Orpheus in the Underworld

I believe that you must see a rally of dancers in a night gown playing Can Can in a certain opera house in Paris, and the rhythm accompanied this dance would not be strange to you. It is a selection from Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld. Most people know Can Can, the most attractive show in Paris, but few people know where it was from, and who created such a rhythm with great passion and energy.







About the Composer
Jacques Offenbach was a Jewish born in Cologne, Germany (1819-1880) and moved to France. In 1833, his father took him to France to learn as a cellist, and he got a great chance to make a performance in front of the public by which he made his name known to Paris. What’s more, he started to produce operettas for the opera house. Through his life, he had composed almost 100 operettas, and the most famous one was Orpheus in the UnderworldIt was the first work that Offenbach composed a full-length operetta. However, he use the Greek Mythology to be the background of this story. All the horrible creatures, danger and difficulties that Orpheus met on the way to rescue his wife were in this piece of music.

The Music
In the underworld, everything was dark and mysterious, so Offenbach use clarinets a lot with bassoon and oboe to depict the atmosphere of mystery and anxiety. Besides, flutes and violins are the representative of danger as well as adventure. In the end, the rhythm, Can Can, shows up to take the audience to the climax with passion.