Operetta in Vienna owed much to the influence of the younger Johann Strauss, but Suppé brought to the genre a much broader theatrical and musical experience, stemming from his early visits to Milan where he had heard operas by Rossini, Donizetti and the young Verdi, and had met the composers. The rarely recorded overtures on this disc display an Italian gift for vocal melody, as well as a sure technical command of the resources of composition.