Franz von Suppé

Suppé's parents named him Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo when he was born on 18 April 1819 in Spalato, now Split, Dalmatia, Croatia. Suppé's mother was born in Vienna. Other incorrect information is given in a 1905 biography of Suppé by Otto Keller, husband of one of the composer's granddaughters, based on the unreliable recollections of Suppé's widow. from where he supposedly visited Milan and met Rossini, Donizetti and Verdi and attended performances of their operas. In 1837 and 1841 he wrote two operas, neither of which was performed but both of which may have been influenced by Donizetti, allegedly a distant relation of the Suppés. and in November 1861 it was given (in German) at the Stadt Theater, New York. Suppé was heavily influenced by Offenbach; he studied Offenbach's works carefully and wrote many successful operettas using them as a model. The operetta specialist Richard Traubner writes that Suppé's early works frankly imitated Offenbach's. Das Pensionat not only emulates Offenbach, but refers to him in the first act, when the heroine, the schoolgirl Sophie, and her friends learn about the can-can and proceed to dance it. Suppé's most enduring one-act success, (The Beautiful Galatea), dates from 1865. It was modelled, Traubner comments, in both title and style, on Offenbach's which had been a great success in Vienna earlier that year. A full-length operatic success eluded Suppé for some years, and it was not until after the triumph of Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus in 1874 that he caught up. His Fatinitza (1876) was a critical and box office success, not only in Vienna but in London and Paris, though less so in New York, where it coincided with and was somewhat eclipsed by the first production there of H.M.S. Pinafore. Suppé surpassed the success of Fatinitza in 1879 with Boccaccio and had his final lasting success in 1880 with Donna Juanita. Traubner writes, "nothing after Donna Juanita has endured, though several were very popular in their time": Der Gascogner (Theater an der Wien, 22 March 1881) was an outright failure, but Die Afrikareise (A Trip to Africa, Theater an der Wien, 17 March 1883) ran for a month, and received several productions, including an American revival with Lillian Russell in the lead, which ran for five weeks in 1887. Suppé wrote music for over a hundred productions at the Theater in der Josefstadt as well as the Carltheater in Leopoldstadt, and at the Theater an der Wien. He also worked on some landmark opera productions, such as the 1846 production of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots with Jenny Lind. , Vienna Suppé was twice married: first to Therese Merville, and after she died in 1865 to Sofie Strasser. He died in Vienna on 21 May 1895, at the age of 76. ==Works==

Suppé composed about 30 operettas and 180 farces, ballets, and other stage works. Although some of the overtures remain popular the bulk of his operettas have sunk into obscurity. Exceptions include Boccaccio, Die schöne Galathée and Fatinitza; Peter Branscombe, writing in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, characterises Suppé's song "" as "Austria's second national song". Suppé retained links with his native Dalmatia, occasionally visiting Split (Spalato), Zadar (Zara), and Šibenik. Some of his works are linked with the region, in particular his operetta Des Matrosen Heimkehr, the action of which takes place in Hvar. After retiring from conducting, Suppé continued to write stage works, but increasingly shifted his interest to sacred music. The work was revived for a first performance in modern times by BBC Radio 3, broadcast on 5 July 1984. After Suppé's death thirty unpublished songs were found in his papers, as well as the nearly completed score of another mass. The musicologist Robert Letellier writes that Suppé was a master of three styles, the Italian (), the French () and the German: "He knew how to blend them irresistibly, assisted in the instrumentation by his rich experience as a theatre orchestra conductor, and with a sure symphonic technique deriving from his classical training." Letellier comments that Suppé's overtures were a major feature of his operatic works: "some attaining immense popularity, and securing him an enduring fame in the concert hall ... Poet and Peasant and Light Cavalry are among the most famous overtures ever written". Recordings There are many sets of Suppé overtures on disc, but few of his stage works. A complete recording of Die schöne Galatée conducted by Bruno Weil was issued in 2005, the Lehár Festival in Bad Ischl staged and recorded Fatinitza in 2006, and the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra have recorded Suppé's incidental music for Die Reise um die Erde in 80 Tagen (Around the World in 80 Days) and Mozart. The Requiem was recorded in 1997 with soloists and the Cracow Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Roland Bader. The Musical Times described it as an accomplished piece and singled out the quieter passages "such as the obsessive orchestral motif that backs the Liber scriptus, the lovely oboe solo at the beginning of Recordare, or the high violins irradiating the brief Sanctus". Collections of Suppé overtures have been recorded by conductors including Sir John Barbirolli, Charles Dutoit, Neeme Järvi, Herbert von Karajan, Sir Neville Marriner, Zubin Mehta, Paul Paray and Sir Georg Solti. The most extensive recorded collection is in six volumes on the Marco Polo label, released between 1994 and 2001 with the Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra and various conductors. ==Surname==

