Requiem by Franz von Suppe' - an unknown gem

[gprengel]

After discovering the Requiem by F. Lachner I now discovered a maybe even more beautiful work - every movement is of an  outstanding beauty!! I never had expected from this composer who I thought had written only light operettes.
It moves me almost as the miracoulous Requiem by Ozip Kozlovsky and the 2 Requiems by Cherubini!!

 

[Mark Thomas]

Von Suppé also wrote an unpublished symphony, I believe, the autograph which is/was jealously guarded by its owner, a conductor insisting that he must conduct any recording of it for an exorbitant fee, or so a frustrated record label owner told me.

[eschiss1]

if I vaguely remember a review, von Suppé, born Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo in Split (Croatia), may well have had other musical intentions when he started out, before finding his metier in operetta.

[adriano]

Suppé's Requiem was written in 1855. Later on the composer "expanded" this work into a 2-hour Oratorio entitled "Extremum Judicium".
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Franz-von-Suppe-1819-1895-Extremum-Judicium-Requiem-Oratorium/hnum/1734129

The Requiem was available on a beautiful Virgin Classics CD (2003), conducted by Michel Corboz. Other CDs exist, by the Eroland, Profil-Hänssler, Novalis (1995) and BNL labels. If I am not wrong, the Novalis was a world premiere; and it takes 2 instaed of 1 CD - supposedly due to the slower tempi taken by Edmond De Stoutz (a conductor I admired and whom I owe a lot - he was the chef of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra from 1951 to 1996. But already before he had founded a city chamber ensemble. He had in his programs many works by Swiss composers, some of their works he had even commissioned).

The Corboz Suppé Requiem recording can now be found in his "complete" Warner-Erato box:

https://www.amazon.de/Michel-Corboz-Compl-Erato-Recordings-Corboz/dp/B0BNCLZCLG/ref=sr_1_2?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=2MRIALU9U0RMB&keywords=corboz&qid=1679673901&sprefix=corbo%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-2

Incidentally, this Requiem will be performed in Lucerne on November 5th of this year.

[hyperdanny]

what a coincidence there's a Von Suppe' thread..last friday I went to a concert: the first half, and the reason why I went,  was the Korngold symphony, while the secondo half was a collection of Viennese operetta overtures, Lehar, Strauss, ecc.
Usually I don't dabble in that genre. I am not into "light" classics, and operetta even less, but then there was the von Suppe' never- heard-before overture to Dichter und Bauer, and I found it quite stunning: not only stirring and tuneful, as could be expected, but quite sophisticated and dramatic in several instances.

[Mark Thomas]

Some of Suppé's overtures are hugely enjoyable - Poet & Peasant, Light Cavalry and Morning, Noon & Night in Vienna were all justly famous and popular when I was getting into "art" music 50-odd years ago and later on I collected all seven of the Marco Polo overtures, dances etc. series of CDs . Of course they're not, and don't pretend to be, serious music but not everything needs to be. It's a shame one doesn't hear them so much any more