Among the composers who wrote music for the Can-Can dance Jacques Offenbach is the most famous. In 1858, he included the well-known musical theme in the operetta “Orpheus in the Underworld” (Orphée aux Enfers).
Offenbach was born in 1819 in Cologne, Germany. From the age of 6 he started music lessons with his father who, in addition to being a cantor in the synagogue, made a living playing the violin in cafés. At the age of 14, little Jacques and his brother, as musical talents, visit Paris and manage to earn a place to study at the Paris Conservatoire. Since then, as a virtuoso not only of the piano but also of the cello, Jacques Offenbach has gone down in music history as a famous composer. He died in Paris in 1880.
The comic opera (opéra comique) “Orpheus in the Underworld”, a satire (lampoon) that was based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, premiered in Paris in 1858 with great success, and was repeated in 1874 where it once again was “a box office hit”. It still holds a firm place in the opera repertoire to this day.
The most famous part of the opera is the dance “Infernal Galop”, a lively and uplifting melody that was rightly identified with the Can-Can dance.