Kicking Up Our Heels with Offenbach's Can-Can (from Orpheus in the Underworld)
The Best Moments
Galop infernal
I'm Jacques Offenbach, and I'm glad to welcome you to the best moments of my Can-Can, from Orpheus in the Underworld. You'll hear the moments where that headlong tune bursts out and drives the whole finale forward, and that's worth your time because they show why audiences in Paris kept coming back night after night. My fellow composers and I also teach you, right here, to recognize our pieces the moment you hear them, so why not give it a go with this one?
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A Tune You Already Know
I start the Can-Can with a bright, bouncy tune that you will probably recognize within two seconds, even if you swear you have never heard a note of classical music. I wrote it as the finale of the second act in 1858, for an orchestra of only about thirty players, so the little band had to make as much noise as a crowd.
A Galop in Disguise
In the middle I let the tune race around and repeat itself, and I'll admit that I called the piece Galop infernal, because a galop is a fast, galloping dance and not a can-can at all. The two only became partners in the 1890s, when the Moulin Rouge and the Folies Bergère borrowed my music for their dancers, and I have been happily taking credit ever since.
The Tortoises Take a Turn
At the end I push everything into a breathless rush, and I like to think the audience goes home humming it whether they meant to or not. Years later Saint-Saëns quoted my tune in the "Tortoises" movement of The Carnival of the Animals, where the strings play it so slowly that the dancers would have time for a nap.
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I hope you enjoyed learning about the best moments of the Can-Can (from Orpheus in the Underworld) as much as I enjoyed sharing them with you. Looking back, it still amuses me that a tune I wrote for a cheeky comic opera has gone on to live a life of its own, far away from the stage where it began. People who have never heard the name Offenbach hum it without thinking, and I find that a very happy kind of fame. There is still more to discover about the Can-Can (from Orpheus in the Underworld), from the story of the opera it belongs to, to the way other composers have played with its tune. Saint-Saëns, for one, slowed it right down for the tortoises in his Carnival of the Animals, and it's a lovely surprise to hear my galop dragging its feet. If you'd like to keep exploring, I invite you to click on the links provided and let the Can-Can lead you a little further. I'd be glad to have you along, and I hope the next time you hear that bright, bouncy tune, you'll smile and recognize an old friend.
Recording: Gnissah, Public domain