. 32</ref> He amused the comtesse de Vaux's 200 guests with a parody of [[Félicien David]]'s currently fashionable {{lang|fr|[[Le désert]]}}, and in April 1846 gave a concert at which seven operatic items of his own composition were premiered before an audience that included leading music critics.<ref name=g32/> The following year he staged his first operetta, the one-act {{lang|fr|L'Alcove}}. It had been written at the invitation of the {{lang|fr|Opéra-Comique|italic=no}}, which had then failed to present it, and Offenbach mounted the production himself as part of an evening of his works at the {{lang|fr|École lyrique|italic=no}}.<ref>Yon, p. 75</ref> He seemed on the verge of breaking into theatrical composition when the [[French Revolution of 1848|1848 revolution]] broke out, sweeping [[Louis Philippe I|Louis Philippe]] from the throne and leading to serious bloodshed in the streets of the capital. Three hundred and fifty people were killed within three days.<ref>Horne, pp. 225–226</ref> Offenbach hastily took Hérminie and their two-year-old daughter to join his family in Cologne. The city was experiencing its own [[Revolutions of 1848|nationalistic revolutionary upheaval]] and Offenbach found it expedient to change his forename back to the German while there.<ref>Gammond, p. 33</ref>

Returning to Paris in February 1849 Offenbach found the grand salons closed down. He went back to working as a cellist, and occasional conductor, at the {{lang|fr|Opéra-Comique|italic=no}}, but was not encouraged in his aspirations to compose.<ref>Gammond, p. 34</ref> His talents had been noted by the director of the [[Comédie-Française]], [[Arsène Houssaye]], who appointed him musical director of the theatre in 1850, with a brief to enlarge and improve the orchestra.<ref>Harding, p. 51</ref> Offenbach composed songs and [[incidental music]] for eleven classical and modern dramas for the {{lang|fr|Comédie-Française|italic=no}} in the early 1850s. Some of his songs became very popular, and he gained valuable experience in writing for the theatre. Houssaye later wrote that Offenbach had done wonders for his theatre,<ref>Harding, p. 54</ref> but the management of the {{lang|fr|Opéra-Comique|italic=no}} was uninterested in commissioning him to compose for its stage.<ref>Gammond, pp. 35–36</ref> The composer and critic [[Claude Debussy]] later wrote that the musical establishment could not cope with Offenbach's irony, which exposed the "false, overblown quality" of the operas they favoured – "the great art at which one was not allowed to smile".<ref>Debussy, ''quoted'' in Faris, p. 28</ref>

==={{lang|fr|Bouffes-Parisiens, Champs-Élysées|italic=no}}===
Between 1853 and May 1855 Offenbach wrote three one-act [[operetta]]s and managed to have them staged in Paris.{{refn|They were {{lang|fr|Le trésor à Mathurin}}, {{lang|fr|[[Pépito (opera)|Pépito]]}}, and {{lang|fr|Luc et Lucette}}.<ref name=grove/>|group= n}} They were all well received, but the authorities of the {{lang|fr|Opéra-Comique|italic=no}} remained unmoved. Offenbach found more encouragement from the composer, singer and impresario Florimond Ronger, known professionally as {{lang|fr|[[Hervé (composer)|Hervé]]|italic=no}}. At his theatre, the {{lang|fr|[[Théâtre Déjazet|Folies-Nouvelles]]|italic=no}}, opened in 1854, {{lang|fr|Hervé|italic=no}} pioneered French light comic opera, or "{{lang|fr|[[opérette]]|italic=no}}".<ref name=grovlez/><ref>Huebner, Steven. "Review: ''Hervé: Un Musicien paradoxal (1825–1892)''", ''[[Notes (journal)|Notes]]'', Second Series, Vol. 50, No. 3 (March 1994), pp. 972–973 {{JSTOR|898563}} {{subscription required}}; Harding, pp. 59–61; and Kracauer, pp. 138–139</ref> In ''[[The Musical Quarterly]]'', Martial Teneo and [[Theodore Baker]] wrote, "Without the example set by {{lang|fr|Hervé|italic=no}}, Offenbach might perhaps never have become the musician who penned {{lang|fr|[[Orphée aux Enfers]]}}, {{lang|fr|[[La belle Hélène]]}}, and so many other triumphant works."<ref name=teneo>Teneo, Martial, and [[Theodore Baker]]. "Jacques Offenbach: His Centenary", ''[[The Musical Quarterly]]'', Vol. 6, No. 1 (January 1920), pp. 98–117 {{JSTOR|738103}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Offenbach approached {{lang|fr|Hervé|italic=no}}, who agreed to present a new one-act operetta with words by [[Jules Moinaux]] and music by Offenbach, called {{lang|fr|Oyayaye ou La reine des îles}}.{{refn|The authorities spelling the name as "{{lang|fr|Oyayaye|italic=no}}" include Faris,<ref name="Faris, p. 49">Faris, p. 49</ref> Lamb,<ref name=grove/> Pourvoyeur,<ref>Pourvoyeur, p. 241</ref> and Yon;<ref>Yon, p. 141</ref> Gammond,<ref name=g36/> Harding,<ref>Harding, p. 61</ref> and Kracauer<ref>Kracauer, pp. 139–140</ref> spell the name as "{{lang|fr|Oyayaie|italic=no}}".|group= n}} It was presented on 26 June 1855 and was well received. Offenbach's biographer [[Peter Gammond]] describes it as "a charming piece of nonsense".<ref name=g36>Gammond, p. 36</ref> The piece depicts a double-bass player, played by {{lang|fr|Hervé|italic=no}}, shipwrecked on a cannibal island, who after several perilous encounters with the female chief of the cannibals makes his escape using his double-bass as a boat.<ref name="Faris, p. 49"/> Offenbach pressed ahead with plans to present his works himself at his own theatre<ref name=g36/> and to abandon further thoughts of acceptance by the {{lang|fr|Opéra-Comique|italic=no}}.<ref name=f28/>

[[File:Bouffes-Parisiens-Nadar.png|thumb|right|Poster by Offenbach's friend [[Nadar]]|alt=Bouffes-Parisiens poster showing characters from the theatre's productions]]
Offenbach had chosen his theatre, the [[Salle Lacaze]] in the Champs-Élysées.<ref>Yon, p. 111</ref> The location and the timing were ideal for him. Paris was about to be filled between May and November with visitors from France and abroad for the [[Exposition Universelle (1855)|1855 Great Exhibition]]. The Salle Lacaze was next to the exhibition site. He later wrote:<ref>Offenbach, ''quoted'' in Gammond, p. 37 and Bekker, pp. 18–19. Various editions of Gammond give the spelling as "Lacaza" and "Lazaca". Bekker gives it as "Lacaze"</ref>
{{blockquote |text=In the Champs-Élysées, there was a little theatre to let, built for [the magician] {{lang|fr|Lacaze|italic=no}} but closed for many years. I knew that the Exhibition of 1855 would bring many people into this locality. By May, I had found twenty supporters and on 15 June I secured the lease. Twenty days later, I gathered my librettists and I opened the {{lang|fr|"[[Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens]]"|italic=no}}.}}
The description of the theatre as "little" was accurate: it could hold an audience of at most 300.<ref name=grove/><ref>Yon, pp. 134–135</ref> It was therefore well suited to the tiny casts permitted under the prevailing licensing laws: Offenbach was limited to three speaking (or singing) characters in any piece.{{refn|Offenbach was licensed to put on "harlequinades, pantomimes, comic scenes, conjuring tricks, dances, shadow shows, puppet plays and songs" – subject to the maximum of three singers or actors stipulated.<ref>Harding, p. 63</ref>|group= n}} With such small forces, full-length works were out of the question, and Offenbach, like Hervé, presented evenings of several one-act pieces.<ref name=f49>Faris, pp. 49–51</ref> The opening of the theatre was a frantic rush, with less than a month between the issue of the licence and the opening night on 5&nbsp;July 1855.<ref name=birth/> During this period Offenbach had to "equip the theatre, recruit actors, orchestra and staff, find authors to write material for the opening programme – and compose the music".<ref name=f49/> Among those he recruited at short notice was {{lang|fr|[[Ludovic Halévy]]|italic=no}}, the nephew of Offenbach's early mentor {{lang|fr|Fromental Halévy|italic=no}}. Ludovic was a rising civil servant with a passion for the theatre and a gift for dialogue and verse. While maintaining his civil service career he went on to collaborate (sometimes under discreet pseudonyms) with Offenbach in 21 works over the next 24 years.<ref name=grove/>

{{lang|fr|Halévy|italic=no}} wrote the libretto for one of the pieces in the opening programme, but the most popular work of the evening had words by {{lang|fr|Moinaux|italic=no}}. {{lang|fr|[[Les deux aveugles]]}}, "The Two Blind Men", is a comedy about two beggars feigning blindness. During rehearsals there had been some concern that the public might judge it to be in poor taste,<ref>Harding, p. 66</ref> but it was not only the hit of the season in Paris: it was soon playing successfully in Vienna, London and elsewhere.<ref name="g39">Gammond, p. 39</ref> Another success in 1855 was {{lang|fr|[[Le violoneux]]}} (The Village Fiddler), which made a star of [[Hortense Schneider]] in her first role for Offenbach. When she auditioned for him, aged 22, he engaged her on the spot. From 1855 she was a key member of his companies through much of his career.<ref name="g39"/>

