Opera Rara: ORR243

Offenbach: Entre Nous

Entre Nous: Celebrating Offenbach traces the extraordinary career of one of the great personalities of the 19th century: the composer, entrepreneur and satirist Jacques Offenbach. He composed over 100 stage works, yet only a fraction of Offenbach’s output is regularly performed today. This new recording assembles some of the finest moments from forgotten works – arias, duets and ensembles – performed by a glittering array of singing stars. Offenbach’s composing life was driven by commercial success. He opened his first theatre, the Bouffes-Parisiens, in 1855 with a mission to revive the art of high-quality comic opera. Yet the notorious jester who spent so much time poking fun at the leading figures of his day longed to be taken seriously by the musical establishment. He pinned great hopes on his works for the Opéra-Comique, including the delightful Vert-Vert, which brought him closer to his ‘serious’ style. Along the way there is much Offenbachian charm and wit; discover the once wildly popular Geneviève de Brabant, the risqué La Jolie Parfumeuse, and Le Roi Carotte, where Prince Fridolin’s kingdom is taken over by vegetables! Find out about the personalities of Offenbach’s world – including Hortense Schneider, whose life-story is dramatised in the preposterous La Diva!

This two CD set is accompanied by a 240 page booklet containing notes and texts for each excerpt by Offenbach enthusiast Nicholas Jenkins. World Premiere Recording