Orpheus marked a significant advance for Offenbach in 1858. From being restricted by the terms of his license to producing short works for just a few performers, he was now permitted to use larger casts and chorus and to offer his audiences a full-length work for the first time. Though the idea of parodying Greek mythology was not new, the vehemence with which Offenbach did so, not least by turning a stately minuet into a cancan, caused a good deal of critcal comment. However, this merely served to increase interest in the work and ensure its overwhelming success in Paris. In turn, this led to international celebrity on an enlarged scale and substantially accelerated the pace of acceptance of his works abraod.

The satire of the piece consists largely of portraying the revered figures of antiquity in farcical and incongruous situations, the only direct musical satire being a quotation of Gluck's "J'ai perdu mon Eurydice."

When Bizet and his buddies were busy creating serious French operas, a different kind of composer came along. Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) grabbed the concept of opera, made it funnier and frothier, added spoken dialogue and almost single-handedly created the operetta.

An operetta is often shorter than a real opera, and it's always lighthearted and designed more for entertainment than for catharsis. Whereas most are mostly of singing - operettas feature spoken dialogue between songs (much like a Broadway musical).

Jacques Offenbach, the most hilarious of the Catholic French composers, was originally neither Catholic or French. His actual name was Jakob Eberst and his heritage was Jewish, and he was born in Cologne, Germany. Often he would sign his name O. de Cologne.

His transformation into France's satire king began in his teenage years, when his father took him to Paris for cello training. The newly renamed Jacques was a true prodigy on the cello but he was easily distracted from his studies - especially by the rich theater life of Paris in the springtime. He found that he had a talent for composition and he set about composing his own operas.

Offenbach found it difficult to break into the circle of Parisian theaters. He took his talent elsewhere, to unofficial back-room theaters and non-theaters. He supported himself by performing every musical task anyone offered - conducting, copying music by hand, producing shows - even acting as stage manager for other people's shows.

It had been somewhat of a "right of passage" for young composers to write an opera based on the Greek tale of Orpheus. For Offenbach though, this was not a duty but an opportunity to completely ridicule that overdone myth. His Orpheus in the Underworld is a screamingly funny spoof of all the serious operas based on the Orpheus myth, sort of a like a Saturday Night Live edition. It was a smash hit when it premiered in 1855 at a small theatre Offenbach had taken over.

Click here to watch a cartoon version of Orpheus in the Underworld!