The Champs-Élysées in 1855 were not yet the grand avenue laid out by [[Georges-Eugène Haussmann|Baron Haussmann]] in the 1860s, but an unpaved {{lang|fr|[[Avenue (landscape)|allée]]|italic=no}}.<ref name=birth>Faris, Alexander. "The birth of the Bouffes-Parisiens", ''[[The Times]]'', 11 October 1980, p. 6</ref> The public who were flocking to Offenbach's theatre in the summer and autumn of 1855 could not be expected to venture there in the depths of a Parisian winter. He cast about for a suitable venue and found the {{lang|fr|Théâtre des Jeunes Élèves|italic=no}}, known also as the {{lang|fr|[[Salle Choiseul]]|italic=no}} or {{lang|fr|[[Théâtre Comte]]|italic=no}},<ref name=grovlez/> in central Paris. He entered into partnership with its proprietor and moved the {{lang|fr|Bouffes-Parisiens|italic=no}} there for the winter season. The company returned to the Salle Lacaze for the 1856, 1857 and 1859 summer seasons, performing at the {{lang|fr|Salle Choiseul|italic=no}} in the winter.<ref>Yon, pp. 760–762</ref> Legislation enacted in March 1861 prevented the company from using both theatres, and appearances at the {{lang|fr|Salle Lacaze|italic=no}} were discontinued.<ref>Levin, p. 401</ref>

==={{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>

==={{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>

===Early 1860s===
[[File:Jacques Offenbach et son fils.png|thumb|Offenbach with his only son, Auguste, 1865|alt=photograph of middle-aged father in frock coat, wearing Pince-nez eyeglasses and moustache, but no side-whiskers, with toddler sitting on his knee]]
The 1860s were Offenbach's most successful decade. At the beginning of 1860, he was granted French citizenship by the personal command of Napoleon III,<ref>Kracauer, p. 209</ref> and the following year he was appointed a chevalier of the {{Lang|fr|[[Légion d'honneur]]|italic=no}}; this appointment scandalised those members of the musical establishment who resented such an honour for a composer of popular light opera.<ref name="Faris, p. 84">Faris, p. 84</ref> Offenbach began the decade with his only substantial ballet score, {{lang|fr|[[Le papillon (ballet)|Le papillon]]}} ("The Butterfly"), produced at the [[Paris Opera|Opéra]] in 1860. It achieved what was then a successful run of 42 performances, without, as the biographer [[Andrew Lamb (writer)|Andrew Lamb]] says, "giving him any greater acceptance in more respectable circles".<ref name=grove/> Among other operettas in the same year, he finally had a piece presented by the {{lang|fr|Opéra-Comique|italic=no}}, the three-act {{lang|fr|[[Barkouf]]}}. It was not a success; its plot revolved around a dog, and Offenbach attempted canine imitations in his music. Neither the public nor the critics were impressed, and the piece survived for only seven performances.<ref>Gammond, p. 63</ref>

Apart from that setback, Offenbach flourished in the 1860s, the successes greatly outnumbering the failures. In 1861 he led the company in a summer season in Vienna. Encountering packed houses and enthusiastic reviews, Offenbach found Vienna much to his liking. He even reverted, for a single evening, to his old role as a cello virtuoso at a command performance before [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Emperor Franz Joseph]].<ref name=g70>Gammond, p. 70</ref> That success was followed by a failure in Berlin. Offenbach, though born a Prussian citizen, observed, "Prussia never does anything to make those of our nationality happy."{{refn|"La prusse ne ferait jamais le bonheur de nos nationaux".<ref name=g70/>|group= n}} He and the company hastened back to Paris.<ref name=g70/> Meanwhile, among his operettas that season were the full-length {{lang|fr|[[Le pont des soupirs]]}} and the one-act {{lang|fr|[[M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le . . .|M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le...]]}}.<ref>[[Kurt Gänzl|Gänzl, Kurt]]. [http://www.operetta-research-center.org/main.php?task=5&cat=4&sub_cat=10&id=00044 "Jacques Offenbach"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727082145/http://www.operetta-research-center.org/main.php?task=5&cat=4&sub_cat=10&id=00044 |date=27 July 2011 }}. Operetta Research Center, 27 February 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2011</ref>{{refn|Respectively, The Bridge of Sighs and M. Choufleuri will stay at home on...|group=n}}

In 1862, Offenbach's only son, Auguste (died 1883), was born, the last of five children. In the same year, Offenbach resigned as director of the Bouffes-Parisiens, handing the post over to Alphonse Varney. He continued to write most of his works for the company, with occasional pieces first given at the summer season at [[Bad Ems]].{{refn| The Bad Ems pieces were, {{lang|fr|[[Les bavards]]}} (1862), {{lang|fr|[[Il signor Fagotto]]}} (1863), {{lang|fr|[[Lischen et Fritzchen]]}} (1863), {{lang|fr|Le fifre enchanté, ou Le soldat}} (1864), {{lang|fr|Jeanne qui pleure et Jean qui rit}} (1864), {{lang|fr|Coscoletto, ou Le lazzarone}} (1865), and {{lang|fr|La permission de dix heures}} (1867). Most of them were played at the Bouffes-Parisiens in the winter season after their premieres.<ref name=grove/>|group= n}} Despite problems with the libretto, Offenbach completed a serious opera in 1864, {{lang|de|[[Die Rheinnixen]]}}, a hotchpotch of romantic and mythological themes.<ref>Gammond, pp. 77–78</ref> The opera was presented with substantial cuts at the [[Vienna State Opera|Vienna Court Opera]] and in Cologne in 1865. It was not given again until 2002, when it was finally performed in its entirety. Since then it has been given several productions.<ref>[http://www.jean-christophekeck.com/FeesduRhin%20livre%20OEK.pdf OEK Dokumentation 2002–2006, Jacques Offenbach, ''Les Fées du Rhin''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211110944/http://www.jean-christophekeck.com/FeesduRhin%20livre%20OEK.pdf |date=11 December 2009 }}, Boosey & Hawkes, Bote Bock (in German), 2006, p. 59</ref> It contained one number, the {{lang|de|"Elfenchor"|italic=no}}, described by the critic [[Eduard Hanslick]] as "lovely, luring and sensuous",<ref>Gammond, p. 78</ref> which [[Ernest Guiraud]] later adapted as the Barcarolle in ''The Tales of Hoffmann''.<ref>Faris, p. 24</ref> After December 1864, Offenbach wrote less frequently for the Bouffes-Parisiens, and many of his new works premiered at larger theatres.<ref name=grove/>

===Later 1860s===
[[File:Offenbach's other leading ladies.jpg|thumb|left|Offenbach's leading ladies (clockwise from top left): Marie Garnier in ''[[Orphée aux enfers]]'', [[Zulma Bouffar]] in ''[[Les brigands]]'', Léa Silly (role unidentified), Rose Deschamps in ''Orphée aux enfers''|alt=head shots of four white prima donnas in operatic costumes]]
Between 1864 and 1868 Offenbach wrote four of the operettas for which he is chiefly remembered: {{lang|fr|La belle Hélène}} (1864), {{Lang|fr|[[La Vie parisienne (operetta)|La Vie parisienne]]}} (1866), {{lang|fr|[[La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein]]}} (1867) and {{lang|fr|[[La Périchole]]}} (1868). Halévy was joined as librettist for all of them by [[Henri Meilhac]]. Offenbach, who called them "Meil" and "Hal",<ref>Faris, p. 51</ref> said of this trinity: {{lang|fr|"Je suis sans doute le Père, mais chacun des deux est mon Fils et plein d'Esprit,"|italic=no}}<ref>Dufreigne, p. 302</ref> a play on words loosely translated as "I am certainly the Father, but each of them is my Son and Wholly Spirited".{{refn|Literally, "No doubt I am the Father; each of the two is my Son and Full of Verve" – "''esprit''" meaning both "[Holy] Spirit" and "wit", and "''Plein d'Esprit''" rhyming with "''[[Holy Ghost|Saint Esprit]]"''.|group= n}}

For {{lang|fr|La belle Hélène}} Offenbach secured Hortense Schneider to play the title role. Since her early success in his short operas, she had become a leading star of the French musical stage. She now commanded large fees and was notoriously temperamental, but Offenbach was adamant that no other singer could match her as Hélène.<ref name=g80/> Rehearsals for the premiere at the {{lang|fr|[[Théâtre des Variétés]]|italic=no}} were tempestuous, with Schneider and the principal [[mezzo-soprano]] Léa Silly feuding, the censor fretting about the satire of the imperial court, and the manager of the theatre attempting to rein in Offenbach's extravagance with production expenses.<ref name=g80>Gammond, p. 80</ref> Once again the success of the piece was inadvertently assured by the critic Janin; his scandalised notice was strongly countered by liberal critics and the ensuing publicity again brought the public flocking.<ref>Gammond, p. 81</ref>

{{lang|fr|[[Barbe-bleue (opera)|Barbe-bleue]]}} was a success in early 1866 and was quickly reproduced elsewhere. {{lang|fr|La Vie parisienne}} later in the same year was a new departure for Offenbach and his librettists; for the first time in a large-scale piece they chose a modern setting, instead of disguising their satire under a classical cloak. It needed no inadvertent boost from Janin but was an instant and prolonged success with Parisian audiences, although its very Parisian themes made it less popular abroad. Gammond describes the libretto as "almost worthy of [[W. S. Gilbert|[W. S.] Gilbert]]", and Offenbach's score as "certainly his best so far".<ref>Gammond, p. 87</ref> The piece starred [[Zulma Bouffar]], who began an affair with the composer that lasted until at least 1875.<ref>Harding, p. 141</ref>

In 1867 Offenbach had one of his greatest successes. The premiere of {{lang|fr|La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein}}, a satire on militarism,<ref>Gammond, p. 89</ref> took place two days after the opening of the [[Exposition Universelle (1867)|Paris Exhibition]], an even greater international draw than the 1855 exhibition which had helped him launch his composing career.<ref>Harding, pp. 165–168</ref> The Parisian public and foreign visitors flocked to the new operetta. Sovereigns who saw the piece included [[William I, German Emperor|King William of Prussia]] accompanied by his chief minister, [[Otto von Bismarck]]. Halévy, with his experience as a senior civil servant, saw the looming threat from Prussia; he wrote in his diary, "Bismarck is helping to double our takings. This time it's war we're laughing at, and war is at our gates."<ref>Harding, p. 172</ref> ''La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein'' was followed by a quick succession of modest successes. In 1867 he produced ''[[Robinson Crusoé]]'' and a revised version of ''Geneviève de Brabant''; in 1868, {{lang|fr|[[Le château à Toto]]}}, {{lang|fr|[[L'île de Tulipatan]]}} and a revised version of {{lang|fr|Le pont des soupirs}}.<ref>{{cite Grove|last=Lamb|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Lamb (writer)|id=O007720|title=Pont des soupirs, Le ('The Bridge of Sighs')|year=2002|orig-year=1992}} {{subscription required}} (''Le Pont de soupirs''); and Gammond, pp. 93–94 (''Robinson Crusoé'', ''Geneviève de Brabant'', ''Le château à Toto'' and ''L'île de Tulipatan'')</ref>

