Born: 20 June 1819 · Died: 4 October 1880 · Age at death: 61
How old was Jacques Offenbach when he died?
Jacques Offenbach died aged 61. He was born on 20 June 1819 and died on 4 October 1880.
Composer of the Can-can and many popular nineteenth-century operettas
Did you know?Although he is closely associated with Paris, he was born in Germany and only moved to France as a teenager to study.
Quick facts
Date of birth20 June 1819
Date of death4 October 1880
Age at death61
Cause of deathHeart failure
NationalityFrench
BirthplaceCologne, Germany
Occupationcomposer, cellist, conductor
Editor's Take:
Jacques Offenbach made Second Empire Paris laugh at itself. His operettas turned Greek myths into sharp satires of politics, morals and high society. The tunes were irresistible. His Orpheus gave the world the can-can music still heard at cabarets today. He wrote around a hundred stage works with astonishing speed. He died months before his darkest and most ambitious work, The Tales of Hoffmann, reached the stage. His melodies remain among the most recognisable in music.
Key Milestones
1833: Arrives in Paris
1855: Opens his own theatre
1858: Orpheus in the Underworld premieres
1864: La Belle Hélène premieres
Jacques Offenbach (20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann.
