Jacques OFFENBACH / Signed Autograph Letter / Operetta / Opera-bouffe / Paris

  

Autographed letter signed "Jacques Offenbach" to Philippe Gille S. "Tuesday morning" [after 1868], 1 p. Letterhead with his initials "J. Watermark: "Original / Turkey Mill / Kent". Autographed envelope (by messenger) attached.

In the midst of rehearsing three of his plays, Offenbach asks his librettist friend Philippe Gille to dedicate a note to him in Le Figaro, as "nice" as the one he just received in La Liberté. I find a note that is among the nicest, most amiable, and most friendly in La Liberté. I ask you to make a similar one and to have it published this evening in Le Figaro, if you still have any influence there. In the past, your newspaper would certainly have highlighted the rather curious fact of a musician or any author rehearsing three pieces at once - But now that Le Figaro is entirely at... One easily forgets old friends. Too bad for those who forget. I do not love you any less.

" Their collaboration culminates with Le Docteur Ox (premiered in 1877 at the Variétés), their last joint work, written with the participation of Arnold Mortier for the libretto. Gille also collaborates around the same time as a librettist with Bizet, Delibes, and Massenet. An influential journalist, close to naturalist writers, he held, among other things, the "Bataille littéraire" column in Le Figaro. The German composer naturalized as French, Jacques Offenbach, begins his career as a virtuoso instrumentalist.

In 1855, he opened his own theater, Les Bouffes-Parisiens. His genius lay in his ability to turn this genre into a musical and social satire, parodying both opera, the quintessential noble art, and the bourgeoisie of the Second Empire. Letters from Jacques Offenbach are rare on the market.