In October 1868 ''La Périchole'' marked a transition in Offenbach's style, with less exuberant satire and more human romantic interest.<ref name=g97>Gammond, p. 97</ref> Lamb calls it Offenbach's "most charming" score.<ref name=LambPerichole>{{cite Grove|last=Lamb|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Lamb (writer)|id=O903861|title=Périchole, La|orig-year=1992|year=2002}} {{subscription required}}</ref> There was some critical grumbling at the change, but the piece, with Schneider in the lead, made a good profit.<ref>Yon, p. 374</ref> It was quickly produced elsewhere in Europe and both North and South America.<ref>"''La Périchole''", ''{{ill|L'Avant-scène opéra|fr}}'', No. 66, August 1984</ref><ref>Gänzl and Lamb, p. 306</ref> Of the pieces that followed it at the end of the decade, ''Les brigands'' (1869) was another work that leaned more to romantic comic opera than to the more ebullient [[opéra bouffe]]. It was well received, but has been less often revived than Offenbach's best-known operettas.<ref name=g97/>

===War and aftermath===
Offenbach returned hurriedly from a trip to Ems and [[Wiesbaden]] just before the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in 1870. He then went to his home in [[Étretat]] in Normandy and arranged for his family to move to the safety of [[San Sebastián]] in northern Spain, joining them shortly afterwards.<ref>Yon, p. 396</ref><ref>Faris, p. 164</ref> Having risen to fame under Napoleon III, satirised him, and been rewarded by him, Offenbach was universally associated with the old régime: he was known as "the mocking-bird of the [[Second French Empire|Second Empire]]".<ref>Canning, Hugh. "I love Paris", ''[[The Sunday Times]]'', 5 November 2000, p. 10</ref> When the empire fell in the wake of Prussia's crushing victory at [[Battle of Sedan|Sedan]] in September 1870, Offenbach's music was suddenly out of favour. France was swept by violently anti-German sentiments, and despite his French citizenship and {{Lang|fr|Légion d'honneur|italic=no}}, his birth and upbringing in Cologne made him suspect. His operettas were now frequently vilified as the embodiment of everything superficial and worthless in Napoleon III's régime.<ref name=ashley/> {{lang|fr|La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein}} was banned in France because of its [[antimilitarist]] satire.<ref>Clements, Andrew. [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/oct/14/classicalmusicandopera.shopping2?INTCMP=SRCH "Offenbach: La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein"], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328034417/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/oct/14/classicalmusicandopera.shopping2?INTCMP=SRCH |date=28 March 2017 }}, ''[[The Guardian]]'', 14 October 2005</ref>

[[File:Perichole-royalty-1875.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Programme for the 1875 London production of ''[[La Périchole]]''|alt=poster for ''The Secret'' and ''La Périchole'' with cast lists surrounded by drawings of characters]]
Although his Parisian audience deserted him, Offenbach had by now become highly popular in London's West End. [[John Hollingshead]] of the [[Gaiety Theatre, London|Gaiety Theatre]] presented Offenbach's operettas to large and enthusiastic audiences.<ref>Gammond, p. 100</ref> Between 1870 and 1872, the Gaiety produced fifteen of his works. At the [[Royalty Theatre]], [[Richard D'Oyly Carte]] presented {{lang|fr|La Périchole}} in 1875.<ref>Young, pp. 105–106</ref> In Vienna, too, Offenbach works were regularly produced. While the war and its aftermath ravaged Paris, the composer supervised Viennese productions and travelled to England as the guest of the [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Prince of Wales]].<ref>Gammond, p. 102</ref>

By the end of 1871 life in Paris had returned to normal, and Offenbach ended his voluntary exile. His new works {{lang|fr|[[Le roi Carotte]]}} (1872) and {{lang|fr|[[La jolie parfumeuse]]}} (1873) were modestly profitable, but lavish revivals of his earlier successes did better at the box office. He decided to go back into theatre management and took over the [[Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin)|Théâtre de la Gaîté]] in July 1873.<ref>Gammond, p. 104</ref> His spectacular revival of {{lang|fr|Orphée aux enfers}} there was highly profitable; an attempt to repeat that success with a new, lavish version of {{lang|fr|Geneviève de Brabant}} proved less popular.<ref>Harding, p. 198</ref> Along with the costs of extravagant productions, collaboration with the dramatist [[Victorien Sardou]] culminated in financial disaster. An expensive production of Sardou's {{lang|fr|[[La Haine (drama)|La haine]]}} in 1874, with incidental music by Offenbach, failed to attract the public to the Gaîté, and Offenbach was forced to sell his interests in the Gaîté and to mortgage future royalties.<ref>Harding, pp. 199–200, and Yon, p. 502</ref>

In 1876 a successful tour of the US in connection with its [[U.S. Centennial|Centennial Exhibition]] enabled Offenbach to recover some of his losses and pay his debts. Beginning with a concert at [[Madison Square Garden (1879)|Gilmore's Garden]] before a crowd of 8,000 people, he gave a series of more than 40 concerts in New York and Philadelphia. To circumvent a Philadelphia law forbidding entertainments on Sundays, he disguised his operetta numbers as liturgical pieces and advertised a "Grand Sacred Concert by M. Offenbach". "{{lang|fr|Dis-moi, Vénus|italic=no}}" from {{lang|fr|La belle Hélène}} became a "{{lang|fr|Litanie}}", and other equally secular numbers were billed as "{{lang|fr|Prière}}" or "{{lang|fr|Hymne}}".<ref>O'Connor, Patrick. "The Embodiment of Success", ''[[The Times Literary Supplement]]'', 10 October 1980, p. 1128</ref> The local authorities were not deceived,<ref>Gammond, p. 116</ref> and withdrew authorisation for the concert at the last minute.<ref>"Offenbach in America", ''[[The Musical Times]]'', 1 April 1877, p. 168 {{doi|10.2307/3351964}} {{subscription required}}</ref> At [[Booth's Theatre]], New York, Offenbach conducted {{lang|fr|La vie parisienne}}<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1876/06/13/archives/amusements-the-opera-bouffe.html "Amusements – The Opera Bouffe"], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305033350/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9800E6DB1F3FE73BBC4B52DFB066838D669FDE&scp=10&sq=Offenbach&st=p |date=5 March 2016 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', 13 June 1876</ref> and his recent (1873) {{lang|fr|La jolie parfumeuse}}.<ref name=grove/> He returned to France in July 1876, with profits that were handsome but not spectacular.<ref name=teneo/>

Offenbach's later operettas enjoyed renewed popularity in France, especially {{lang|fr|[[Madame Favart]]}} (1878), which featured a fantasy plot about the real-life French actress [[Marie Favart|Marie Justine Favart]], and {{lang|fr|[[La fille du tambour-major]]}} (1879), which was the most successful of his operettas of the 1870s.<ref name=axxi/>

===Last years===
[[File:Contes-d'Hoffmann-1881.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|right|''[[The Tales of Hoffmann]]'' – scene from the premiere, showing [[Adèle Isaac]] as the dead Antonia, with (l. to r.) [[Hippolyte Belhomme]], [[Marguerite Ugalde]], [[Pierre Grivot]], [[Émile-Alexandre Taskin]], and [[Jean-Alexandre Talazac]]|alt=Photograph of white man with long hair in 19th century day clothes gesticulating manically over a female corpse, while two other men and a woman look on, horror-struck]]
Profitable though {{lang|fr|La fille du tambour-major}} was, composing it left Offenbach less time to work on his cherished project, the creation of a successful serious opera. Since the beginning of 1877, he had been working when he could on a piece based on a stage play, {{lang|fr|Les contes fantastiques d'Hoffmann}}, by [[Jules Barbier]] and [[Michel Carré]]. Offenbach had suffered from [[gout]] since the 1860s, often being carried into the theatre in a chair. Now in failing health, he was conscious of his own mortality and wished passionately to live long enough to complete the opera, {{lang|fr|[[The Tales of Hoffmann|Les contes d'Hoffmann]]}} ("The Tales of Hoffmann"). He was heard saying to Kleinzach, his dog, "I would give everything I have to be at the première".<ref>Faris, p. 192</ref> Offenbach did not live to finish the piece. He left the vocal score substantially complete and had made a start on the orchestration. Ernest Guiraud, a family friend, assisted by Offenbach's 18-year-old son Auguste, completed the orchestration, making major changes as well as the substantial cuts demanded by the {{lang|fr|Opéra-Comique|italic=no}}'s director, Carvalho.<ref name="KeckASO">[[Jean-Christophe Keck|Keck, Jean-Christophe]]. "{{lang|fr|Genèse et légendes}}", {{lang|fr|L'Avant-Scène Opéra – Les Contes d'Hoffmann}}, Éditions Premières Loges, Paris, No 235, 2006.</ref>{{refn|Guiraud added [[recitative]]s in place of the spoken dialogue.<ref>Gammond, pp. 132–133</ref> The orchestral parts were destroyed in the {{lang|fr|Opéra-Comique|italic=no}} fire of 1887. Using surviving manuscripts, and with the researches of the Offenbach expert [[Antonio de Almeida (conductor)|Antonio de Almeida]] and others, a score closer to Offenbach's conception has been possible, but, in Lamb's phrase, "there can never be a definitive score of a work that Offenbach never quite completed".<ref name=grove/>|group= n}} The opera was first seen at the {{lang|fr|Opéra-Comique|italic=no}} on 10 February 1881.<ref name="KeckASO"/> Offenbach also left his last comedy, {{lang|fr|[[Belle Lurette]]}}, unfinished; Léo Delibes orchestrated it and it was given at the [[Théâtre de la Renaissance]] on 30 October 1880.<ref>Yon, p. 616</ref>

