Offenbach puts a critic to work

Synopsis

In the year 1858, Parisian composer Jacques Offenbach was, as usual, busy writing his next operetta and avoiding his creditors. He found it expedient to work in hotel rooms rather than at home, where he ran the risk of being cornered by bill collectors. Offenbach hoped that maybe, just maybe, one big box office success might clear his debts — and enable him to reupholster the tattered seats in his theater, Les Bouffes-Parisiens.

On today’s date in 1858, the audience in those tattered seats saw the premiere of Offenbach’s latest operetta: a farcical send-up of an old Greek myth. Orpheus in the Underworld was a modest success and ran well for several weeks.

But just as the production would normally be closing, an important Parisian music critic attended a performance, and was shocked, shocked that Offenbach dared make fun of something so noble and edifying as Greek mythology. His outraged review generated a lively debate, especially when Offenbach slyly inserted direct quotes from the review into the operetta!

Suddenly, Orpheus in the Underworld was the hottest ticket in Paris.

Box office revenue not only paid for new upholstery, but one tune from the show, an infectious “Infernal Galop” would, as M. Offenbach’s celebrated Can-Can, become a world-famous melody practically synonymous with Paris itself.

Music Played in Today's Program

Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880): Orpheus in the Underworld; English National Opera Orchestra and Chorus; Mark Elder, conductor; MCA 6325

On This Day

Births

• 1879 - French composer, pianist, and writer Joseph Canteloube, in Annonay (near Tournon)

• 1885 - Austrian composer and musicologist Egon Wellesz, in Vienna

• 1921 - English composer (Sir) Malcolm Arnold, in Northampton

• 1926 - American composer Marga Richter, in Reedsburg, Wisconsin

• 1949 - Israeli composer Shulamit Ran, in Tel Aviv

Deaths

• 1662 - English composer Henry Lawes, 66, in London

Premieres

• 1784 - Gretry: opera, Richard Coeur de Lion (Richard the Lionhearted), in Paris

• 1858 - Offenbach: comic opera, Orphée aux Enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld), in Paris

• 1900 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, at the Solodovnikov Theatre in Moscow, with Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov conducting (Gregorian date: Nov. 3)

• 1921 - Third (and final) version of Sibelius: Symphony No. 5, in Helsinki under the composer’s direction. Sibelius conducted the first performances of two earlier versions of this symphony in Helsinki on Dec. 8, 1915 and Dec. 14, 1916.

• 1926 - Nielsen: Flute Concerto (first version), in Paris, conducted by Emil Telmányi (the composer’s son-in-law), with Holger Gilbert-Jespersen the soloist. Nielsen revised this score and premiered the final version in Oslo on November 9, 1926, again with Gilbert-Jespersen as the soloist.

• 1933 - Gershwin: musical Let ‘Em Eat Cake, at the Imperial Theater in New York City

• 1941 - Copland: Piano Sonata, in Buenos Aires, by the composer

• 1956 - Menotti: madrigal-fable The Unicorn, the Gordon and the Manticore, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

• 1984 - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Double Quartet for strings, at a concert of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, by the Emerson Quartet and friends.

• 2004 - Danielpour: Songs of Solitude (to texts of W.B. Yeats), at the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall in Philadelphia, by baritone Thomas Hampson and the Philadelphia Orchestra, with Daniel Robertson conducting

Others

• 1739 - Handel completes his Concerto Grosso No. 5 and possibly his Concerto Grosso No. 9 in London (see Julian date: Oct. 10)