University of SUNY Oneonta

Hervé and Offenbach’s

Operettas
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In places like Britain, France, and Germany, before operettas, comic operas flourished.

Comic operas and operettas began in the second empire of Paris​. Typically comic operas were

carefree stories that took the features that made Melodramas so popular that ​were especially

popular in the early 18th century(Hanning,Weinstock). ​ It focussed on the ​more realistic

situations of ordinary people who sang. During the period, that comic operas were popular so

were operettas. The rise of operettas was due to the desire for short operas in contrast to the

full-length entertainment of the increasingly serious comic operas. Operettas incorporated t​he use

of mood-setting background music, elaborate stage effects, the use of popular songs captivated

audiences, and diologue​. The person known for creating the first Operettas was Florimond

Hervé, who made operettas to distract people from their troubles (Lubbock). Operettas flourished

in the 19th century because of Jacques Offenbach who made over 100 operettas. Without

Offenbach and his many operettas, the genre would not have gotten the popularity it did at the

time (French Opérette and Opéra Bouffe). Their work on operettas resulted in many more people

creating operettas because they were inspired by their work. A well known 'impersonator ' was

Johann Strauss II. When it comes to differentiating between comic operas and operettas, it

proved difficult due to both genres dealing with pleasant subjects, having comic elements, and a

light plot with a happy ending. Unlike Comic Opera, Operettas involved spoken dialogue, light

music along with light subjects. There ​is always a happy ending despite the plot​. The difference

between the two genres of opera is that operettas had the aim to amuse through dialogue similar

to that of a comic opera, it just lacked the dramatic music. Unlike operas, Most ​Operettas

featured extended dance sequences and were designed to be popular entertainment for everyday

people, who could not have afforded the high cost of a grand opera performance.(Study.com)
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The person credited as the inventor of operettas was Florimond Hervé. Hervé was ​a French

singer, composer, librettist, conductor and scene painter. He was always known by the nickname

"Le Compositeur Tocqué '',​ which meant "The Crazy Composer”(Lubbock). Hervé moved to

Paris with his mom and started his career in music. He was a choirboy at ​Saint-Roch​ while doing

his musical studies. As a result of having a musical background, Hervé was appointed organist to

a lunatic asylum in Paris called the ​Bicêtre Hospital​. This was where his mother was in charge of

the wardrobe while Hervé worked with the asylum’s inmates. While Herve worked there, he

tried to imprint the principles of music into the minds of the inmates. He tried to do this by

getting in the habit of organizing concerts and dramatic performances for their benefit. This

consisted of little musical plays that he wrote himself, setting up an orchestra, and involving the

inmates of the hospital by getting them to act in his works. With him creating these performances

he had the idea of keeping their minds busy. During his time there he wrote a little operetta titled

L’Ours et le Pacha​ that was based on the popular vaudeville by Scribe and Sainte, which his

pupils performed​ ​Herve’s performance soon attracted interested theatrical managers that came to

see his work ​(Gänzel)​.​ ​Hervé became the organist at ​Saint-Eustache​ after winning a competition

in 1845 for the post along with making his first appearances on the professional stage as a

comedian and vocalist in a handful of suburban theatres in Paris. His first knowledgeable

appearance was when he wrote, composed, and played a part in ​Don Quichotte et Sancho Pança

which was played at ​Adolphe Adam’s Théâtre National​. At this time Hervé did multiple things at

once to further his musical career. He was a church organist, theatrical writer, performer, and

frequently went to appointments as ​ched d’orchestre​ at the ​Odéon​ and the ​Palais-Royal​. He

worked on little musicals he called ​vaudeville-opérette, parodie-opérette, ​or​ opérette-bouffe.​

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Since his fame of these performances spread abroad,​ he was offered the post of conductor at the

Théâtre du Palais-Royal​. This is he became a successful composer of the genre he called

Operetta​. ​The influence of the Italian and French forms spread to other parts of Europe. Many

countries developed their own genres of comic opera, incorporating the Italian and French

models along with their own m​usical traditions. ​Florimond Hervé became the forerunner of the

Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens​ of ​Jacques Offenbach, who made his own legacy developing of

the genre Hervé started(Kupferburg). The person most associated with Operettas is Jacques

Offenbach because he expanded the genre of operettas gaining fame from his many operettas.

