Jacques Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach

Donald Macleod on Jacques Offenbach - maestro of the Cancan and much more besides.

Today’s episode we meet Offenbach on the brink of defeat – when he decides to launch his own theatre company, ‘Les Bouffes-Parisiens’ in a tiny wooden shack on the Champs-Elysées. It was an instant and enduring success; over the next quarter-century, more than 50 of Offenbach’s musical comedies were to début there. We get an insight into the character of this driven creative artist – the man who “cannot stop working”. He even had his carriage kitted out with a writing desk, so that he could continue composing, scoring or revising as he travelled between venues. Next, we hear about his A-team librettists, Meilhac and Halévy, and a mysterious stranger makes him an offer he can’t refuse. Offenbach is whisked to the United States on a concert tour, where he is particularly fascinated by the women. Finally, Donald looks at Offenbach’s gout-ridden final years, and the opera he left unfinished on his death (The Tales of Hoffmann).

Music featured: Orphée aux enfers (extracts) Les deux aveugles (Overture) Monsieur Choufleuri restera chez lui (extracts) Valse de Zimmer (Dernier Souvenir) Boléro (from Grande scène espagnole, Op 22) Lischen et Fritzchen (Act 1, ‘Je suis Alsacienne’) Le papillon (extract) Boule de neige (‘L'Hospodar nous invite a luncher avec lui, lunchons!’) Barbe-bleue (Act 1, Couplets de Boulotte: “Y’a des bergers dans le village”) La belle Hélène (extract) La vie Parisienne (Act 3, finale) La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (Act I, finale) La Perichole (extract) La boulangerie à des écus (‘Ce qu’ j’ai?’) Vert-Vert (overture) American Eagle Waltz La vie Parisienne (Act 2, beginning) Les belles Américaines La Belle Hélène (Act 2, ‘On me nomme Hélène le blond’) La jolie parfumeuse (Act 1, ‘Je peins, je crayonne’) Les contes d’Hoffmann (extract)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Chris Barstow for BBC Wales

For full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Jacques Offenbach https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00061hq

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Jaksot(651)

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)

Donald Macleod explores Chopin and his relationship with novelist George Sand, from their first meetings to their fractious end. Early in 1837, Franz Liszt introduced Chopin to a woman who would have ...

2 Joulu 20221h 12min

Doreen Carwithen (1922-2003)

Doreen Carwithen (1922-2003)

Marking the centenary of her birth, Donald Macleod delves in to the little known world of 20th century British composer Doreen Carwithen.Doreen Carwithen is one of only a handful of female British com...

25 Marras 20221h 7min

The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance

The northern Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem was meant to be an upper-class white neighborhood, but rapid overdevelopment led to empty buildings and desperate landlords seeking to fill them. In the e...

18 Marras 20221h 40min

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Donald Macleod explores the relationship between Verdi and the city of Milan. As the hearse carrying the coffin of the composer Giuseppi Verdi travelled through Milan, more than half of the city’s pop...

11 Marras 20221h 2min

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, from his first steps up the musical ladder, to his premature death at the age of 37 and the legacy left behind. At the turn of th...

4 Marras 20221h 7min

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Donald Macleod delves into the life and works of Robert Schumann during the 1840s. The 1840s was the decade when Robert and Clara Schumann’s married life began, and was the decade in which he establis...

21 Loka 20221h 1min

Adolphus Hailstork (1941)

Adolphus Hailstork (1941)

Donald Macleod journeys into the varied musical landscape of Adolphus Hailstork, in conversation with the composer himself.American composer Adolphus Hailstork has written in many genres ranging from ...

7 Loka 20221h 2min

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)

Donald Macleod explores Carl Maria von Weber’s city lives and those dramas and scandals survived throughout. Weber’s relationship with European cities mirrored his life and work, from the restless wan...

30 Syys 202258min

Suosittua kategoriassa Viihde

tuplakaak
anni-jaajo
hei-baby-3
terveisia-perheesta
grekovit
the-harlin-show
dear-shirly
antin-palautepalvelu
bella-table
antin-elokuvakerho
verhon-takaa
dear-shirly-ja-arttu
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
tervo-halme
nonsensepodi
get-jassud
tahtitehdas
hollywood-love-stories-2
rss-wivolinin-viisukevat
everypodi