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| QUOTE | Biography by Robert Cummings
Jacques Offenbach is best known for his opera Les contes d'Hoffman (Tales of Hoffmann) and for a work he did not compose, Gaîté parisienne, which used his themes as assembled and arranged by Manuel Rosenthal. Offenbach was one of those populist figures whose tuneful and exhilarating music could, at its best, elevate his art to classic status. His chief importance was in the development of the operetta as a bona fide genre on the world's stages. In this endeavor he would exert influence to varying degrees over Johann Strauss II, Lehár, Sullivan, and many others.
Offenbach was born Jacob Offenbach in Cologne on June 20, 1819. His first lessons were on violin. At age nine his focus turned to the cello, possibly to become the third member of a family trio: his brother Julius was already proficient on the violin, and his sister Isabella was a good pianist. Together, the three played local engagements for small sums of money. Offenbach's teachers included Joseph Alexander and Bernhard Breuer.
In 1833, Offenbach's father took him to Paris, where he was enrolled at the Conservatory. It was during his early years there that he adopted the French version of his name, "Jacques." After leaving the Conservatory about a year later, Offenbach took further lessons on the cello from Louis Norblin, but, more importantly, studied composition with Halévy. He supported himself during this period by playing in the Opéra-Comique orchestra. By 1838, when he left his orchestral post, he had become one of the finest cellists in Europe and began performing with Flotow, who played the piano. Although he had been composing small pieces since his childhood, Offenbach began writing larger works now, like the score for the comedy, Pascal et Chambord, premiered in 1839.
Over the next several years, Offenbach met and performed with Anton Rubinstein and Franz Liszt, and he traveled to London in 1844 to give concerts with Mendelssohn and Joachim. That same year he married Herminie d'Alcain, following his conversion from Judaism to Catholicism. Clearly, Offenbach could have chosen to remain primarily a performing artist, but in 1847 he began composing operettas, his first being L'alcove. He was appointed conductor at the Théâtre Français in 1850, and by 1855, when he resigned that conducting post for another, began attaining regular performances of his works at important theaters like the Bouffes-Parisiens, at Salle Marigny.
Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the underworld) was a great success in 1858 and paved the way for his subsequent larger operettas. He had a string of hits in the mid-1860s: La belle Hélène (1864), Barbe-bleue (1866), La vie parisienne (1866), and La Périchole (1868). While his later works also achieved success, they did not generate the level of excitement attained by these.
In 1874, Offenbach, now director of the Théâtre de la Gaité, mounted new versions of some of his earlier successful operettas, like La Périchole, but failed to turn profits. Eventually he went into bankruptcy. A concert tour to the United States in 1876 and new productions of his works in London a few years later helped give him financial solvency. Offenbach continued composing up to his last days. He was working on his opera, the aforementioned Les contes d'Hoffman, when he died on October 5, 1880. The work, existing in piano score only, was orchestrated by Guiraud, who also made a few additions. |
| CODE | Composition Description by Robert Cummings
Jacques Offenbach died in 1880, yet it is his name that is attached to this ballet that first appeared in 1938. While the tunes in Gaîté Parisienne are his, much of the orchestration, as well as the arrangement of the numbers, was done by Manuel Rosenthal. The idea for the ballet was conceived by the talented trio of choreographer Leonid Massine, the well-known impresario Sol Hurok, and René Blum, director of the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo, who together engaged the services of Rosenthal after they had selected the Offenbach tunes for him to use. The scenario they contrived was taken from Offenbach's operetta La Vie Parisienne.
The story concerns the seedy patrons of a Paris bistro called Tortoni's Restaurant, an actual business establishment. There are many amorous adventures in the ballet, with the story centering on two men: a baron who chases after a young woman selling gloves, and a Peruvian who pursues a relationship with a flower girl. It is all quite mischievous fun, colorfully packaged and brilliantly suited by the Offenbach/Rosenthal score. The premiere on April 5, 1938, at the Théâtre de Monte Carlo, was a great success and the music has been in the standard repertory ever since, often presented in "pops" concerts.
