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German-born French composer and cellist, celebrated as the 'father of the operetta' for revolutionizing light musical theatre in 19th-century Paris.Born in Cologne, Offenbach studied cello in Paris, becoming a renowned virtuoso and conductor. He founded the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens (1855), composing nearly 100 stage works, primarily sparkling, satirical operettas like 'Orpheus in the Underworld' and 'La Belle Hélène'. His final, unfinished masterpiece, the opera 'The Tales of Hoffmann', ...