Jacques Offenbach was born on June 20th 1819 in the city of Cologne in Germany. He was born with the name Jakob but changed it when he studied in Paris. He was part of a very large family, the seventh of ten children. Jacques grew up with music all around him. His father, Isaac was a cantor and violinist. Isaac gave abandoned his trade as a bookbinder and became a teacher in Cologne where he gave lessons in singing, guitar, flute, and violin.
When Jacques turned six he began playing the violin and by age nine was ready for the cello, which became his main instrument. In November of 1833 Jacques traveled to Paris in hopes of getting an audition for the Paris Conservatoire. The director of the Conservatoire, Luigi Cherubini, let Jacques audition and was granted admission.
After studying in Paris Jacques returned home to Cologne and had a few temporary jobs but nothing substantial. He also played in many salons and met Herminie d'Alcain and they fell in love. Unfortunately because Jacques had not found a permanent job he was not financially stable to get married. Jacques decided to embark on a tour of England that would give him a reputation and a name as well as thickening his bak account. When he returned he converted to Roman Catholicism and married Herminie on August 14th 1844.
He returned to Paris in 1849 and found that the major salons he used to play in closed. This meant he had to get a job with the Opera-Comique as a cellist and conductor. It was around this time that his creativity started to bloom and he started writing operas!
Here is a link to his wiki page if you would like to know more....
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