Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Offenbach, Jacques

OFFENBACH, JACQUES, a French composer of opera bouffe; born of Jewish parents in Cologne, June 21, 1819. He went to Paris in 1833, and settled there, becoming orchestra leader in the Théâtre Français in 1848, and manager of the Bouffes Parisiennes in 1855. Offenbach composed a vast number of light, lively operettas, “Marriage by Lanterns”; “Elezondo's Daughter”; etc.; but the productions by which he is best known are a series of burlesque operas, in virtue of which he must be regarded as the inventor of the modern form of opera bouffe. Among the most notable are: “Orpheus in Hades” (1858); “La Belle Helene”; “Bluebeard”; “The Grand Duchess”; “Genevieve of Brabant”; and “King Garotte.” “Madame Favart” (1878) became almost as popular in England and the United States as in France. He died in Paris, France, Oct. 5, 1880.