Jacques Offenbach Wife: Who Was Herminie d’Alcain

French composer, cellist, and Romantic period impresario Jacques Offenbach was born in Germany.

He is famous for his over 100 operettas from the 1850s to the 1870s and his incomplete opera The Tales of Hoffmann.

Fastidious critics—dubbed “Musical Snobs Ltd” by Gammond—proved themselves in opposition to popular acclaim both during Offenbach’s lifetime and in the obituary notes in 1880.

George Hauger said in a 1980 article in The Musical Times that the critics not only underestimated Offenbach but also believed his music would soon be forgotten.

Jacques Offenbach Wife: Who Was Herminie d’Alcain

After Jacques Offenbach abruptly discontinued his studies at the Paris Conservatoire he gradually built a reputation composing for and performing in the fashionable salons of Paris.

And at one of these cultured gatherings, his eyes fell upon a young Spanish woman by the name of Marie Manuela Hérminie d’Alcain.

She was the daughter of the Carlist General José Maria Xavier d’Alcain Garro, who had been forced into French exile.

The General died in 1828, and his wife Jeanne-Marie Céleste d’Alcain remarried Michael George Mitchell in 1835. Hérminie was barely 15 years of age but Jacques was determined to marry her.

He dedicated a waltz to her in 1841, and a Romanze in 1843 as well. However, her family was not convinced that the young cellist was in any financial position to propose marriage.

As such, Michael George Mitchell arranged for a tour of England.