Signed, Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880) loved to write letters: to the newly launched newspaper *Le Figaro*; to his friends, his musicians, his librettists, and even to his critics. He took great care with his style, tinged with irony and self-deprecation, just as in his operettas and comic operas. Offenbach was, in fact, very aware that words were just as important as music. Like a master chef, he knew how to combine all the contrasting flavors of his era: the glitz of a nostalgic Empire with major industrial developments; the seriousness of the proud bourgeoisie with the satire of journalists; Parisian joy with an underlying romanticism envied from the Germans; the military’s bravado with the common sense of the “working classes”; the burlesque of political ambitions with the real concerns of everyday life; the surrender to pleasure with profound moral questions. This “little Mozart of the Champs-Élysées” (as Rossini called him) often pairs “exhilaration” with “caresses” and “tenderness”… And with “sadness”? There it is—that melancholy common to all clowns, everywhere—but not to spoil the fun. It makes Offenbach’s humor—always just a touch cruel—deeper and more human. Hidden within this dark humor and in every note of his music is a helping hand. Yes, love for the audience. And that is precisely why his work still speaks to us today. “Signed Offenbach” presents a New Year’s Eve and New Year’s concert that reads like a love letter from the 19th century.