Franz von Suppé

Franz von Suppé or Francesco Suppé Demelli (April 18, 1819, Spalato (Split) May 21, 1895 (aged 76), Vienna) was an Austrian composer of light operas from Croatia. He was a composer and conductor of the Romantic period notable for his four dozen operettas. Suppé was born as Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo Cavaliere Suppé Demelli in 1819 in Split, Dalmatia, Austrian Empire, in the territory of today's Croatia. He was a descendant of a Belgian family that probably emigrated there in the 18th century.[3] His father was a civil servant in the service of the Austrian Empire like his father before him, and his mother Viennese by birth.[4] 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 boy he had no encouragement in music from his father, but was helped by a local bandmaster and by the Spalato cathedral choirmaster.[4] His Missa dalmatica dates from this early period. 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 <b>...</b>