Offenbach died in Paris on 5 October 1880 at the age of 61. His cause of death was certified as heart failure brought on by acute gout. He was given a state funeral; ''The Times'' reported, "The crowd of distinguished men that accompanied him on his last journey amid the general sympathy of the public shows that the late composer was reckoned among the masters of his art."<ref>"France", ''[[The Times]]'', 8 October 1880, p. 3</ref> He is buried in the [[Montmartre Cemetery]].<ref>Harding, p. 249; and [http://en.parisinfo.com/musee-monument-paris/71184/Cimeti%C3%A8re-de-Montmartre "Cimetière de Montmartre"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203124312/http://en.parisinfo.com/musee-monument-paris/71184/Cimeti%C3%A8re-de-Montmartre |date=3 December 2013 }}, Parisinfo, Site officiel de l'Office du Tourisme et des Congrès. Retrieved 23 June 2013</ref>

==Works==
{{Main|List of compositions by Jacques Offenbach}}
In ''[[The Musical Times]]'', [[Mark Lubbock]] wrote in 1957:<ref name=lubbock/>
{{blockquote |text=Offenbach's music is as individually characteristic as that of [[Frederick Delius|Delius]], [[Edvard Grieg|Grieg]] or [[Giacomo Puccini|Puccini]] – together with range and variety. He could write straightforward "singing" numbers like Paris's song in {{lang|fr|La belle Hélène}}, {{lang|fr|"Au mont Ida trois déesses"|italic=no}} [Three goddessess on Mount Ida]; comic songs like General Boum's "Piff Paff Pouf" and the ridiculous ensemble at the servants' ball in {{lang|fr|La vie parisienne}}, {{lang|fr|"Votre habit a craqué dans le dos"|italic=no}} ["Your coat has split down the back"]. He was a specialist at writing music that had a rapturous, hysterical quality. The famous can-can from {{lang|fr|Orphée aux enfers}} has it, and so has the finale of the servants' party&nbsp;... which ends with the delirious song {{lang|fr|"Tout tourne, tout danse"|italic=no}}. Then, as a contrast, he could compose songs of a simplicity, grace and beauty like the Letter Song from {{lang|fr|La Périchole}}, "Chanson de Fortunio", and the Grand Duchess's tender love song to Fritz: {{lang|fr|"Dites-lui qu'on l'a remarqué distingué"|italic=no}}.}}

Among other well-known Offenbach numbers are {{lang|fr|"Les oiseaux dans la charmille"|italic=no}} (the Doll Song from ''The Tales of Hoffmann''); {{lang|fr|"Voici le sabre de mon père"|italic=no}} and {{lang|fr|"Ah! Que j'aime les militaires"|italic=no}} ({{lang|fr|La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein}}); and {{lang|fr|"Tu n'es pas beau"|italic=no}} in {{lang|fr|La Périchole}}, which Lamb notes was Offenbach's last major song for Hortense Schneider.<ref name=LambPerichole />{{refn| Almeida included the following less well-known numbers in his selection of Offenbach's best work: {{lang|fr|"Chanson de Fortunio"|italic=no}} (from the piece of the same title); Sérénade ({{lang|fr|Pont des soupirs}}); Rondo – {{lang|fr|"Depuis la rose nouvelle"|italic=no}} ({{lang|fr|Barbe-bleue}}); {{lang|fr|"Ronde des carabiniers"|italic=no}} ({{lang|fr|Les brigands}}); {{lang|fr|Rondeau – "J'en prendrai un, deux, trois"|italic=no}} ({{lang|fr|Pomme d'Api}}); {{lang|fr|"Couplets du petit bonhomme"|italic=no}} and {{lang|fr|"Couplets de l'alphabet"|italic=no}} ({{lang|fr|Madame l'archiduc}}); and the {{lang|fr|valse "Monde charmant que l'on ignore"|italic=no}} ({{lang|fr|Le voyage dans le lune}}).<ref>Almeida, pp. v and vi</ref>|group= n}}

===Operettas===
{{Main|List of operettas by Jacques Offenbach}}
By his own reckoning, Offenbach composed more than 100 operas.<ref>"Offenbach's hundred operas", ''The Era'', 11 February 1877, p. 5</ref>{{refn|In 1911, ''[[The Musical Times]]'' cited Offenbach as the seventh most prolific operatic composer, with 103 operas (one more than [[Henry Bishop (composer)|Sir Henry Bishop]] and six fewer than [[Baldassare Galuppi]]). The most prolific was said to be [[Wenzel Müller]] with 166.<ref>Towers, John. "Who composed the greatest number of operas?" ''[[The Musical Times]]'', 1 August 1911, p. 527 {{JSTOR|907922}} {{subscription required}}</ref>|group= n}} Both the number and the noun are open to question: some works were so extensively revised that he evidently counted the revised versions as new, and commentators generally refer to all but a few of his stage works as operettas, rather than operas. Offenbach reserved the term {{lang|fr|[[opérette]]}} (English: operetta){{refn|The term {{lang|fr|[[opérette]]}} was first used in 1856 for Jules Bovéry's ''Madame Mascarille''.<ref name="Almeida, p. iv"/> Gammond categorises ''Cigarette'', a work premiered in London, with the English term "operetta"; Grove does not mention it.<ref name=grove/><ref>Gammond, p. 147</ref>|group= n}} or {{lang|fr|[[opérette bouffe]]}} for some of his one-act works, more often using the term {{lang|fr|[[opéra bouffe]]}} for his full-length ones (though there are several one- and two-act examples of this type). It was only with the further development of the {{lang|de|[[Operette]]}} genre in Vienna after 1870 that the French term {{lang|fr|opérette}} began to be used for works longer than one act.<ref>{{cite Grove|last=Lamb|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Lamb (writer)|id=20386|title=Operetta (It.: diminutive of 'opera'; Fr. opérette; Ger. Operette; Sp. opereta)|year=2001}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Offenbach also used the term {{lang|fr|[[opéra-comique]]}} for at least 24 of his works in either one, two or three acts.<ref>Gammond, pp. 145–156</ref>{{refn|The composer [[Camille Saint-Saëns]] observed, "{{lang|fr|Operette}} is a daughter of {{lang|fr|opera-comique}}; a daughter who has turned out badly, maybe; but daughters who have turned out badly are not without charm".<ref name=lubbock/>|group=n}}

Offenbach's earliest operettas were one-act pieces for small casts. More than 30 of these were presented before his first full-scale "{{lang|fr|[[opéra bouffon]]}}", {{lang|fr|Orphée aux enfers}}, in 1858, and he composed over twenty more of them during the rest of his career.<ref name=grove/><ref>Gammond, pp. 156–157</ref> Lamb, following the precedent of Henseler's 1930 study of the composer, divides the one-act pieces into five categories: (i) country idylls; (ii) urban operettas; (iii) military operettas; (iv) farces; and (v) burlesques or parodies.<ref name=l80>[[Andrew Lamb (writer)|Lamb, Andrew]]. "Offenbach in One Act", ''[[The Musical Times]]'', Vol. 121, No. 1652 (October 1980), pp. 615–617 {{JSTOR|961145}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Offenbach enjoyed his greatest success in the 1860s. His most popular operettas from that decade have remained among his best known.<ref name=grove/>

====Texts and word setting====
[[File:Offenbach's-Librettists-and-successors.png|thumb|right|Librettists and successors (clockwise from top left) [[Ludovic Halévy]], [[Henri Meilhac]], [[Johann Strauss II]], [[Arthur Sullivan]]|alt=head shots of four 19th century white men with various degrees of facial hair]]
The first ideas for plots usually came from Offenbach, his librettists working along lines agreed with him. Lamb writes, "In this respect Offenbach was both well served and skilful at discovering talent. Like [[Arthur Sullivan|Sullivan]], and unlike [[Johann Strauss II]], he was consistently blessed with workable subjects and genuinely witty librettos."<ref name=grove/> In his setting of his librettists' words he took advantage of the rhythmic flexibility of the French language, and sometimes took this to extremes, forcing words into unnatural stresses.<ref>Hughes, p. 43</ref> Harding comments that he "wrought much violence on the French language".<ref name="Harding, p. 208"/> A frequent characteristic of Offenbach's word setting was the nonsensical repetition of isolated syllables of words for comic effect; an example is the quintet for the kings in {{lang|fr|La belle Hélène}}: {{lang|fr|"Je suis l'époux de la reine/Poux de la reine/Poux de la reine" and "Le roi barbu qui s'avance/Bu qui s'avance/Bu qui s'avance."|italic=no}}{{refn|In English, "I am the husband of the queen" and "The bearded king who comes forward", in which the second syllables of {{lang|fr|"époux"|italic=no}} (husband) and {{lang|fr|"barbu"|italic=no}} (bearded) are nonsensically repeated. Lamb instances a variant of such wordplay in {{lang|fr|La Périchole}}:<poem style="margin-left: 1em;">
{{lang|fr|Aux maris ré,
Aux maris cal,
Aux maris ci,
Aux maris trants,
Aux maris récalcitrants.}}</poem> ("Husbands who are re– , husbands who are cal– , husbands who are ci– , husbands who are trant, husbands who are recalcitrant...")<ref name=grove/>|group= n}}

