A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Suppe, Franz von

by George Grove

SUPPE, VON, known as Franz von Suppe, the German Offenbach, of Belgian descent, though his family for two generations had lived at Cremona, was born at Spalato, or on board ship near it, April 18, 1820, and his full baptismal name is Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo Cavaliere Suppe Demelli. His taste for music developed early. At 11 he learned the flute, at 13 harmony, and at 15 produced a mass at the Franciscan church at Zara. His father, however, had other views for him, and sent him to the University of Padua. But music asserted itself; he learned from Cigala and Ferrari, and wrote incessantly. At this moment his father died, the mother settled in Vienna, where Francesco joined her; and after a little hesitation between teaching Italian, practising medicine, and following music, he decided on the last, got lessons from Seyfried, and obtained a gratuitous post as Conductor at the Josephstadt theatre. This was followed by better engagements at Pressburg and Baden, and then at the theatres an-der-Wien, Quai, and Leopoldstadt in Vienna, with the last-named of which he is still connected. His work at these houses, though for long mere patching and adding, was excellent practice, and he gradually rose to more independent things. In 1844 a 'Sommernachtstraum,' founded on Shakspeare, and composed by him, is mentioned in the A.M.Z. 'Der Krämer und sein Commis' followed. In 1847 he was at the Theatre an-der-Wien and (Aug. 7) brought out a piece, 'Das Mädchen vom Lande' (The country girl), which met with wild success. Ten years later (Jan. 8, 1858) a Singspiel, 'Paragraph 3,' spread his fame into North Germany, and from that time a stream of pieces flowed from his pen. His works are said by the careful Wurzbach^[1] to reach the astonishing number of 2 grand operas, 165 farces, comediettas, and vaudevilles, etc., as well as a Mass ('Missa dalmatica,' Spina, 1877), a Requiem produced at Zara in 1860 under the title of 'L'estremo Giudizio' etc., etc. A list of 49 of his operatic pieces is given by Wurzbach, but a few only are dated. Another list of 21 is given by Batka in Pougin's supplement to Fétis, but the titles are French, and it is hard to make the dates agree. Some of the pieces are mere parodies, as 'Tannenhäuser,' 'Dinorah, oder die Turnerfahrt nach Hütteldorf.' One, 'Franz Schubert,' is founded on the life of Schubert, and contains five of his songs. The only pieces of Suppe's known out of Germany are 'Fatinitza,' produced at Vienna, Jan. 5, 1876; at the Alhambra, London, June 20, 1878, and at the Nouveautés, Paris, March 1879; and 'Boccaccio,' which was brought out in London, at the Comedy Theatre, April 22, 1882. The overture to 'Dichter und Bauer,' the only one of his overtures known in England, must be his most popular work abroad, since it has been arranged for no less than 59 different combinations of instruments, all published by Aibl of Munich. It is a stock piece in the Crystal Palace répertoire.

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1. Biog. Lexikon des Oesterreich. Part 40; 1880.