Biography of Jacques Offenbach -

Offenbach, though German by birth, is most strongly identified with French comic opera. He was the song of a Jewish cantor whose real family name was Eberst. After marrying and taking a job as a cantor in Cologne, Offenbach's father changed his name to Offenbach, the name of his hometown. Jacques' birth name was Jakob.

In 1833, Jacques entered the Paris Conservatory to study cello. Academics were not to his liking, so he dropped out of the Conservatory and became a performer with an orchestra. As a performer, he was very successful, but he couldn't find much success as a composer. To overcome that lack of success, he started his own theatre and finally caught the public's attention with his Orpheus in the Underworld. This exciting and shocking work was the beginning of a veritable stream of operettas that were highly successful in major cities on both sides of the Atlantic. His success can be attributed to the lively, witty and melodious nature of his music.

In 1876, Offenbach visited American to participate in its Centennial Celebration. While that visit was ill-fated in the sense that audiences who expected him to be a lively and witty personality, akin to his music, were disappointed to discover that he was really a mild and likeable fellow. For bandsmen, however, fate could not have been harder at work because Offenbach hired John Philip Sousa to play first violin. It was while performing that Offenbach with Sousa had the opportunity to hear Gilmore's band and consequently to pursue the incredibly successful career with which we all are familiar and which led to this concert by the Community Band of Brevard.