Most sources have spelled the name with an acute accent. Recently an alternative spelling with a grave accent has sometimes been used, on the grounds that Suppé used it when signing his name (see lead image, above); his name is written with the acute accent on his tombstone and in the baptismal registry it was written without any accent. ==Partial list of works==

• Virginia (opera, L. Holt), 1837, not performed • Gertrude della valle (opera, G. Brazzanovich), 1841, not performed • Jung lustig, im Alter traurig, oder Die Folgen der Erziehung (comedy with songs, 3 acts, C. Wallis), TJ, 5 March 1841 • Die Hammerschmiedin aus Steyermark, oder Folgen einer Landpartie (local farce with songs, 2 acts, J. Schickh), Theater in der Josefstadt, 14 October 1842 • Ein Morgen, ein Mittag und ein Abend in Wien (local play with songs, 2 acts), Theater in der Josefstadt, 26 February 1844 • Marie, die Tochter des Regiments (vaudeville, 2 acts, F. Blum, after J. H. St Georges and J. F. A. Bayard), Theater in der Josefstadt, 13 June 1844 • Der Krämer und sein Kommis (farce with songs, 2 acts, F. Kaiser), Theater in der Josefstadt, 28 September 1844 • Die Müllerin von Burgos (vaudeville, 2 acts, J. Kupelwieser), Theater in der Josefstadt, 8 March 1845 • Sie ist verheiratet (comedy with songs, 3 acts, Kaiser), Theater an der Wien, 7 November 1845 • Dichter und Bauer (comedy with songs, 3 acts, K. Elmar), Theater an der Wien, 24 August 1846, full score (1900) • Das Mädchen vom Lande (opera, 3 acts, Elmar), Theater an der Wien, 7 August 1847 • Martl, oder Der Portiunculatag in Schnabelhausen (farce with music, parody of Flotow: Martha, 3 acts, A. Berla), Theater an der Wien, 16 December 1848 • Des Teufels Brautfahrt, oder Böser Feind und guter Freund (magic farce with songs, 3 acts, Elmar), Theater an der Wien, 30 January 1849 • Gervinus, der Narr von Untersberg, oder Ein patriotischer Wunsch (farce with songs, 3 acts, Berla), Braunhirschen-Arena [and Theater an der Wien], 1 July 1849 • Unterthänig und unabhängig, oder Vor und nach einem Jahre (comedy with songs, 3 acts, Elmar), Theater an der Wien, 13 October 1849 • s'Alraunl (romantic tale with songs, 3 acts, A. von Klesheim), Theater an der Wien, 13 November 1849 • Der Dumme hat's Glück (farce with songs, 3 acts, Berla), Theater an der Wien, 29 June 1850 • Dame Valentine, oder Frauenräuber und Wanderbursche (Singspiel, 3 acts, Elmar), Theater an der Wien, 9 January 1851 • Der Tannenhäuser (dramatic poem with music, H. von Levitschnigg), Theater an der Wien, 27 February 1852 • Wo steckt der Teufel? (farce with songs, 3 acts, ?Grün), Theater an der Wien, 28 June 1854 • Paragraph 3 (opera, 3 acts, M. A. Grandjean), Hofoper, 8 January 1858 • (operetta, 1 acts, C. K.), Theater an der Wien, 24 November 1860, vocal score (n.d.) • Die