Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Franz von Suppé, Johann Strauss II and Arthur Sullivan. His best-known works were continually revived during the 20th century, and many of his operettas continue to be staged in the 21st. The Tales of Hoffmann remains part of the standard opera repertory. Born in Cologne, Kingdom of Prussia, the son of a synagogue cantor, Offenbach showed early musical talent. At the age of 14, he was accepted as a student at the Paris Conservatoire; he found academic study unfulfilling and left after a year, but remained in Paris. From 1835 to 1855 he earned his living as a cellist, achieving international fame, and as a conductor. His ambition, however, was to compose comic pieces for the musical theatre. Finding the management of Paris's Opéra-Comique company uninterested in staging his works, in 1855 he leased a small theatre in the Champs-Élysées. There, during the next three years, he presented a series of more than two dozen of his own small-scale pieces, many of which became popular. In 1858 Offenbach produced his first full-length operetta, Orphée aux enfers ("Orpheus in the Underworld"), with its celebrated can-can; the work was exceptionally well received and has remained his most played. During the 1860s, he produced at least eighteen full-length operettas, as well as more one-act pieces. His works from this period include La belle Hélène (1864), La Vie parisienne (1866), La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867) and La Périchole (1868). The risqué humour (often about sexual intrigue) and mostly gentle satiric barbs in these pieces, together with Offenbach's facility for melody, made them internationally known, and translated versions were successful in Vienna, London, elsewhere in Europe and in the US. Offenbach became associated with the Second French Empire of Napoleon III: the emperor and his court were genially satirised in many of Offenbach's operettas, and Napoleon personally granted him French citizenship and the Légion d'honneur. With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, and the fall of the empire, Offenbach found himself out of favour in Paris because of his imperial connections and his German birth. He remained successful in Vienna, London and New York. He re-established himself in Paris during the 1870s, with revivals of some of his earlier favourites and a series of new works, and undertook a popular US tour. In his last years he strove to finish The Tales of Hoffmann, but died before the premiere of the opera, which has entered the standard repertory in versions completed or edited by other musicians.

American march music is march music written and/or performed in the United States. Its origins are those of European composers borrowing from the military music of the Ottoman Empire in place there from the 16th century. The American genre developed after the British model during the colonial and Revolutionary periods, then later as military ceremonials and for civilian entertainment events. One of the earliest exponents of march music in America and its preeminent champion was John Philip Sousa, "The March King"; who revolutionized and standardized American march music during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of his most famous marches—"Semper Fidelis", "The Washington Post", "The Liberty Bell March", and "The Stars and Stripes Forever"—are among the best known of historical American music and are especially revered by many Americans for their rousing strains and patriotic themes. His "Stars and Stripes Forever" features what is arguably the most famous piccolo obligato in all of music. Other notable American composers of march music include Henry Fillmore – "The Circus Bee"; Charles A. Zimmerman – "Anchors Aweigh"; W. Paris Chambers – "Sweeney's Cavalcade"; Edwin E. Bagley – "National Emblem March"; Meredith Willson – "Seventy-six Trombones"; and George Gershwin – "Strike Up the Band". Composers (from Europe or elsewhere) of march music popular in the US include: Johann Strauss Sr – "Radetzky March"; Kenneth J. Alford – "Colonel Bogey March"; Julius Fucik – "Entry of the Gladiators"; Edward Elgar – "Pomp and Circumstance (No. 1)". The forms of American march music typically are of three categories: the military march form, the regimental march form, and a general group containing recapitulation marches, "four-step" marches, and other diverse forms. All marches have at least three common elements, including: different (i.e., contrasting) sections called strains; several different melodies; and a "trio" section of strains/"repeats" that offers pronounced contrasts in phrasing. Most American marches use (seemingly) simple chord progressions, but—using chromatic harmonies, sevenths extensions, and secondary dominants—composers often complicated their marches with interesting chords and rapid chord changes.

This is a list of musical compositions by Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880). Offenbach is principally known for his operettas, of which he composed 98 between 1847 and 1880. He also wrote two opéras, Die Rheinnixen and his unfinished masterpiece Les contes d'Hoffmann. In his early career he was an internationally celebrated cello virtuoso, and he also wrote a series of vocal and instrumental pieces.

This is a list of musical compositions by Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880). Offenbach is principally known for his operettas, of which he composed 98 between 1847 and 1880. He also wrote two opéras, Die Rheinnixen and his unfinished masterpiece Les contes d'Hoffmann. In his early career he was an internationally celebrated cello virtuoso, and he also wrote a series of vocal and instrumental pieces.

Overture (from French ouverture, lit. "opening") is a music instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtures which were independent, self-existing, instrumental, programmatic works that foreshadowed genres such as the symphonic poem. These were "at first undoubtedly intended to be played at the head of a programme". The idea of an instrumental opening to opera existed during the 17th century. Peri's Euridice opens with a brief instrumental ritornello, and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (1607) opens with a toccata, in this case a fanfare for muted trumpets. More important was the prologue, consisting of sung dialogue between allegorical characters which introduced the overarching themes of the stories depicted.