Offenbach
JACQUES, a French composer of opera bouffe; born of Jewish parents in Cologne, June 21, 1819. He went to Paris in 1833, and settled there, becoming orchestra leader in the Théâtre Français in 1848, and manager of the Bouffes Parisiennes in 1855. Offenbach composed a vast number of light, lively operettas, "Marriage by Lanterns"; "Elezondo's Daughter"; etc.; but the productions by which he is best known are a series of burlesque operas, in virtue of which he must be regarded as the inventor of the modern form of opera bouffe. Among the most notable are: "Orpheus in Hades" (1858); "La Belle Hélène"; "Bluebeard"; "The Grand Duchess"; "Genevieve of Brabant"; and "King Carotte." "Madame Favart" (1878) became almost as popular in England and the United States as in France. He died in Paris, France, Oct. 5, 1880.
OFFICE BUILDINGS. The construction of edifices designed for purely commercial uses has in modern times reached a development that has made it a field for architecture paralleling the erection of cathedrals in the Middle Ages. In this OGDEN development America has greatly surpassed the countries of Europe, where the use of former dwellings for business purposes, and the use of dwellings for residences and business combined is still largely in vogue. Banks and insurance companies, and enterprises of a similar kind, to whom a prosperous façade was an advertising asset, were the first to use special structures, but the giant progress of modern business has made the building of great edifices like the Equitable and Woolworth buildings of New York a necessity. The development of the elevator and steel frame has made such building the last word in convenience.