Isabella Offenbach Maas (March 11, 1817 – February 19, 1891) was an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

singer, pianist and the older sister of

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera '' ...

. She was born in

Cologne, Germany Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

and is known for bringing the opera to

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

Early life and education

Isabella was one of ten children of Isaac Juda Offenbach, ''né'' Eberst (1779–1850) and his wife Marianne, ''née'' Rindskopf (c. 1783–1840). Isaac, who came from a musical family, had abandoned his original trade as a

bookbinder Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of ''signatures'', sheets of paper folded together into sections that are bound, along one edge, with a thick needle and strong thread. Cheaper, b ...

and earned an itinerant living as a

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

synagogues A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

and playing the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

in cafés. He was generally known as "der Offenbacher", after his native town,

Offenbach am Main Offenbach am Main () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Hesse, Germany, on the left bank of the river Main (river), Main. It borders Frankfurt and is part of the Frankfurt urban area and the larger Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Aut ...

, and in 1808 he officially adopted Offenbach as a surname. In 1816 he settled in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, where he became established as a teacher, giving lessons in singing, violin, flute, and guitar, and composing both religious and secular music."Offenbach", by Peter Gammond, Omnibus Press, 1980, p. 15 Isabella played piano in a trio with her brothers Jacob (

Jacques Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

) cello, and Julius (violin). They performed popular dance music and operatic arrangements at local dance halls, inns and cafés.

Biography

Maas met her husband, Samuel Maas, during one of her European tours and they were married in

in 1844. Maas and her husband moved to Galveston, her husband's home town, that same year. Maas's son, Max, built a stage in his home for his mother to perform. Isabella Offenbach Maas Residence

After their fourth child, the couple separated and Maas moved into her daughter's home, living there for nearly 40 years. The home at 1727 Sealy Avenue in Galveston has a Texas State Historical Marker. The house was built in 1886 on the site of another house which had burned down in 1885. The ''

Galveston Daily News ''The Daily News'', formerly the ''Galveston County Daily News'' and ''Galveston Daily News'', is a newspaper published in Galveston, Texas, United States. It was first published April 11, 1842, making it the oldest newspaper in the U.S. state of ...

'' posted that she was "dangerously ill" on February 19, 1891. She died that day.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Maas, Isabella Offenbach 1817 births 1891 deaths People from Galveston, Texas American opera singers Singers from Texas Classical musicians from Texas