====Musical structure====
In general, Offenbach followed simple, established forms. His melodies are usually short and unvaried in their basic rhythm, rarely, in Hughes's words, escaping "the despotism of the four-bar phrase".<ref>Hughes, p. 46</ref> In [[modulation (music)|modulation]] Offenbach was similarly cautious; he rarely switched a melody to a remote or unexpected key, and kept mostly to a [[tonic (music)|tonic]]–[[dominant (music)|dominant]]–[[subdominant]] pattern.<ref name=h48>Hughes, p. 48</ref> Within these conventional limits, he employed greater resource in his varied use of rhythm; in a single number he would contrast rapid patter for one singer with a broad, smooth phrase for another, illustrating their different characters.<ref name=h48/> He often switched quickly between major and minor keys, effectively contrasting characters or situations.<ref>Hughes, p. 51</ref> When he wished to, Offenbach could use unconventional techniques, such as the [[leitmotif]], used throughout to accompany the eponymous [[Le docteur Ox|Docteur Ox]] (1877)<ref>Hughes, p. 39</ref> and to parody [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] in {{lang|fr|La carnaval des revues}} (1860).<ref>Gammond, p. 59</ref>

====Orchestration====
In his early pieces for the Bouffes-Parisiens, the size of the orchestra pit had restricted Offenbach to an orchestra of sixteen players.<ref>Faris, p. 39</ref> He composed for [[flute]], [[oboe]], [[clarinet]], [[bassoon]], two [[French horn|horns]], [[cornet|piston]], [[trombone]], percussion (including [[timpani]]) and a small string section of seven players.<ref name=keck/> After moving to the {{lang|fr|Salle Choiseul|italic=no}} he had an orchestra of 30 players.<ref name=keck/> The musicologist and Offenbach specialist [[Jean-Christophe Keck]] notes that when larger orchestras were available, either in bigger Paris theatres or in Vienna or elsewhere, Offenbach would compose, or rearrange existing music, accordingly. Surviving scores show his instrumentation for additional wind and brass, and even extra percussion. When they were available he wrote for [[cor anglais]], [[harp]], and – exceptionally, Keck records – an [[ophicleide]] (''Le Papillon''), [[tubular bells]] (''Le carnaval des revues''), and a [[wind machine]] (''[[Le voyage dans la lune (opera-féerie)|Le voyage dans la lune]]'').<ref name=keck/>

Hughes describes Offenbach's orchestration as "always skilful, often delicate, and occasionally subtle". He instances Pluton's song in ''Orphée aux enfers'',{{refn|In the 1874 revision this number is a duet for Pluton and Euridice.|group= n}} introduced by a three-bar phrase for solo clarinet and solo bassoon in octaves immediately repeated on solo flute and solo bassoon an octave higher.<ref>Hughes, p. 45</ref> In Keck's view, "Offenbach's orchestral scoring is full of details, elaborate counter-voices, minute interactions coloured by interjections of the woodwinds or brass, all of which establish a dialogue with the voices. His refinement of design equals that of Mozart or Rossini."<ref name=keck>[[Jean-Christophe Keck|Keck, Jean-Christophe]]. [http://www.offenbach-edition.com/EN/OEK/Pladoyer.asp "The need for an authentic Offenbach"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321215122/http://www.offenbach-edition.com/EN/OEK/Pladoyer.asp |date=21 March 2012 }}, Offenbach Edition, Keck, Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved 16 July 2011</ref>

====Compositional method====
According to Keck, Offenbach would first make a note of melodies a libretto suggested to him in a notebook or straight onto the librettist's manuscript. Next using full score [[manuscript paper]] he wrote down vocal parts in the centre, then a piano accompaniment at the bottom possibly with notes on orchestration. When Offenbach felt sure the work would be performed, he began full orchestration, often employing a sort of shorthand.<ref>[[Jean-Christophe Keck|Keck, Jean-Christophe]] (2006) "Offenbach, an oeuvre boasting more than 600 works". Notes to Universal Classics CD 476 8999 2006 {{oclc|872163193}}</ref>

====Parody and influences====
[[File:Jacques-Offenbach-by-André-Gill.png|thumb|left|Offenbach by [[André Gill]], 1866|alt=Drawing of Offenbach, in concert dress and a crown of roses, riding through the sky on a giant violin, accompanied by a dog called Barkouf, over a whimsical background composed of scenes from his operettas and flowers]]
Offenbach was well known for parodying other composers' music. Some of them saw the joke and others did not. Adam, Auber and [[Giacomo Meyerbeer|Meyerbeer]] enjoyed Offenbach's parodies of their scores.<ref name=teneo/> Meyerbeer made a point of attending all Bouffes-Parisiens productions, always seated in Offenbach's private box.<ref name=birth/> Among the composers who were not amused by Offenbach's parodies were [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]] and Wagner.<ref name=berlioz>Gammond, pp. 59, 63 and 73</ref> Offenbach mocked Berlioz's "strivings after the antique",<ref>Henseler, ''quoted'' in Hughes, p. 46</ref> and his initial light-hearted satire of Wagner's pretensions later hardened into genuine dislike.<ref>Gammond, pp. 59 and 127</ref> Berlioz reacted by bracketing Offenbach and Wagner together as "the product of the mad German mind", and Wagner, ignoring Berlioz, retaliated by writing some unflattering verses about Offenbach.<ref name=berlioz/>

In general, Offenbach's parodistic technique was simply to play the original music in unexpected and incongruous circumstances. He slipped the banned revolutionary anthem ''[[La Marseillaise]]'' into the chorus of rebellious gods in ''Orphée aux enfers'', and quoted the aria {{lang|it|"Che farò"|italic=no}} from Gluck's ''[[Orfeo ed Euridice|Orfeo]]'' in the same work; in {{lang|fr|La belle Hélène}} he quoted the patriotic trio from Rossini's ''[[William Tell (opera)|William Tell]]'' and parodied himself in the ensemble for the kings of Greece, in which the accompaniment quotes the ''rondeau'' from {{lang|fr|Orphée aux enfers}}. In his one act pieces, Offenbach parodied Rossini's {{lang|it|"[[Largo al factotum]]"|italic=no}} and familiar arias by [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]]. In ''Croquefer'' (1857), one duet consists of quotations from Halévy's ''[[La Juive]]'' and Meyerbeer's ''[[Robert le diable]]'' and ''[[Les Huguenots]]''.<ref name=l80/><ref>Scherer, Barrymore Laurence. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304186404576390112252351044 "Gilbert & Sullivan, Parody's Patresfamilias"], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171124223754/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304186404576390112252351044 |date=24 November 2017 }}, ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', 23 June 2011</ref> Even in his later, less satirical period, he included a parodic quotation from [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]]'s {{lang|fr|[[La fille du régiment]]}} in {{lang|fr|[[La fille du tambour-major]]}}.<ref name=grove/>

Other examples of Offenbach's use of incongruity are noted by the critic Paul Taylor: "In {{lang|fr|La belle Hélène}}, the kings of Greece denounce Paris as 'un vil séducteur' [vile seducer] to a waltz tempo that is itself unsuitably seductive&nbsp;... the potty-sounding phrase {{lang|fr|'L'homme à la pomme'|italic=no}} becomes the absurd nucleus of a big cod-ensemble."<ref>Taylor, Paul. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:TND1&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=131FED8F82CD1A20&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "The judgement of Paris, France"], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101008105337/http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004 |date=8 October 2010 }}, ''[[The Independent]]'', 28 November 1995</ref> Another lyric set to absurdly ceremonious music is {{lang|fr|"Votre habit a craqué dans le dos"|italic=no}} (your coat has split down the back) in ''La vie parisienne''.<ref name=grovlez/> The Grand Duchess of Gérolstein's rondo {{lang|fr|"Ah! Que j'aime les militaires"|italic=no}} is rhythmically and melodically similar to the finale of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)|Seventh Symphony]], but it is not clear whether the similarity is parodic or coincidental.<ref name=grovlez/>

In Offenbach's last decade, he took note of a change in public taste: a simpler, more romantic style was now preferred. Harding writes that Lecocq had successfully moved away from satire and parody, returning to "the genuine spirit of opéra-comique and its peculiarly French gaiety".<ref name="Harding, p. 208">Harding, p. 208</ref> Offenbach followed suit in a series of twenty operettas; the conductor and musicologist [[Antonio de Almeida (conductor)|Antonio de Almeida]] names the finest of these as {{lang|fr|La fille du tambour-major}} (1879).<ref name=axxi>Almeida, p. xxi</ref>

===Other works===
[[File:Hoffman-1881-miracle-antonia.jpg|thumb|right|Dr Miracle and Antonia in the 1881 premiere of ''The Tales of Hoffmann''|alt=Photograph of maniac in black 19th century day clothes brandishing a violin at a frightened young woman in a full-length white frock]]
Of Offenbach's two serious operas, ''Die Rheinnixen'', a failure, was not revived until the 21st century.<ref>[[Rodney Milnes|Milnes, Rodney]]. "One Long Hymn to Pacifism", ''[[Opera (British magazine)|Opera]]'', October 2009, pp. 1202–1206.</ref> His second attempt, ''The Tales of Hoffmann'', was originally intended as a [[grand opera]].<ref>Faris, pp. 203–204</ref> When the work was accepted by {{lang|fr|[[Léon Carvalho]]|italic=no}} for production at the {{lang|fr|Opéra-Comique|italic=no}}, Offenbach agreed to make it an {{lang|fr|[[opéra comique]]}} with spoken dialogue. It was incomplete when he died;<ref>Traubner (2001), p. 643; Faris, p. 190; Gammond, pp. 127–128.</ref> Faris speculates that, but for Georges Bizet's premature death, Bizet rather than Guiraud would have been asked to complete the piece and would have done so more satisfactorily.<ref>Faris, p. 195</ref> The critic Tim Ashley writes, "Stylistically, the opera reveals a remarkable amalgam of French and German influences&nbsp;... [[Carl Maria von Weber|Weberian]] chorales preface Hoffmann's narrative. Olympia delivers a big [[coloratura]] aria straight out of French grand opera, while Antonia sings herself to death to music reminiscent of [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]]."<ref name=ashley>Ashley, Tim. [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/jan/09/classicalmusicandopera "The cursed opera"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 9 January 2004</ref>

