CHÉRET, Jules
(b. 1836, Paris, d. 1932, Nice)

Poster for Jacques Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers

1858
Lithograph, 127 x 90 cm
Gallica, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

Orpheus in the Underworld (French Orphée aux enfers) is comic operetta by French composer Jacques Offenbach (French libretto by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy), a satirical treatment of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus. It premiered on October 21, 1858, at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris. The work's best-known music is the cancan that appears in the overture and the final scene. The work was originally structured in two acts, though Offenbach later expanded it into four acts.




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