Offenbach, Jacques: Romantic Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach's more than 100 stage works are an endless treasure trove of vocal highlights with highly different musical moods and lyrical themes. To mark the 200th birthday of the great composer in 2019, which is at the same time the year of the 20th anniversary of the Offenbach Edition Keck OEK, the editor and Offenbach expert Jean-Christophe Keck has assembled a selection of arias. The four-part collection arranged according to voice category shows a rather unknown, romantic side of Offenbach. Apart from rediscovered works and first editions, however, the collection is not complete without some of his unrivalled hits. Among the characters figuring in the soprano volume are not only title figures like the Beautiful Helen, the Grand Duchess of Gerolstein or the Princess of Trébizonde but also figures from more serious operas: Armgard from Les Fées du Rhin or Elsbeth from Fantasio. The volume presents stage works, including excerpts from Barkouf, Les Bergers or Le Roi Carotte, that are accessible for performances only as of recently. Romantic Offenbach is aimed at fully trained and budding professionals as well as at Offenbach fans of every shade and colour, providing repertoire pieces for recitals, studies or private music-making.