Jacques Offenbach
20 juin 1819 - Cologne (Germany) — 5 octobre 1880 - Paris (France)
About
Born in Germany to a musician father, Jakob Offenbach (later “Jacques”) began his musical studies on the cello, initially practicing in secret because of his parents misgivings about his being too small for the instrument. His talent eventually convinced them otherwise: when he was 14, they sent him to audition for the Paris Conservatoire, which accepted him despite a rule against foreigners entering. Even so, after only a year he abruptly cut short his studies to pursue his career as a performer, joining the orchestra of the Opéra-Comique and encountering the opera composer Halévy who agreed to give him composition lessons. After a brief hiatus in Cologne during the revolutionary movement of 1848, in 1850 he returned to Paris and was offered the direction of the Comédie-Française.