Franz von Suppé

Franz von Suppé (Francesco Suppé Demelli) (April 18, 1819 – ) was a composer and conductor of the Romantic period notable for his four dozen operettas.

Life and education

Suppé was born Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo Cavaliere Suppé Demelli in 1819 in Split, Dalmatia, a descendant of a Belgian family that probably emigrated there in the 18th century. He was a distant relative of Gaetano Donizetti. He simplified and Germanized his name when in Vienna, and changed "cavaliere" to "von". Outside Germanic circles, his name may appear on programs as Francesco Suppé-Demelli.

He spent his childhood in Zadar, where he had his first music lessons and began to compose at an early age. As a teenager in Cremona, Suppé studied flute and harmony. His first extant composition is a Roman Catholic Mass, which premiered at a Franciscan church in Zadar in 1832. He moved to Padua to study law, a field of study not chosen by him, but continued to study music. Suppé was also a singer, making his debut in the role of Dulcamara in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore at the Sopron Theater in 1842.

He was invited to Vienna by Franz Pokorny, the director of the Theater in der Josefstadt. In Vienna, after studying with Ignaz von Seyfried and Simon Sechter, he conducted in the theater, without pay at first, but with the opportunity to present his own operas there. Eventually, Suppé wrote music for over a hundred productions at the Theater in der Josefstadt as well as the Carltheater in Leopoldstadt, at the Theater an der Wien, and a theater at Baden. He also put on some landmark opera productions, such as the 1846 production of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots with Jenny Lind.

Franz von Suppé died in Vienna on May 21, 1895.

Works

Two of Suppé's comic operas have been performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Boccaccio and Donna Juanita, but they failed to become repertoire works. He composed about 30 operettas and 180 farces, ballets, and other stage works. Though the bulk of Suppé's operas have nearly sunken to oblivion, the overtures, particularly Leichte Kavallerie (Light Cavalry) and Dichter und Bauer (Poet & Peasant), have survived and some of them have been used in all sorts of soundtracks for movies, cartoons, advertisements, and so on, in addition to being frequently played at symphonic "pops" concerts. Some of Suppé's operas are still regularly performed in Europe; Peter Branscombe, writing in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, characterizes Suppé's song Das ist mein Österreich as "Austria's second national song".

Suppé retained links with his native Dalmatia, occasionally visiting Split, Zadar, and Šibenik. Some of his works are linked with Dalmatia, in particular his operetta The Mariner's Return, the action of which takes place in Hvar. After retiring from conducting, Suppé continued to write operas, but shifted his focus to sacred music. He also wrote a Requiem for theater director Franz Pokorny, three Masses, songs, symphonies, and concert overtures.

List of works

Some of Suppé's more well-known works are listed here, listed with date of first performance. All are operettas unless indicated:

• Das Pensionat - November 24, 1860, Vienna
• Die Kartenschlägerin - April 26, 1862, Kai-Theatre Vienna
• Zehn Mädchen und kein Mann - October 25, 1862, Kai-Theatre Vienna
• Flotte Burschen - April 18, 1863, Kai-Theater Vienna
• Die schöne Galathee (The Beautiful Galatea) - September 9, 1865, Carltheater Vienna
• Leichte Kavallerie (Light Cavalry) (MP3) (MIDI) - March 21, 1866, Carltheater Vienna
• Banditenstreiche - April 27, 1867, Carltheater Vienna
• Die Frau Meisterin - January 20, 1868, Carltheater Vienna
• Fatinitza - January 5, 1876, Carltheater Vienna
• Boccaccio - Opera - February 1, 1879, Carltheater Vienna
• Donna Juanita - February 21, 1880, Carltheater Vienna
• Der Gascogner - March 22, 1881, Carltheater Vienna
• Pique Dame - Opera - June 22, 1864, Graz (Revision of Die Kartenschlägerin)
• Bellmann - February 26, 1887, Theater an der Wien, Vienna
• Die Jagd nach dem Glück - October 27, 1888, Carltheater Vienna
• March Oh Du mein Österreich
• Overture Ein Morgen, ein Mittag und ein Abend in Wien (Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna)
• Overture Dichter und Bauer (Poet and Peasant)
• Overture Tantalusqualen

References

• Ganzl, Kurt. The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre (3 Volumes). New York: Schirmer Books, 2001.
• Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983

External links

• List of stage works by Franz von Suppé (with other composers)
• List of 50 stage works by Franz von Suppé