Much of the music in Gaîté Parisienne, of course, was already familiar when it was first presented, which may have aided its success. The popular "Can-Can," for example, is taken from Offenbach's operetta, Orpheus in the Underworld (1858; rev. 1874). The familiar Barcarolle, which closes the ballet, comes from the Tales of Hoffman (1881), his last operetta.
There is much other attractive music in Gaîté Parisienne, all of it in a light vein. There are two colorful polkas, five waltzes, a Ländler, and many other dances, most frothy and joyous, all quite tuneful and direct. In sum, this is unpretentious, well-crafted music, and while it will not appeal to those exclusively interested in serious listening, it is undeniably masterful within its genre. It should be noted that not all the music in the score is from Offenbach: Rosenthal himself wrote No. 14, "The Duel." He was a young composer of modest success when he took on the project, and would later become better known as a conductor, for a time leading the French National Radio Orchestra and later the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Rosenthal himself recorded this score twice. |
| CODE | EAC extraction logfile from 4. August 2007, 1:01 for CD
Boston Pops Fiedler / Offenbach - Gaоtй Parisienne - XRCD2
Used drive : CREATIVEDVD-ROM DVD1610E Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
Read offset correction : 594
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo
Other options :
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Installed external ASPI interface
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\Пользователь\Рабочий стол\cow\Boston Pops Fiedler - Offenbach - Gaоtй Parisienne - XRCD2.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Range quality 100.0 %
CRC FC51A367
Copy OK
No errors occured
End of status report |
| CODE | REM GENRE Classical
REM DATE 2002
REM DISCID 40088117
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v0.95b4"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
TITLE "Offenbach - Gaоtй Parisienne - XRCD2"
FILE "Boston Pops Fiedler - Offenbach - Gaоtй Parisienne - XRCD2.wav" WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE "Allegro"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE "Allegro brillante"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 02:03:18
TRACK 03 AUDIO
TITLE "Polka"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 03:03:50
TRACK 04 AUDIO
TITLE "Lдnder: Allegro"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 04:29:08
TRACK 05 AUDIO
TITLE "Mazurka"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 06:02:70
TRACK 06 AUDIO
TITLE "Valse"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 08:15:20
TRACK 07 AUDIO
TITLE "Allegro"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 10:15:00
TRACK 08 AUDIO
TITLE "Polka"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 11:18:33
TRACK 09 AUDIO
TITLE "Valse"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 12:37:53
TRACK 10 AUDIO
TITLE "Tempo di marcia"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 15:28:73
TRACK 11 AUDIO
TITLE "Valse"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 16:46:68
TRACK 12 AUDIO
TITLE "Allegro vivo"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 18:34:40
TRACK 13 AUDIO
TITLE "Valse"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 18:45:28
TRACK 14 AUDIO
TITLE "Allegro vivace; Misterioso"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 20:39:30
TRACK 15 AUDIO
TITLE "Valse"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 22:46:40
TRACK 16 AUDIO
TITLE "Allegro vivo"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 25:27:23
TRACK 17 AUDIO
TITLE "Cancan"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 25:52:45
TRACK 18 AUDIO
TITLE "Quadrille"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 27:36:30
TRACK 19 AUDIO
TITLE "Allegro moderato"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 29:28:40
TRACK 20 AUDIO
TITLE "Allegro"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 30:10:05
TRACK 21 AUDIO
TITLE "Vivo"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 30:33:35
TRACK 22 AUDIO
TITLE "Vivo"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 31:30:58
TRACK 23 AUDIO
TITLE "Barcarolle"
PERFORMER "Boston Pops Fiedler"
INDEX 01 32:33:03 |
This post has been edited by OlCh on 05-08-2007, 22:27
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NetLab -> Forums -> Music -> Super Sound -> Topic: Arthur Fiedler-Boston Pops - Offenbach-Gaîté Parisienne
Arthur Fiedler-Boston Pops - Offenbach-Gaîté Parisienne, XRCD 24 Living Stereo RCA Victor red seal
нам еще бы и следующие твои релизы скушать 
