Billed as a "Komisch-mythologische" (Comic-mythological) operetta, Suppé's one-act Die schöne Galatee (The Beautiful Galatea) sets a libretto by Poly Henrion, the pen-name of Leopold Karl Dietmar Kohl von Kohlenegg (1834 - 1875). It received its first performance at the Meysels-Theater in Berlin on June 30, 1865; it was performed in Vienna on September 9 of the same year and quickly became Suppé's most popular early operetta.

Suppé and Henrion's general concept, and certainly the title, may have been suggested by Offenbach's Schöne Helena, which played in Vienna about six months before Die schöne Galatee. Suppé's overture contains many important kernels from the operetta, and it even conveys some of the satire that is an important part of the ensuing show.

Marked Allegro spirituoso con brio, the overture begins suddenly with an aggressive attack of staccato notes. Immediately, important thematic material immerses and a running 6/8 time bowls over the listener. This violent beginning, prefaces a movement of changing tempos and keys that is interrupted by "civilized" waltzes.

After the initial outburst, a solo horn slowly performs a plaintive tune with an especially poignant rising half step that is never resolved. The winds answer as a group, then a flute flourish further stresses the sense of non-direction. Without resolving anything, tranquil, shining violins enter with a theme that is very much like that of the horn solo, but the rising motive is developed and accompanied by pizzicato cellos. The solo horn signal returns, but in the bassoon, only to be interrupted by a fast, pizzicato pulse in the lower strings that becomes the accompaniment for an animated waltz—the first highly organized theme in the body of the overture. The clarity of the waltz provides welcome contrast with the nebulous material preceding it and proves to be an introduction to the main waltz of the overture. This second waltz is much slower than the first and has the typical waltz rhythm and tempo, with a lilting string theme that seems to operate in opposition to the other material of the overture, particularly the 2/4 section that interrupts it momentarily. The fast violin line of this new segment is frenetic and gives way to a return of the slow waltz, which builds in orchestration and intensity until the decisive close.

© John Palmer, All Music Guide