Just as Jacques Offenbach exemplified the joie de vivre of mid-nineteenth-century Paris, Siegfried Kracauer's biography of the exuberant dandy, cello virtuoso, and Tales of Hoffman composer captures the extravagance of the carnivals, cafŽs, and boulevards Offenbach shared with his notable friends ƒmile Zola, Charles Baudelaire, and Richard Wagner, among others.
Offenbach launched his career at the Paris Conservatoire when he was just fourteen, performing with the OpŽra-Comique shortly thereafter. Moving on to compose a body of work from waltzes to operettas, including Orpheus in the Underworld and La vie parisienne,. he continually faced criticisms of his music and lavish lifestyle.
Kracauer's wide-ranging and astute cultural critique of Offenbach and mid-nineteenth-century Paris was first translated from the German and published in the United States in 1938. Revealing how the arts influenced one another and society, this enduring volume is a vivid portrait of a legendary time.
