Franz Von Suppe: Overtures and Preludes

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The famous operetta composer Franz von Suppe (1819-1895) was of Italian and Belgian descent, and born a subject of the Habsburg Empire in Dalmatia. He was gifted musically from an early age, but first studied philosophy in Padua and then law in Vienna, before he later enrolled in the Vienna Conservatory under Sechter and Seyfried. He became a conductor in theatres at Pressburg and Baden, then in Vienna at the Theater an der Wien (until 1862), at the Carl Theater (until 1865), and subsequently at the Leopoldstadt Theater. During the same time he wrote light operas and other types of theatre music. After 1860, he consciously imitated the popular style of the Parisian operetta, and achieved great success with Die schone Galathea (1865), effectively adapting the spoof of Antiquity that had brought Offenbach such fame (in Orphee aux enfers and La Belle Helene). Suppe established the Viennese operetta as a genre in its own right, full of charm and gaiety, and also using a brisker style with vigorous popular rhythms. He wrote some 30 operettas, and 180 stage works in all. Almost all of them were produced in Vienna, with a few other premieres in Prague, Berlin and Hamburg. Suppe's sense of boldly defined melody, impulsive rhythmic verve and brilliant orchestral technique found preeminent expression in his overtures, many of which became celebrated all over the world. Poet and Peasant, Light Cavalry, Pique Dame, Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna, and Boccaccio still retain a place in the light repertory of the concert hall. His most enduringly popular operetta remains Boccaccio (1879), based on episodes from the life of the famous medieval Italian writer. Fatinitza (1876), using a libretto adapted from Eugene Scribe, featuring a racy imbroglio of disguise and intrigue in the Caucasus, also became extremely popular. This collection brings together many of the celebrated overtures to operettas and plays that became Suppe's hallmark as a composer. Wars and musical comedy are so often associated in the popular but rarefied world of operetta, partly for the purpose of deflating the pomposity of the military mentality so ubiquitous in the 19th century. Several of Suppe's stage works share in this satirical approach to the subject, including Light Cavalry (one of the most famous and exhilarating overtures ever written), The Jolly Robbers, Isabella, and the very successful Fatinitza. All feature military plots in some form. Other overtures were written as incidental music to plays (like Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna and Poet and Peasant) and some for musical comedies (like The Queen of Spades, Donna Juanita, and The Model). Also included are a few of the shorter orchestral introductions that the composer provided for some of his later stage works (like Der Teufel auf Erden, Fatinitza, Donna Juanita, Die Afrikareise, Die Jagd nach dem Gluck, and Des Matrosen Heimkehr).