Signé Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) loved writing letters: to the newly founded newspaper Le Figaro; to his friends, musicians, librettists, and even his critics. He carefully crafted his style, tinged with irony and self-deprecation, just as he did in his operettas and comic operas. Offenbach was, in fact, very aware that words were as important as music.

Like a great chef, he knew how to combine all the contradictory flavors of his time: the glitter of a nostalgic Empire with the great industrial developments; the seriousness of the proud bourgeoisie with the satire of journalists; Parisian joy with a romanticism envied by the Germans; the bluff of the military with the common sense of the "popular classes"; the burlesque of political ambitions with the real anxieties of everyday life; the surrender to pleasure with the profound questions of morality.

This "little Mozart of the Champs-Élysées" (as Rossini called him) often rhymes "intoxication" with "caresses" and "tenderness"... And with "sadness"? There it is, that melancholy of all clowns, everywhere, but not to spoil the fun. It makes Offenbach's humor, always a touch cruel, deeper, more human. Hidden in this dark humor and in every note of his music, there is an outstretched hand. Yes, love for the audience. And it is precisely for this reason that his work still speaks to us today.

Signé Offenbach offers you a New Year's Eve and New Year's concert in the style of a love letter from the 19th century.