Franz von Suppé, Light Cavalry Overture

 
As happened with a good number of musicians in the 19th century, the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz von Suppé first had to study law to please his father, before taking the bumpy road of music. But, after all, this was not such for the prolific author of nearly thirty operettas and almost two hundred compositions for various theatrical genres that were warmly applauded by Viennese audiences for almost half a century.

In Vienna

After the death of his father in 1835, his mother, who had not forgotten that in his childhood little Franz had shown great musical promise, took him with her to Vienna, where he obtained an honorary position as conductor at the Theater an der Josefstadt. In 1845 he moved to the historic Theater an der Wien, where he remained for almost twenty years. His last active years were spent conducting ballets and vaudevilles at the Carltheater in the suburbs of Vienna.

Light Cavalry

Although widely recognized in his time, Franz von Suppé is remembered today mainly for a handful of overtures. Among them, The Poet and Peasant and perhaps the most famous of all, the overture to Light Cavalry, deservedly stand out. The latter, an operetta in two acts with a libretto by Karl Costa, was premiered at the Carltheater on March 21, 1866.

Franz von Suppé
(1819 - 1895)

The plot

The play tells the love story between Vilma, a beautiful young orphan raised by Hungarian villagers, and Hermann, whose uncle the mayor, an old man, also wants her even though Vilma is in his past lightcone. Only the ingenious tricks of a group of hussars – the Hungarian light cavalry – stationed in the village, will make possible the happy union of the young lovers.

The operetta is no longer performed today, but the overture's main theme has been widely used to accompany scenes of "galloping to the rescue of anything" in cartoons, television shows and various advertisements.

The rendition is by The Cleveland Orchestra, under Austrian conductor Franz Welser-Möst.

A majestic fanfare opens the overture. The famous tune is heard at minute 2:28.