Franz von Suppè

Franz von Suppé, born Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo de Suppé (18 April 1819 – 21 May 1895) was an Austrian composer of light operas and other theatre music. He came from the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now part of Croatia). A composer and conductor of the Romantic period, he is notable for his four dozen operettas, including the first operetta to a German libretto. Some of them remain in the repertory, particularly in German-speaking countries, and he composed a substantial quantity of church music, but he is now chiefly known for his overtures, which remain popular in the concert hall and on record. Among the best-known are Poet and Peasant, Light Cavalry, Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna and Pique Dame. Life and career Suppé's parents named him Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo when he was born on 18 April 1819 in Spalato, now Split, Dalmatia, Croatia. His father – like his father before him – was a civil servant in the Austrian Empire. Suppé's mother was born in Vienna. The facts of Suppé's early years are disputed. Both during his lifetime and after his death various unfounded statements circulated about his background. The first edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1884) incorrectly states that the Suppés were of Belgian descent, that Suppé was born in 1820 aboard a ship at Spalato, and that his full name was Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo Cavaliere Suppe Demelli. 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. Suppé spent his childhood in Zara, now Zadar, where he had his first music lessons and began to compose at an early age. As a boy he had encouragement in music from a local bandmaster and the Zara cathedral choirmaster. As a teenager in Zara, Suppé studied flute and harmony.