Leichte Kavallerie
Music by Franz von Suppé · libretto by Karl Costa · premiered 1866 · at Carltheater
Leichte Kavallerie (Light Cavalry) is an operetta in two acts by Franz von Suppé, with a libretto by Karl Costa. It was first performed in the Carltheater, Vienna, on 21 March 1866. The original work is set in a 19th-century Austrian village where several love intrigues and the discovery of a father-daughter relationship are accompanied by the arrival of a regiment of hussars. In 1934, Hans Bodenstedt completely rewrote the operetta. It was set in the 18th century amid the court intrigues of a Baron and his Hungarian Countess lover, whose ballet company is referred to as the "light cavalry". While much of the operetta remains in relative obscurity, the Light Cavalry Overture is one of Suppé's best known works. The music from the operetta was used as the soundtrack of a film of the same name in 1935.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Leichte Kavallerie", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Franz von Suppé, born Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo de Suppé (18 April 1819 – 21 May 1895) was an Austrian composer of light operas and other theatre music. He came from the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now part of Croatia). A composer and conductor of the Romantic period, he is notable for his four dozen operettas, including the first operetta to a German libretto. Some of them remain in the repertory, particularly in German-speaking countries, and he composed a substantial quantity of church music, but he is now chiefly known for his overtures, which remain popular in the concert hall and on record. Among the best-known are Poet and Peasant, Light Cavalry, Morning,…
Text from the Wikipedia article "Franz von Suppé", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by Franz von Suppé
- Die schöne Galathée
- Fatinitza (1861)
- Boccaccio (1878)
- Des Matrosen Heimkehr (1879)
- Donna Juanita (1880)
- Dichter und Bauer (1900)