The famous operetta composer Franz von Suppé (1819-1895) was of Italian and Belgian descent, and was born a subject of the Habsburg Empire in Dalmatia. His musical gift was evident from an early age, but he first studied philosophy in Padua and then law in Vienna, before he later enrolled in the Vienna Conservatory under Sechter and Seyfried. He became a conductor in theatres at Pressburg and Baden, then in Vienna at the Theater an der Wien (until 1862), at the Carl Theater (until 1865), and subsequently at the Leopoldstadt Theater. During the same time, he wrote light operas and other types of theatre music. After 1860, he consciously imitated the popular style of the Parisian operetta, and achieved great success with Die schöne Galathee (1865), effectively adapting the spoof of Antiquity that had brought Offenbach such fame (in Orphée aux enfers and La Belle Hélène). Suppé established the Viennese operetta as a genre in its own right, full of charm and gaiety, using a brisker style with vigorous popular rhythms. He wrote some 30 operettas, and 180 stage works in all. Almost all of them were produced in Vienna, with a few other premières in Prague, Berlin and Hamburg. Suppé’s sense of boldly defined melody, impulsive rhythmic verve and brilliant orchestral technique found preeminent expression in his overtures, many of which became celebrated all over the world. Poet and Peasant; Light Cavalry; Pique Dame; Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna; and Boccaccio still retain a place in the light repertory of the concert hall. His most enduringly famous operetta remains Boccaccio (1879), based on episodes from the life of the famous medieval Italian writer. Fatinitza (1876), using a libretto adapted from Eugène Scribe, also became extremely popular. This collection brings together many of the celebrated overtures to operettas and plays that became Suppé’s hallmark as a composer. Also included are some of the shorter orchestral introductions that the composer provided for some of his later stage works (such as Der Teufel auf Erden, Fatinitza, Donna Juanita, Die Afrikareise, Die Jagd nach dem Glück, and Des Matrosen Heimkehr).

Lists classical and operatic recordings that are specifically available in the new (and desirable) compact disc format. Individual titles are graded for their appropriateness to specific types and sizes of libraries. The main portion covers some 160 composers whose works are important in constituting a nuclear library collection of "serious" music. There are over 1,200 titles included and individually numbered (and fully cross-referenced) and graded. For numerous works, two or more performances are cited in order to provide the librarian with greater choices; monophonic works are specifically indicated. Many of the works are annotated. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

First Published in 1990. Information about individual operas and other types of musical theater is scattered throughout the enormous literature of music. This book is an effort to bring that data together by comprehensively indexing plots and descriptions of individual operatic background, criticism and analysis, musical themes and bibliographical references. The principal audience for this general reference guide will be for the non-specialist, but its hoped that persons specialising in opera would also find it useful.