Although he wrote ballet music for dance sequences in many of his operettas, Offenbach wrote only one full-length ballet, {{lang|fr|Le papillon}}. The score was much praised for its orchestration, and it contained one number, the "Valse des rayons", that became an international success.<ref>Gammond, p. 62</ref> Between 1836 and 1875 he composed several individual waltzes and polkas, and suites of dances.<ref>Gammond, p. 159</ref> They include a waltz, {{lang|de|Abendblätter}} ("Evening Papers") composed for Vienna with Johann Strauss's {{lang|de|[[Morgenblätter]]}} ("Morning Papers") as a companion piece.<ref>Gammond, pp. 75–76</ref> Other orchestral compositions include a piece in 17th-century style with cello solo, which became a standard work of the cello repertoire. Little of Offenbach's non-operatic orchestral music has been regularly performed since his death.<ref name=g28/>

Offenbach composed more than 50 non-operatic songs between 1838 and 1854, most of them to French texts, by authors including [[Alfred de Musset]], [[Théophile Gautier]] and [[Jean de La Fontaine]], and also ten to German texts. Among the most popular of these songs are "{{lang|fr|À toi|italic=no}}" (1843), dedicated to the young Hérminie d'Alcain as an early token of the composer's love.<ref>Gammond, p. 26</ref> An [[Ave Maria]] for soprano solo was rediscovered at the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]] in 2000.<ref>[https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb45564179s "Ave Maria solo de Soprano"], Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved 7 April 2024</ref>

===Arrangements and editions===
Although the overtures to {{lang|fr|Orphée aux enfers}} and {{lang|fr|La belle Hélène}} are well known and frequently recorded, the scores usually performed and recorded are not by Offenbach, but were arranged from music in the operas by Carl Binder and Eduard Haensch, respectively, for the Vienna premieres of the two works.<ref>Yon, p. 669 and Hall, George (1994). Notes to Decca CD 425–083–2 {{oclc| 659012365}}</ref> Offenbach's own preludes are much shorter.<ref>Gammond, p. 69</ref>

In 1938, [[Manuel Rosenthal]] assembled the popular ballet {{lang|fr|[[Gaîté Parisienne]]}} from his own orchestral arrangements of melodies from Offenbach's stage works, and in 1953 the same composer assembled a symphonic suite, ''Offenbachiana'', also from music by Offenbach.<ref>Salter, Lionel. [http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/November%201999/72/851471/ "Offenbach/Rosenthal – Gaîté Parisienne. Offenbachiana"], ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]'', November 1999, p. 72</ref> Jean-Christophe Keck regards the 1938 work as "no more than a vulgarly orchestrated pastiche".<ref>[[Jean-Christophe Keck|Keck, Jean-Christophe]]. [http://www.offenbach-edition.com/EN/OEK/default.asp "Offenbach Edition Keck"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321215132/http://www.offenbach-edition.com/EN/OEK/default.asp |date=21 March 2012 }}, Offenbach Edition Keck, Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved 16 July 2011</ref> In Gammond's view it does "full justice" to Offenbach.<ref>Gammond, p. 135</ref>

Efforts to present critical editions of Offenbach's works have been hampered by the dispersion of his autograph scores to several collections after his death, some of which do not grant access to scholars. Although Auguste catalogued the sketches and manuscripts after his father's death, when the composer's widow died the surviving daughters battled over the papers.<ref>[http://www.kultiversum.de/Opernwelt/Magazin-Offenbach-Philologie-Keck-Der-Krimi-geht-weiter.html "Der Krimi geht weiter"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525201247/http://www.kultiversum.de/Opernwelt/Magazin-Offenbach-Philologie-Keck-Der-Krimi-geht-weiter.html |date=25 May 2014 }}, ''[[Opernwelt]]'', May 2012, p. 68, cited in full on [http://www.operetta-research-center.org/main.php?task=5&cat=4&sub_cat=10&id=00356 Operetta Research Center] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525213721/http://www.operetta-research-center.org/main.php?task=5&cat=4&sub_cat=10&id=00356 |date=25 May 2014 }} ("Boris Kehrmann. Gehört Offenbach nicht allen? Auch Jean-Christophe Kecks Offenbach-Edition lässt Fragen offen". 30 January 2013). Retrieved 25 May 2014.</ref> Many of his papers may have been lost in the [[Historical Archive of the City of Cologne#Collapse of the archive in 2009|collapse of the city archives]] in Cologne in 2009.<ref>[http://www.dw.de/collapsed-cologne-archives-show-challenge-of-preserving-history/a-4072655 "Collapsed Cologne Archives Show Challenge of Preserving History"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525235527/http://www.dw.de/collapsed-cologne-archives-show-challenge-of-preserving-history/a-4072655 |date=25 May 2014 }}, [[Deutsche Welle]]. Retrieved 25 May 2014.</ref>

==Legacy and reputation==
===Influence===
Offenbach had a considerable influence on some later French composers, although his immediate successor, Lecocq, strove to distance himself and went out of his way to avoid rhythmic devices familiar from Offenbach's works.<ref>Traubner (1984), p. 71</ref> [[Francis Poulenc]] in his biography of [[Emmanuel Chabrier]] wrote that as a great admirer of Offenbach, Chabrier took to imitating him explicitly in some details: "Hence {{lang|fr|'Donnez-vous la peine de vous asseoir'|italic=no}} ({{lang|fr|chanson du pal}}) is directly derived from {{lang|fr|'Roi barbu qui s'avance, bu qui s'avance'}} in {{lang|fr|La belle Hélène}}".<ref name=p30>Poulenc, p. 30</ref> Poulenc traces the influence through Chabrier and [[André Messager]] to his own music.<ref name=p30/> The composer and musicologist [[Wilfrid Mellers]] finds music modelled on Offenbach's in Poulenc's {{lang|fr|[[Les mamelles de Tirésias]]}}.<ref>Mellers, pp. 100–101</ref>

The musician and author [[Fritz Spiegl]] wrote in 1980, "Without Offenbach there would have been no [[Savoy opera|Savoy Opera]]&nbsp;... no {{lang|de|[[Die Fledermaus]]}} or ''[[Merry Widow]]''".<ref>[[Fritz Spiegl|Spiegl, Fritz]]. "Less than serious", ''[[The Times Literary Supplement]]'', 10 October 1980, p. 1128</ref> The two creators of the Savoy operas – the librettist, Gilbert, and the composer, Sullivan – were both indebted to Offenbach and his partners for their satiric and musical styles, even borrowing plot components.<ref>Gammond, pp. 87 and 138</ref> For example, Faris argues that the mock-oriental ''Ba-ta-clan'' influenced ''[[The Mikado]]'', including its character names, Offenbach's Ko-ko-ri-ko and Gilbert's Ko-Ko.<ref>Faris, p. 53</ref>{{refn|Faris also compares {{lang|fr|[[Le pont des soupirs]]}} (1861) and ''[[The Gondoliers]]'' (1889): "in both works there are choruses ''à la barcarolle'' for gondoliers and ''contadini'' [in] [[Major third|thirds]] and [[Major sixth|sixths]]; Offenbach has a Venetian admiral telling of his cowardice in battle; Gilbert and Sullivan have their Duke of Plaza-Toro who led his regiment from behind".<ref name="Faris, p. 84"/> Offenbach's {{lang|fr|Les Géorgiennes}} (1864), like Gilbert and Sullivan's ''[[Princess Ida]]'' (1884), depicts a female stronghold challenged by males in disguise.<ref>Faris, p. 111</ref>|group= n}} The best-known instance in which a Savoy opera draws on Offenbach's work is ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'' (1879), where both Gilbert and Sullivan follow the lead of {{lang|fr|[[Les brigands]]}} (1869) in their treatment of the police, who plod along ineffectually in heavy march-time.<ref name=g97/> {{lang|fr|Les brigands}} was presented in London in 1871, 1873 and 1875;<ref name=g97/> before the first of these, Gilbert made an English translation of Meilhac and Halévy's libretto.<ref name=mp/>{{refn|Gilbert's 1871 translation was made and published to secure the British copyright for the publisher and was not intended for performance; it was used later for productions in defiance of Gilbert's wishes.<ref name=mp>"''The Brigands''", ''[[The Morning Post]]'', 16 September 1889, p. 2</ref> |group=n}}

However much the young Sullivan was influenced by Offenbach,{{refn|In 1875 two of Sullivan's short operettas, ''[[The Zoo]]'' and ''[[Trial by Jury]]'', were playing in London as companion pieces to longer Offenbach works, {{lang|fr|Les Géorgiennes}} and {{lang|fr|La Périchole}}.<ref>Gammond, p. 113</ref> ''Trial by Jury'' was written specifically as an afterpiece for that production of {{lang|fr|La Périchole}}.<ref>Crowther, p. 118</ref>|group= n}} the influence was evidently not in only one direction. Hughes observes that two numbers in Offenbach's {{lang|fr|[[Maître Péronilla]]}} (1878) bear "an astonishing resemblance" to "My name is John Wellington Wells" from Gilbert and Sullivan's ''[[The Sorcerer]]'' (1877).<ref>Hughes, p. 40</ref>