Offenbach was originally born in Germany of Jewish heritage up until his move to Paris due to

people in Paris being more tolerant of Jews. Offenbach lived in Paris during his youth where he

was enrolled as a cello student at the Paris Conservatoire and he started his musical career in

Cologne. He settled into Paris at the age of 14 and played the cello in the orchestra of an

Opéra-Comique and became the conductor at the ​Théâtre Français​. In Paris, he converted to

Roman Catholicism and married a Spanish Catholic adopting her religion from a young age hes

was exploited to the wonders of music and theare that he started his theatre career when he

opened his own theatre in 1855 called the ​Bouffes- Parisiens,​ which was where he had many of

his operettas be performed in. Offenbach became celebrated in France, writing more than 100

comic works. Offenbach's satirical operettas were designed for the pleasure-loving citizens of the

Second Empire. Out of his many operettas​, Orphée aux enfers,​ also called ​Orpheus in the

Underworld,​ became his most renowned opera which was performed in ​Bouffes-Parisiens

(Goodwin). He also went on to produce operettas at Ems in Germany, an ​opéra-ballet ​titled ​Die

Rheinnixen​ in Vienna and ​La Belle Hélène​ in ​Variétés​. ​Le Belle Hélène​ was proved to be
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successful along with other successes like ​La Vie Parisienne,​ ​La grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein,​

and ​La Périchole​ while he directed in the ​Théâtre de la Gaîté.​ He also produced revised versions

of ​Orphée aux enfers​ which was described as an ​opéra-féerique​, a fantasy opera, and was a

failure financially​. Offenbach also is said to have toured the US.​ With the coming of the

Franco-Prussian War​ and the fall of Emperor Napoleon III, the mood of Paris changed. People

who had starved in the siege were no longer in the mood for levity. In specific, the Republicans

associated Offenbach with the Imperial regime and viewed his work as indecent and immoral.

Before the ​Franco-Prussian War​, He fled France and went to his home in ​Étretat​ where he

arranged for his family to move to the safety of ​San Sebastián​ in northern Spain. He ends up

joining them shortly afterward. Having risen to fame under Napoleon III, ridiculed him, and been

rewarded by him, Offenbach was universal as "the mocking-bird of the Second Empire ''. His

operettas were now frequently vilified as the embodiment of everything superficial and worthless

in Napoleon III's régime. ​La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein​ was banned in France because of

its antimilitarist satire. The first and last grand opera he decided to write was ​Les Contes

d’Hoffmann​, also called The Tales of Hoffmann, which remained incomplete by the time of his

death. Offenbach was a German-French composer, cellist and impresario of the romantic period

that later influenced people like Johann Strauss II, whose first attempt at an Operettas was not

successful. His scores have survived due to them being “swift and dazzling” and they were great

satirical works that transported Greek mythology into the cynical world of Emperor Napoleon

III. They ridiculed the politics and morality of their time.

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Operettas were a new genre of opera that did not take up as much time as comic operas.

Hervé during his musical career made a new genre that people could enjoy and relate to by

incorporating t​he use of mood-setting background music, elaborate stage effects, and use of

popular songs captivated audiences and making the plots more suited towards the audience.

These operettas focussed on the ​more realistic situations of ordinary people who sang along with

keeping people's minds off dark times. Offenbach was inspired by Hervé work and creation of a

new genre that he indulged in it himself creating 100 operettas and making operettas more

popular from developing what Hervé had already done. Without Hervé’s invention of operettas

and Offenbach’s work in musical theatre, operettas would not have been as popular as it was

back then and would have not helped people get through tough times.
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Cited Works/Bibliography
Lubbock, Mark. “The Complete Book of Light​ Opera”. Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962

http://www.theatrehistory.com/french/operette001.html​. Accessed January 31, 2020

Goodwin, Noël. “Theater Music”. Encyclopedia Britannica, inc. 2011 

.​https://www.britannica.com/art/theatre-music/Incidental-music-for-the-theatre#ref27812

Accessed January 31, 2020

Ganzël, Kurts. “HERVÉ: Florimond Ronger (b Houdain, 30 June 1825; d Paris, 3 November

1892)”. The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre 2001

http://operetta-research-center.org/herve-florimond-ronger-b-houdain-30-june-1825-d-paris-3-no

vember-1892/​ Accessed February 2, 2020

Kupferberg, Herbert. “Opera”. Newsweek Books 1975

https://www.amazon.com/Opera-Herbert-Kupferberg/dp/088225118X​ Accessed February 3,

2020

Study.com “Operetta: Definition, Composers & Famous Examples”. Study.com

https://study.com/academy/lesson/operetta-definition-composers-famous-examples.html

Accessed Feburary 3, 2020

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