Kartenschlägerin (Pique-Dame) (operetta, 1 act), Kaitheater, 26 April 1862 • (operetta, 1 act, W. Friedrich), Kaitheater, 25 October 1862, vocal score (n.d.) • (operetta, 1, J. Braun), Kaitheater, 18 April 1863, vocal score (n.d.) • Das Corps der Rache (operetta, 1 act, J. L. Harisch), Carltheater, 5 March 1864 • (Liederspiel, 1 act, H. Max), Carltheater, 10 September 1864 • Dinorah, oder Die Turnerfahrt nach Hütteldorf (parody opera, of Meyerbeer's Dinorah, 3 acts, F. Hopp), Carltheater, 4 May 1865 • Die schöne Galathée (The Beautiful Galatea) (comic-mythological operetta, l act, Poly Henrion), Berlin, Meysels-Theater, 30 June 1865, vocal score (n.d.) • Leichte Kavallerie or Die Tochter der Puszta (operetta, 2 acts, C. Costa), Carltheater, 21 March 1866 • (operetta, 2, Costa), Carltheater, 23 October 1866 • (operetta, 1 act, B. Boutonnier), Carltheater, 27 April 1867 • (magic operetta, 3, Costa), Carltheater, 20 January 1868, vocal score (Leipzig, n.d.) • Isabella (operetta, J. Weyl), Carltheater, 5 November 1869 • Tantalusqualen (operetta), Carltheater, 3 October 1868 • (parody operetta of Wagner's Lohengrin, 3 acts, Costa, Grandjean), Carltheater, 30 November 1870 • Canebas (operetta, 1 act, J. Doppler), Carltheater, 2 November 1872 • Fatinitza (operetta, 3 acts, F. Zell, R. Genée), Carltheater, 5 January 1876, full score (n.d.) • (fantastic operetta, 3 acts, J. Hopp), Carltheater, 5 January 1878, vocal score (London, n.d.) • Boccaccio (operetta, 3 acts, Zell, Genée), Carltheater, 1 February 1879, full score (Hamburg, n.d.) • Donna Juanita (operetta, 3 acts, Zell, Genée), Carltheater, 21 February 1880, full score (Brussels, n.d.); arr. K. Pauspertl as Die grosse Unbekannte, 1925 • Der Gascogner (operetta, 3 acts, Zell, Genée), Carltheater, 21 or ?22 March 1881, vocal score (Hamburg, n.d.) • Das Herzblättchen (operetta, 3 acts, C. Tetzlaff), Carltheater, 4 February 1882 • (operetta, 3 acts, M. West, Genée, O. F. Berg), Theater an der Wien, 17 March 1883, full score (Hamburg, n.d.) • Des Matrosen Heimkehr (romantic opera, 2 acts, A. Langner), Hamburg, 4 May 1885, vocal score (Hamburg, 1885) • Bellman (comic opera, 3 acts, West, L. Held), Theater an der Wien, 26 or ?24 February 1887 • Joseph Haydn (musical portrait with melodies by Haydn, F. von Radler), Theater in der Josefstadt, 30 April 1887 • Die Jagd nach dem Glücke (operetta, 3 acts, Genée, B. Zappert), Carltheater, 27 October 1888, full score (Hamburg, n.d.) • Das Modell (operetta, 3 acts, V. Leon, Held), Carltheater, 4 October 1895, full score (Leipzig, n.d.) [completed by J. Stern and A. Zamara] • Die Pariserin, oder Das heimliche Bild (operetta, 3 acts, Léon, Held), Carltheater, 26 January 1898 [arr. of Die Frau Meisterin, 1868] == See also ==

Notes References Sources • • • • • • • • • ==Further reading==