Offenbach's popularity with Viennese audiences led composers there to follow his lead. He encouraged Johann Strauss to turn to operetta when they met in Vienna in 1864, but it was not until seven years later that Strauss did so.<ref name=g75/> In his first successful operetta, {{lang|de|Die Fledermaus}} (1874), and its successors, Strauss worked on the lines developed by his Parisian colleague. The libretto for {{lang|de|Die Fledermaus}} was adapted from a play by Meilhac and Halévy,<ref>{{cite Grove|last=Lamb|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Lamb (writer)|id=O005972|title=Fledermaus, Die ('The Bat')|year=2002|orig-year=1992}} {{subscription required}}</ref> and the operetta specialist [[Richard Traubner]] comments that Strauss was influenced by "the two brilliant party scenes" in Offenbach's {{Lang|fr|La vie parisienne}}.<ref>Traubner (2001), p. 641</ref> A leading Viennese critic demanded that composers "remain within the realm of pure operetta, a rule strictly observed by Offenbach",<ref name=g75>Gammond, pp. 75–77</ref> and among Strauss's later stage works was ''[[Prinz Methusalem]]'' (1877), described by Lamb as "a satirical Offenbachian piece".<ref>{{cite Grove|last=Lamb|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Lamb (writer)|id=O904817|title=Strauss, Johann (opera) (Baptist)|year=2002|orig-year=1992}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

In Gammond's view, the Viennese composer most influenced by Offenbach was [[Franz von Suppé]], who studied Offenbach's works carefully and wrote many successful operettas using them as a model.<ref>Gammond, p. 77</ref> Traubner writes that Suppé's early works frankly imitated Offenbach's, and his operas – and Strauss's – were "unmistakably Parisian (as much derived from Meilhac and Halévy as from Offenbach)".<ref>Traubner (1984), p. 103</ref> Suppé's {{lang|de|Das Pensionnat}} (The Boarding School, 1860) not only emulates Offenbach, but refers to him in the first act, when the heroine, the schoolgirl Sophie, and her friends learn about the can-can and proceed to dance it. <ref>Selenick, p. 87</ref> Suppé's most enduring one-act success, {{lang|de|[[Die schöne Galathée]]}} (The Beautiful Galatea, 1865),<ref name=t106>Traubner (1984), p. 106</ref> was modelled, in both title and style, on Offenbach's {{lang|fr|La belle Hélène}} which had been a great success in Vienna earlier that year.<ref name=t106/>

[[File:Carjat etienne portrait de jacques-offenbach.jpg|Offenbach by [[Étienne Carjat]], early 1860s|thumb|upright=1.25|alt=photograph of slim middle-aged white man with moustache, side whiskers and receding dark hair, standing in mid-19th-century day clothes, appearing pleased]]
In the ''Cambridge Opera Journal'' in 2014 the musicologist Micaela Baranello writes that [[Franz Lehár]]'s operettas have a strong Offenbachian element, alongside what she calls a "folksy, imaginary" {{lang|de|[[Mitteleuropa|Mitteleuropan]]}} one. She cites eight numbers in ''[[The Merry Widow]]'' as in the Parisian tradition, including "the percussive nonsense syllables familiar from Offenbach".<ref>Baranello, pp. 175, 190 and 194</ref> Elsewhere in Europe, Offenbach was an important influence on the development of [[zarzuela]] in Spain,<ref>San Martin, p. 338</ref> and the 20th-century German composer [[Kurt Weill]] described his own {{lang|de|[[Der Kuhhandel]]}} (Cattle Trading) as "an operetta influenced by Offenbach".<ref>Filler, p. 503</ref>

In his 1957 article, Lubbock wrote, "Offenbach is undoubtedly the most significant figure in the history of the 'musical'", and traced the development of musical theatre from Offenbach via Sullivan, Lehár, Messager and [[Lionel Monckton]] to [[Irving Berlin]] and [[Rodgers and Hammerstein]].<ref name=lubbock>[[Mark Lubbock|Lubbock, Mark]]. "The Music of 'Musicals'", ''[[The Musical Times]]'', Vol. 98, No. 1375 (September 1957), pp. 483–485 {{JSTOR|937354}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Lamb writes, "During the nineteenth century the works of Offenbach, Johann Strauss, and Gilbert and Sullivan had scarcely less success in the New World than in the Old",<ref>Lamb, p. 133</ref> and according to the historian Adrian Wright the 1858 New York premiere of {{lang|fr|Les deux aveugles}} made Offenbach "a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] constant", putting his works in vogue in America until the end of the century.<ref>Wright, p. 5</ref> He influenced some American composers such as [[John Philip Sousa]] in his operetta ''[[El Capitan (operetta)|El Capitan]]'' (1896).<ref>Lamb, p. 138</ref> Sousa's contemporary, [[David Braham]], was dubbed "the American Offenbach", and included phrases from Offenbach's scores in his own music.<ref>Franceschina, pp. 2–3</ref> Later, Lamb finds echoes of ''La Vie parisienne'' in [[Cole Porter]]'s ''[[Fifty Million Frenchmen]]'' (1929), although the influence in that case is more that of Meilhac and Halévy than of Offenbach.<ref>Lamb, p. 181</ref> In a 2005 study of [[Lerner and Loewe]], [[Gene Lees]] writes, "The wellspring of the American musical is to be found in the opéra-bouffe of Jacques Offenbach", and [[Alan Jay Lerner]] said that Offenbach "was indeed the father of us all".<ref>Lees, p. 12</ref>

===Reputation===
During Offenbach's lifetime, and in the obituary notices in 1880, fastidious critics (dubbed "Musical Snobs Ltd" by Gammond) showed themselves at odds with public appreciation.<ref>Gammond, p. 137</ref> In a 1980 article in ''The Musical Times'', George Hauger commented that those critics not only underrated Offenbach, but wrongly supposed that his music would soon be forgotten.<ref>Hauger, George. "Offenbach: English Obituaries and Realities", ''[[The Musical Times]]'', Vol. 121, No. 1652 (October 1980), pp. 619–621 {{JSTOR|961146}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Although most critics of the time made that erroneous assumption, a few perceived Offenbach's unusual quality; in ''The Times'', [[Francis Hueffer]] wrote, "none of his numerous Parisian imitators has ever been able to rival Offenbach at his best".<ref name=times>Obituary, ''[[The Times]]'', 6 October 1880, p. 3</ref> Nevertheless, the paper joined in the general prediction: "It is very doubtful whether any of his works will survive."<ref name=times/> ''[[The New York Times]]'' shared this view: "That he had the gift of melody in a very extraordinary degree is not to be denied, but he wrote {{lang|la|currente calamo}},{{refn|Latin, literally, "with the pen running on" – meaning "extempore; without deliberation or hesitation." (''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'')|group= n}} and the lack of development of his choicest inspirations will, it is to be feared, keep them from reaching even the next generation".<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1880/10/06/archives/jacques-offenbach-dead-the-end-of-the-great-composer-of-opera.html "Jacques Offenbach dead – The end of the great composer of opera bouffe"], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305032440/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C02E5DC153FEE3ABC4E53DFB667838B699FDE&scp=2&sq=Offenbach&st=p |date=5 March 2016 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', 6 October 1880</ref> After the posthumous production of ''The Tales of Hoffmann'', ''The Times'' partially reconsidered its judgment, writing, "{{lang|fr|Les Contes de Hoffmann}} [will] confirm the opinion of those who regard him as a great composer in every sense of the word". It then lapsed into what Gammond calls "Victorian sanctimoniousness"<ref>Gammond, p. 138</ref> by taking it for granted that the opera "will uphold Offenbach's fame long after his lighter compositions have passed out of memory".<ref>"France", ''[[The Times]]'', 14 February 1881, p. 5</ref>

The philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] called Offenbach both an "artistic genius" and a "clown", but wrote that "nearly every one" of Offenbach's works achieves half a dozen "moments of wanton perfection". The novelist [[Émile Zola]] commented on Offenbach in an essay, "La féerie et l'opérette IV/V".<ref name=Zola>[[Émile Zola|Zola, Émile]]: {{lang|fr|La féerie et l'opérette IV/V}} in [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13866/13866-h/13866-h.htm {{lang|fr|Le naturalisme au théâtre}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070217175942/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13866/13866-h/13866-h.htm |date=17 February 2007 }}, 1881 (e-book in French). Retrieved 31 July 2011</ref> While granting that Offenbach's best operettas are full of grace, charm and wit, Zola blames him for what others have made of the genre. Zola calls operetta a "public enemy" and a "monstrous beast". Some critics saw the satire in Offenbach's works as a social protest, an attack against the establishment, but Zola saw the works as a homage to the social system in the Second Empire.<ref name=Zola/>

The mid-20th-century critic [[Sacheverell Sitwell]] compared Offenbach's lyrical and comic gifts to those of Mozart and Rossini.<ref>Ardoin, John. [http://www.ylle.com/sites/sfopera/lookback2/html/hoffman_-_article.htm ''The Tales of Offenbach''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328094500/http://www.ylle.com/sites/sfopera/lookback2/html/hoffman_-_article.htm |date=28 March 2012 }}. San Francisco Opera, 1996. Retrieved 31 July 2011</ref> [[Otto Klemperer]], although best known as a conductor of the German symphonic classics,<ref>"As though Beethoven himself were standing there", ''Saturday Review'', 14 October 1961, p. 89</ref> was an admirer of Offenbach; late in life he reflected: "At the [[Kroll Opera House|Kroll]] [in 1931] we did {{lang|fr|La Périchole}}. That's a really delightful score. So is ''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and {{lang|fr|Belle Hélène}}. Those who called him 'The Mozart of the Boulevards' were not much mistaken".<ref>"Otto Klemperer talks to [[Alan Blyth]]", ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]'', May 1970, pp. 1748 and 1751</ref> Debussy, [[Modest Mussorgsky|Mussorgsky]] and [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov|Rimsky-Korsakov]] loved Offenbach's operettas.<ref>Almeida, pp. xii and xvii</ref> Debussy rated them higher than ''The Tales of Hoffmann'': "The one work in which [Offenbach] tried to be serious met with no success." He wrote this in 1903, when ''The Tales of Hoffmann'', after initial success, with 101 performances in its first year, had become neglected.<ref>Faris, p. 219</ref> A production by [[Thomas Beecham]] at [[His Majesty's Theatre, London]], in 1910 restored the work to the mainstream operatic repertoire, where it has remained.<ref>"His Majesty's Theatre – Thomas Beecham Opera Season", ''[[The Times]]'', 13 May 1910, p. 10</ref><ref>Faris, p. 221</ref> A London critic wrote, on Offenbach's death, "I somewhere read that some of Offenbach's latest work shows him to be capable of more ambitious work. I, for one, am glad he did what he did, and only wish he had done more of the same kind."<ref>"The Only Jones", ''Judy'', 13 October 1880, p. 172</ref> In ''[[Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', Lamb writes:<ref name=grove/>
{{blockquote |text=His opera {{lang|fr|Les contes d'Hoffmann}} has retained a place in the international repertory, but his most significant achievements lie in the field of operetta. {{lang|fr|Orphée aux enfers, La belle Hélène, La vie parisienne, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein}} and {{lang|fr|La Périchole}} remain outstanding examples of the French and international operetta repertory.}}

