"Cancan" from Offenbach's famous comic opera "Orfeo in Hell"

French-German composer. Born in Cologne on June 20, 1819 and died in Paris on October 5, 1880. Original surname: Ebster. His father moved to Cologne from Offenbach in 1800, and the local people called him Offenbacher, which later became their surname. His father was engaged in the bookbinding industry and was the cantor of a Jewish church. He taught violin, flute, and guitar at home. Offenbach received his musical education from his father at an early age. He went to Paris in 1833 and studied cello at the Paris Conservatoire for about one year, and later worked as an actor in the orchestra of the Paris Opéra Comique. At this time he met E.L. Arevi and learned composition from him. From 1850 to 1855, he served as conductor of the French Opera. In 1855, he founded his own theater "Paris Opera". His first published works were mostly waltzes, cello music and songs. He is good at playing cello, especially improvisation. His first stage works were unsuccessful. In 1858, he composed the operetta "Orpheus in Hell" which was very popular. Later, he wrote a series of operettas, which were all very successful, such as "Beautiful Mellen" (1864), "Life in Paris" (1866), "The Duchess of Gerolstein" (1867), etc. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, Offenbach went to Italy and Spain for a short stay. He went to the United States in 1876 to participate in the World's Fair and perform. In his later years, he planned to write an opera "The Tales of Hoffmann", but he died before it was completed. It was later completed by E. Giraud.

Offenbach is the founder and outstanding representative of French operetta. For the public, he combined the traditional comic opera form of stage play with the live newspaper performance of urban folk songs on the Paris boulevards. His tunes run through popular folk tones, and widely adopt the rhythm of life dances, such as the waltz, gallop, and cancan. His operettas are full of ridicule; their satirical content alludes to the political and moral corruption of those in power during the Second Reich. But there is also a side that caters to the tastes of the powerful at that time, which is highly entertaining and even erotic. This oneness is also the reason why his art can exist in the third empire. Offenbach's music has influenced Austrian F. von Supe and J. Strauss, British A. Sullivan, Hungarian F. Lehar and modern American musicals.

Orfeo is a famous poet and singer in Greek mythology. His singing can make beasts bow their heads and rocks nod. When he went to hell to find his dead wife Eurydice, he sang all the way and moved Pluto and Queen Hades, who agreed to let Eurydice return to the world. But when Orpheus was near the ground, she forgot Pluto's instructions and looked back at his wife, causing her to return to the underworld. Orfeo was extremely sad and determined not to marry for the rest of her life.

Before Offenbach, Monteverde and German composer Gluck had composed operas "Orfeo" and "Orfeo and Eurydice" on the same theme. Both works are important works in the history of Western opera development. Offenbach changed the opera into an operetta and the tragedy into a comedy. The plot was adapted as follows: Orfeo, the dean of the music conservatory, was not doing his job and secretly went to the countryside to get entangled with a shepherd girl; his wife Eurydice was beautiful and proud, and she regarded him as The husband is a mediocre person, and he often goes to the countryside to have trysts with young shepherd boys. Unfortunately, the two met in the suburbs and decided to break up after a big quarrel. Pluto, who transformed into a shepherd boy, was overjoyed to learn this and immediately used hypnosis to bring Eurydice into hell. Just when Orpheus was complacent about being freed, the incarnation of the god intervened and ordered Orfeo to go and beg the god Jupiter for permission to take back his wife. Orfeo had no choice but to take a balloon to heaven to meet Jupiter. When parting, all the students sang "Goodbye, Teacher" to see Orfeo off. The plot in Hades is roughly the same as the original tragedy, but in the end, Orfeo showed no sadness at losing his wife again, but returned to the world happily alone. At the end, the author also uses various words and deeds of the gods in Greek mythology to allude to the corruption and incompetence of the political figures of Louis Bonaparte's Second Empire.