Editing Jacques Offenbach (section)

==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>