Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880). German-born French composer and musician
Jacques Offenbach, a German-born French composer, studied at the Paris Conservatoire from the age of 14. He initially worked as a cellist in the Opéra-Comique in Paris, but eventually began to work in composition, creating operettas that earned him great popularity. His operettas and operas, most famously Orpheus in the Underworld (1858) and The Tales of Hoffmann (1880), are representative of his signature characterful and satirical Romantic style. His only ballet Le Papillon (1860) was premiered by the Paris Opéra Ballet with choreography by Marie Taglioni. Ronald Hynd enlisted John Lanchbery in 1979 to re-orchestrate the score for Houston Ballet, which later entered the repertoire of Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet.