Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo, Cavaliere Suppé-Demelli, or as\nhe is more commonly known today, Franz von Suppé, was born in\nSpalato (Split), then part of the Austrian Empire, to parents of\nItalian / Belgian and Austrian descent. Although discouraged from a\nmusical career from an early age, Suppé received encouragement from\na distant yet illustrious relative, the great Italian opera\ncomposer Donizetti. By the 1840s Suppé had carved for himself a\nsuccessful niche as a composer for the stage, and over the four\ndecades that followed there was rarely a year without a new stage\nwork from him.

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Although the bulk of his operas and operettas have sunk into\nrelative obscurity, his bright and colourful overtures have\nsurvived. Suppé was often referred to as ‘the Viennese Offenbach’,\nand in fact he was responsible for introducing many of Offenbach’s\noperettas to the Austrian capital. The Beautiful Galatea was among\nhis first efforts in the style of Offenbach, Suppé here taking on\nthe French composer’s La Belle Hélène.

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Also on this disc are the overtures to Poet and Peasant, perhaps\nSuppé’s most familiar, and Boccaccio which is widely regarded as\nSuppé’s finest work for the stage, based very loosely on the life\nof Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 – 1375), the Florentine author of the\nDecameron.

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It would seem that wars and musical comedy often go hand in\nhand, perhaps partly for the purpose of deflating military\npomposity. Several of Suppé’s operettas are in this vein, including\nLight Cavalry, The Jolly Robbers, Isabella, and, a major success,\nFatinitza, all of which feature military plots in some form.

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Last, but not least, this disc features Suppé’s overtures to A\nMorning, Noon, and Night in Vienna, The Queen of Spades, Donna\nJuanita, and The Model, several operatic marches, the concert march\nUp Hill and Down Dale, and the Humorous Variations on the beloved\nStudent Song ‘Who comes from afar?’.

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The works are performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra\nunder Neeme Järvi, who in 2012 celebrated his thirty-year recording\ncareer with Chandos Records.

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