Canon
Where to start with Offenbach
Essential works to know this composer by — spread across their styles-
StageOrphée aux Enfers — Opera
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Chamber3 Grands duos concertants, for 2 cellos, op. 43
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OrchestralAbendblätter, waltzes for orchestra
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KeyboardDernier Souvenir: Valse de Zimmer
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VocalHymne, for voices
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StageLes contes d'Hoffmann — Opera
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OrchestralAmerican Eagle Waltz
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StageBarbe-bleue
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StageBelle Lurette
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OrchestralBrunes et Blondes, waltz suite for orchestra
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ChamberChanson de Berthe, for cello and piano
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ChamberChants du soir, 6 serenades for cello and piano
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StageChristopher Columbus
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OrchestralConcerto militaire in G major, for cello and orchestra
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StageCoscoletto or Le lazzarone
Listening guide
Hand-curated paths into Offenbach's catalogueMost Popular
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Orpheus in the Underworld — Can-Can
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Tales of Hoffmann (opera)
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La Belle Hélène (operetta)
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Barcarolle (from Tales of Hoffmann)
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Die Fledermaus (not Offenbach — that\’s Strauss Jr; try: La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein)
Most Acclaimed
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Tales of Hoffmann (unfinished opera)
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La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein
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La Périchole
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La Belle Hélène
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La Vie Parisienne
Most Weird
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Tales of Hoffmannthree acts about a romantic’s failed loves: a mechanical doll, a courtesan, a dying singer — and a framing device where he’s drunk in a bar; left unfinished at his death
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Barbe-bleue (operetta)Bluebeard as comedy — all his wives are still alive; he keeps them in a dungeon
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La Grande Duchesse de Gérolsteinpolitical satire — a duchess falls for a soldier and starts a pointless war; controversial in its day
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Les Deux Aveuglestwo fake blind men competing for coins — his earliest surviving operetta; 15 minutes
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Orpheus in the Underworld Act 2the Gods on Olympus are bored, idle, and ridiculous — a parody of official France
Similar composers
Same era, overlapping styles — by genre & period affinityWorks 90
- Stage
- ● Orphée aux Enfers — Opera
- Les contes d'Hoffmann — Opera
- Barbe-bleue
- Belle Lurette
- Christopher Columbus
- Coscoletto or Le lazzarone
- Der Goldschmied von Toledo
- Die Rheinnixen
- Fantasio
- Geneviève de Brabant
- Il signor Fagotto
- Jeanne qui pleure et Jean qui rit
- L'île de Tulipatan
- La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein
- La Périchole
- La belle Hélène
- La boulangère a des écus
- La chanson de Fortunio
- La créole
- La diva
- La fille du tambour-major
- La jolie parfumeuse — Opera
- La permission de dix heures
- La rose de Saint-Fleur
- La vie parisienne
- Le Château à Toto
- Le Docteur Ox
- Le Mariage aux Lanternes
- Le Papillon — Ballet
- Le Roi Carotte
- Le carnaval des revues
- Le fifre enchanté
- Le pont des soupirs
- Le voyage dans la lune
- Le voyage de MM. Dunanan pere et fils
- Les bergers
- Les braconniers
- Les brigands
- Les deux pêcheurs
- Lischen et Fritzchen
- Madame l'archiduc
- Maître Péronilla
- Monsieur et Madame Denis
- Robinson Crusoé
- Un mari à la porte
- Une nuit blanche
- Vent du soir ou L'horrible festin, operetta in 1 act
- Vert-Vert — Opera
- Chamber
- 3 Grands duos concertants, for 2 cellos, op. 43
- Chanson de Berthe, for cello and piano
- Chants du soir, 6 serenades for cello and piano
- Danse bohémienne, for cello and piano, op. 28
- Harmonies des bois, 3 pieces for cello solo, op. 76
- Introduction et valse melancolique, for cello and piano, op. 14
- Rêverie au bord de la mer, for cello and piano
- Schlittenfahrt, for cello and piano
- Traumerei am Meeresufer, for cello and piano
- Orchestral
- Abendblätter, waltzes for orchestra
- American Eagle Waltz
- Brunes et Blondes, waltz suite for orchestra
- Concerto militaire in G major, for cello and orchestra
- Les larmes de Jacqueline, for cello and orchestra
- Musette, Air de ballet du 17eme siecle, for cello and orchestra, op. 24
- Overture to a Grand Orchestra, for orchestra
- Keyboard
- Dernier Souvenir: Valse de Zimmer
- Décameron dramatique, suite of 10 dances
- Herminie, waltz
- Jacqueline, suite of waltzes
- La fleuve d'or, suite of waltzes
- Les Amazones, waltzes
- Les Arabesques, waltz
- Les Boules de neige, landler
- Les Contes de la Reine de Navarre, grand waltz
- Les belles américaines, suite of waltzes
- Les fleurs d'hiver
- Les roses des Bengale, 6 waltzes
- Les trois Graces, waltzes
- Madeleine, polka-mazurka
- Polka burleske
- Polka du mendiant
- Postillon-galop
- Schüler polka
- Souvenir d'Aix-les-Bains, waltz
- Souvenirs de Londres, polka
- The Celebrated Polka Dance
- Waltz
- Vocal
- Hymne, for voices
- L'étoile, song for voice and piano
- Si j'étais petit osieau, song for voice and piano
- Venise, barcarolle for chorus