==Notes and references==
===Notes===
{{Reflist|group=n}}

===References===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* {{cite book | last = Almeida | first = Antonio de | author-link = Antonio de Almeida (conductor) | year = 1976 | title = Offenbach's Songs from the Great Operettas | location = New York | publisher = Dover Publications | isbn = 978-0-486-23341-3}}
*{{cite journal |last= Baranello|first= Micaela| title = ''Die Lustige Witwe'' and the Creation of the Silver Age of Viennese Operetta| journal = Cambridge Opera Journal| date = 2014|volume= 26|issue= 2| pages = 175–202|doi= 10.1017/S0954586714000032}} {{subscription required}}
* {{cite book | last = Bekker | first = Paul | authorlink=Paul Bekker|year = 1909 | title = Jacques Offenbach | url = https://archive.org/details/jacquesoffenbach00bekk | language = de | location = Berlin | publisher = Marquardt | oclc = 458390878 }}
* {{cite book | last = Crowther | first = Andrew | title = Gilbert of Gilbert & Sullivan | date = 2011| location= Gloucester | publisher = History Press | isbn =978-0-7524-5589-1 }}
*{{cite book | last = Dufreigne | first = Jean-Pierre | authorlink=Jean-Pierre Dufreigne|title = Un empereur qui rêvait| lang=Fr|date = 2009| location = Paris | publisher= Pocket | isbn =978-2-26-618298-0 }}
* {{cite book | last = Faris | first = Alexander | author-link = Alexander Faris | year = 1980 | title = Jacques Offenbach | location = London | publisher = Faber & Faber |url=https://archive.org/details/jacquesoffenbach0000fari_r6l8 |url-access = registration | isbn = 978-0-571-11147-3}}
*{{cite journal |last= Filler|first= Susan| title = Jewish Nationalism in Opera| journal = Studia Musicologica| date = 2011|volume= 52|issue= 1/4| pages = 499–506|doi= 10.1556/smus.52.2011.1-4.34|jstor= 43289777}} {{subscription required}}
*{{cite book | last = Franceschina | first = John | title = David Braham: The American Offenbach| date = 2003| location = New York | publisher = Routledge | isbn =978-0-41-593769-6 }}
* {{cite book | last = Gammond | first = Peter | author-link = Peter Gammond | year = 1980 | title = Offenbach | location = London | publisher = Omnibus Press | url=https://archive.org/details/offenbach0000gamm|url-access = registration |isbn = 978-0-7119-0257-2 }}
* {{cite book | last = Gänzl | first = Kurt | authorlink=Kurt Gänzl |author2 = Andrew Lamb | title = Gänzl's Book of the Musical Theatre | year = 1988 | location = London | publisher = The Bodley Head | oclc = 966051934| author2-link = Andrew Lamb (writer) }}
* {{cite book | last = Harding | first = James | author-link = James Harding (music writer) | year = 1980 | title = Jacques Offenbach: A Biography | location = London | publisher = John Calder | isbn = 978-0-7145-3835-8}}
* {{cite book | last = Henseler | first = Anton | year = 1930 | title = Jakob Offenbach | language = de | location = Berlin | publisher = M. Hesse | oclc = 559680953 }}
* {{cite book | last = Horne | first = Alistair | author-link = Alistair Horne | year = 2003 | title = Seven Ages of Paris | location = London | publisher = Macmillan | isbn = 978-0-333-72577-1 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/sevenagesofparis00alis }}
* {{cite book | last = Hughes | first = Gervase | author-link = Gervase Hughes | title = Composers of Operetta | year = 1962 | location = London | publisher = Macmillan | oclc = 460660877}}
* {{cite book | last = Kracauer | first = Siegfried | author-link = Siegfried Kracauer | orig-year = 1938 | year = 2002 | title = Orpheus in Paris: Offenbach and the Paris of his time | location = New York | publisher = Zone Books | isbn = 978-1-890951-30-6 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/jacquesoffenbach0000krac }}
*{{cite book | last =Lamb | first =Andrew |authorlink=Andrew Lamb (writer)| title = 150 Years of Popular Musical Theatre| date = 2000| location = New Haven | publisher = Yale University Press |url= https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_c3i0/page/132/mode/2up|url-access = registration|isbn =978-0-30-007538-0 }}
*{{cite book | last = Lasalle | first = Albert de | title = Histoire des Bouffes-parisiens| date = 1860| location =Paris|lang=french | publisher =Librairie Nouvelle | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=3M5SAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22parce+que+les+acteurs%2C+qui+n%27avaient+pu+fatiguer+le+public%22&pg=PA81 | oclc = 1244183572}}
*{{cite book | last = Lees | first = Gene|authorlink=Gene Lees | title = Inventing Champagne: The Worlds of Lerner and Loewe| date = 1990| location = New York| publisher =St Martin's Press|url=https://archive.org/details/inventingchampag00lees/page/n7/mode/2up |url-access = registration|isbn =978-0-31-205136-5 }}
* {{cite book | last = Levin | first = Alicia C. | year = 2009 | chapter = A Documentary Overview of Musical Theaters in Paris, 1830–1900 | title = Music, Theater, and Cultural Transfer | pages = 379–402 | location = Chicago | editor1-last = Fauser | editor1-first = Annegret | editor2-last = Everist | editor2-first = Mark | publisher = University of Chicago Press | isbn = 978-0-226-23926-2}}
* {{cite book | last = Martinet | first = André | year = 1887 | title = Offenbach: Sa vie et son oeuvre | language = fr | location = Paris | publisher = Dentu | oclc = 3574954 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CHRFAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP9}}
*{{cite book | last = Mellers | first = Wilfrid |authorlink=Wilfrid Mellers| title = Francis Poulenc| date = 1995| location =Oxford and New York | publisher = Oxford University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/francispoulenc0000mell/page/n3/mode/2up|url-access = registration| isbn =978-0-19-816338-1 }}
*{{cite book | last = Poulenc | first = Francis | title = Emmanuel Chabrier|authorlink=Francis Poulenc| date = 1981|origyear=1961 |location = London |publisher = Dobson |url= https://archive.org/details/emmanuelchabrier00poul/page/29/mode/2up |url-access = registration| isbn = 978-0-23-477252-2}}
* {{cite book | last = Pourvoyeur | first = Robert | year = 1994 | title = Offenbach | language = fr | location = Paris | publisher = Éditions du Seuil | isbn = 978-2-02-014433-9 }}
*{{cite journal |last= San Martin|first= Isabelle Porto| title = Aux Frontières de La Zarzuela| journal ={{ill|Revue de musicologie|fr}}| date = 2009| pages = 335–357|jstor= 40649017|language=French}} {{subscription required}}
*{{cite book | last = Schwarz | first = Ralf-Olivier | title = Jacques Offenbach: ein europäisches Porträt| date = 2019| location = Vienna| publisher =Böhlau Verlag|lang=German | isbn =978-3-41-251295-8 }}
*{{cite book | last = Senelick | first = Laurence|authorlink=Laurence Senelick|
title = Jacques Offenbach and the Making of Modern Culture| date = 2017| location = Cambridge| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-0-52-187180-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Traubner|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Traubner|title=Operetta: A Theatrical History |year=1984|location=London|publisher=Gollancz|isbn=978-0-57-503338-2}}
* {{cite book | last = Traubner | first = Richard | year = 2001 | chapter = Offenbach, Jacques | title = The New Penguin Opera Guide | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780140514759 | url-access = registration | location = London | editor1-last = Holden | editor1-first = Amanda | publisher = Penguin Books | isbn = 978-0-14-051475-9 }}
* {{cite book | last = Wright| first = Adrian | year = 2012 | title = West End Broadway | location = [[Woodbridge, Suffolk]] | publisher = The Boydell Press |isbn = 978-1-84383-791-6}}
* {{cite book | last = Yon | first = Jean-Claude|author-link=Jean-Claude Yon| year = 2000 | language = fr | title = Jacques Offenbach | location = Paris | publisher = Gallimard |url=https://archive.org/details/jacquesoffenbach0000yonj/mode/2up| url-access = registration|isbn = 978-2-07-074775-7}}
* {{cite book | last = Young | first = Percy M. | author-link = Alistair Horne | year = 1971 | title = Sir Arthur Sullivan | location = London | publisher = J. M. Dent | isbn = 978-0-460-03934-5 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/sirarthursulliva0000unse }}
{{div col end}}

==External links==
* [http://www.offenbach-edition.de/ Offenbach Edition Keck]
* [http://www.boosey.com/composer/Jacques+Offenbach "Jacques Offenbach"], [[Boosey & Hawkes]]
* [https://atom.lib.byu.edu/obps/search/?adv=person%3Aoffenbach List of works by Offenbach] at the Index to Opera and Ballet Sources Online
* {{IBDB name|7941}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070517043251/http://www.offenbachsociety.org.uk/ The Jacques Offenbach Society (UK)]

===Sheet music===
* {{ChoralWiki}}
* {{IMSLP|id=Offenbach%2C_Jacques|cname=Jacques Offenbach}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=6374| name=Jacques Offenbach}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Jacques Offenbach}}

{{Jacques Offenbach}}

{{subject bar |auto=y |portal1=Biography| portal2=Classical music}}
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