Suppé Requiem

 Day 179

Suppé Requiem 

Soloists

Chorus and orchestra of the Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon

This was a major discovery.  I was aware that Suppé had written a Requiem and I had read good reports of it but I had never heard it. My knowledge of Suppé was, like most people, confined to a few overtures, though I had heard and enjoyed, his light opera Die Schöne Galathée. He had an impeccable musical upbringing. He was a pupil of Simon Sechter - a distinction he shared with with Schubert and Bruckner, and also of Ignaz Seyfried, himself a pupil of Mozart. Suppé knew Rossini, Donizetti and Verdi.

What is striking about this Requiem is that there is almost no trace of the popular style that Suppé is well known for. It is a serious work showing off a full range of musical styles, from accompanied fugues which clearly are derived from the the tradition of the great Haydn choral works, though to dramatic arias which Verdi would have been happy to acknowledge. The choral writing is particularly impressive - with some chant-like passages as well as some expansive passages. Suppé has a real harmonic gift as well as an ability to keep the music moving forward, even in the most expressive passages. He often uses ostinato figures to achieve this. One movement is in the unusual time signature of 15/8.  So a real surprise and a piece to come back to. It does make me keen to discover what else there is of Suppé’s out there.