Virtuoso cellist, respected conductor and gifted composer, Jacques Offenbach's long and notable career survived both fame and bankruptcy. As a cellist, he was known as one of the most gifted of his time. He promoted his own works as a conductor and helped define the genre of operetta as a worthy companion in the world of opera and high art.

Born Jacob Offenbach on June 20, 1819 in Cologne, Offenbach turned quickly to musical endeavors. Studying first the violin, at age nine he began playing the cello. He quickly became a proficient musician and played cello in a family trio with his brother Julius and his sister Isabella. His teachers included Joseph Alexander and Bernhard Breuer.

Offenbach's musical training was further developed when he entered the Paris Conservatory at 14 years of age. It was here that he adopted the name "Jacques." After leaving the Conservatory, he continued his cello studies with Louis Norblin. Offenbach supported himself by playing in the orchestra of the Opéra-Comique. Here he learned about the style of opera that he would later come to define. During these years he studied composition with Halévy. By 1833 he had become one of the finest cellists in all of Europe and embarked on a concert career. Over the next years he performed with such notable musicians as Anton Rubinstein, Liszt, and Mendelssohn. He converted to Christianity in 1844 and was married that same year to Herminie d'Alcain.

Offenbach's first conducting post was the Théâtre Français in 1850. This was a unique opportunity for him because, starting in 1839, he had begun to compose larger works for the theater and was now in a position to program and produce them himself. Five years later he resigned this post for bigger positions and continued to program his operettas in such important venues such as the Bouffes-Parisiens at Salle Marigny.

In 1858 Offenbach scored one of his biggest hits with the operetta Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the underworld). His success continued for another ten years with such brilliant efforts as La belle Hélène (1864), Barbe-bleue (Blue Beard 1866), La vie parisienne (1866) and La Périchole (1868).

Offenbach's early success began to wane and he went into bankruptcy. He traveled to America in 1876 with new productions of his operettas which helped his financial situation.

Offenbach continued to compose until the end of his life on October 5, 1880. His last opera, Les contes d'Hoffman (Tales of Hoffman), is his most famous even though he left it only in piano score. Guiraud later orchestrated the opera.

Jacques Offenbach's contribution to the genre of comic operetta is extensive. His influence can be seen in the works of Johann Strauss II, Lehár and Sir Arthur Sullivan who, like Offenbach, traveled to America to present his operettas. Indeed, the genre of the American Musical Theater owes much to the genius of Jacques Offenbach.