bet you heard this all the time and actually have no idea whom it's by!! and reading the name won't really ring a bell either. at least, that was my reaction when i first played this piece. i was like, why is this so familiar if i don't even recognize the composer's name. but this contains some of the most recognizable cartoon music ever! see the second section, about 2 and half minutes in. can you see the cartoon horses?
so, Franz von Suppe (whose name the announcer at the performance i participated in managed to mispronounce as franz von SOUP, and forever now i will read his name wrong in my head when i see it) was an austrian light opera composer who lived from 1819 to 1895. he wrote four dozen operettas, which is impressive, but most have fallen to the wayside. anyway during his life he also sang as a tenor and had a reasonably successful career writing music for productions done in vienna. light cavalry was written in 1866 and is one of only two overtures (the other being poet and peasant) which have survived the ages.
this overture is basically a mirror form. you've got a brass fanfare section, then the fun galloping section, which both come back at the end. sandwiched in the middle is a very fun melodramatic cello melody.
it's a very military-inspired little operetta, but i'm sure you don't need me to tell you that.
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