Overture (from French language ouverture, "opening") is a music instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century.
The idea of an instrumental opening to opera existed during the 17th century. Jacopo Peri's Euridice opens with a brief instrumental ritornello, and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (1607) opens with a toccata, in this case a fanfare for muted . More important was the prologue, consisting of sung dialogue between Allegory characters which introduced the overarching themes of the stories depicted.
French overture
As a
musical form, the French overture first appears in the court ballet and operatic overtures of Jean-Baptiste Lully,
which he elaborated from a similar, two-section form called
ouverture, found in the French ballets de cour as early as 1640.
This French overture consists of a slow introduction in a marked "dotted rhythm" (i.e., exaggerated iambic, if the first chord is disregarded), followed by a lively movement in
fugato style. The overture is frequently followed by a series of dance tunes before the curtain rises, and often returns following the Prologue to introduce the action proper. This ouverture style was also used in English opera, most notably
Henry Purcell's
Dido and Æneas. Its distinctive rhythmic profile and function thus led to the French overture style found in the works of late Baroque composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel, and Georg Philipp Telemann. The style is most often used in preludes to suites, and can be found in non-staged vocal works such as
, for example in the opening chorus of
Bach cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61. Handel also uses the French overture form in some of his Italian operas, such as
Giulio Cesare.
Italian overture
In Italy, a distinct form called "overture" arose in the 1680s, became established particularly through the operas of Alessandro Scarlatti, and spread throughout Europe, supplanting the French form as the standard operatic overture by the mid-18th century.
Its stereotypical form is in three generally
homophony movements: fast–slow–fast. The opening movement is normally in duple metre and a major key; the slow movement in earlier examples is usually quite short, and sometimes in a contrasting key; the concluding movement is dancelike, most often with rhythms of the
gigue or
minuet, and returns to the key of the opening section. As the form evolved, the first movement often incorporated fanfare-like elements and took on the pattern of so-called "sonatina form" (
sonata form without a development section), and the slow section became more extended and lyrical.
Italian overtures were often detached from their operas and played as independent concert pieces. In this context, they became important in the early history of the
symphony.
18th century
Prior to the 18th century, the symphony and the overture were almost interchangeable, with overtures being extracted from operas to serve as stand-alone instrumental works, and symphonies being tagged to the front of operas as overtures.
With the reform of
opera seria, the overture began to distinguish itself from the symphony, and composers began to link the content of overtures to their operas dramatically and emotionally. Elements from the opera are foreshadowed in the overture, following the reform ideology that the music and every other element on stages serves to enhance the plot. One such overture was that of
La Magnifique by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, in which several of the arias are quoted.
This "medley form" persists in the overtures to many works of
musical theatre written in the 20th and 21st centuries.
19th-century opera
In 19th-century opera the overture,
Vorspiel,
Einleitung, Introduction, or whatever else it may be called, is generally nothing more definite than that portion of the music which takes place before the curtain rises.
Richard Wagner's
Vorspiel to
Lohengrin is a short self-contained movement founded on the music of the Grail.
In Italian opera after about 1800, the "overture" became known as the sinfonia.
Concert overture
Early 19th century
Although by the end of the eighteenth century opera overtures were already beginning to be performed as separate items in the concert hall, the "concert overture", intended specifically as an individual concert piece without reference to stage performance and generally based on some literary theme, began to appear early in the
Romantic era. Carl Maria von Weber wrote two concert overtures,
Der Beherrscher der Geister ('The Ruler of the Spirits', 1811, a revision of the overture to his unfinished opera
Rübezahl of 1805), and
Jubel-Ouvertüre ('Jubilee Overture', 1818, incorporating
God Save the King at its climax).
However, the overture A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826) by Felix Mendelssohn is generally regarded as the first concert overture.
Later 19th century
In the 1850s the concert overture began to be supplanted by the
symphonic poem, a form devised by
Franz Liszt in several works that began as dramatic overtures. The distinction between the two genres was the freedom to mould the musical form according to external
Program music requirements.
The symphonic poem became the preferred form for the more "progressive" composers, such as César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns,
Richard Strauss, Alexander Scriabin, and Arnold Schoenberg, while more conservative composers like
Anton Rubinstein, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Johannes Brahms,
Robert Schumann and
Arthur Sullivan remained faithful to the overture.
In the age when the symphonic poem had already become popular, Brahms wrote his
Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80, as well as his
Tragic Overture, Op. 81. An example clearly influenced by the symphonic poem is Tchaikovsky's
1812 Overture. His equally well-known
Romeo and Juliet is also labelled a 'fantasy-overture'.
20th century
In European music after 1900, an example of an overture displaying a connection with the traditional form is Dmitri Shostakovich's
Festive Overture, Op. 96 (1954), which is in two linked sections, "Allegretto" and "Presto" (Temperley 2001).
Malcolm Arnold's
A Grand, Grand Overture, Op. 57 (1956), is a 20th-century parody of the late 19th century concert overture, scored for an enormous orchestra with organ, additional
, and
obbligato parts for four
, three Hoover
(two uprights in B, one horizontal with detachable sucker in C), and an electric
floor polisher in E; it is dedicated "to
Herbert Hoover".
[; ; ]
One song of the Who's rock opera Tommy is designated as "Underture".
Film
In
motion pictures, an overture is a
incidental music setting the mood for the film before the
opening credits start. Famous examples include
Gone with the Wind (1939) and
Lawrence of Arabia (1962). For a comprehensive list, see the list of films with overtures.
List of standard repertoire
Some well-known or commonly played overtures:
-
Anton Arensky: A Dream on the Volga
-
Malcolm Arnold:
-
Beckus the Dandipratt
-
A Grand, Grand Overture
-
Peterloo
-
Tam O'Shanter
-
Daniel Auber: Fra Diavolo
-
Samuel Barber: Overture to The School for Scandal
-
Arnold Bax: Overture to a Picaresque Comedy
-
Ludwig van Beethoven:
-
Leonora Nr 1
-
Leonora Nr 2
-
Leonora Nr 3
-
Fidelio
-
Coriolan Overture
-
Creatures of Prometheus
-
Egmont
-
The Ruins of Athens
-
The Consecration of the House
-
Arthur Benjamin
-
Overture to an Italian Comedy
-
Hector Berlioz:
-
Benvenuto Cellini
-
Le carnaval romain
-
Le corsair
-
Les Francs-Juges
-
King Lear
-
Waverley
-
Leonard Bernstein: Candide
-
Georges Bizet: Carmen
-
Alexander Borodin: Prince Igor
-
Johannes Brahms:
-
Academic Festival Overture
-
Tragic Overture
-
Anton Bruckner: Overture in G minor (WAB 98)
-
Aaron Copland: An Outdoor Overture
-
Antonín Dvořák: Carnival Overture
-
Edward Elgar:
-
In the South (Alassio)
-
Cockaigne
-
Froissart
-
George Gershwin:
-
Philip Glass:
-
Overture 2012
-
King Lear Overture
-
Mikhail Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila
-
Christoph Willibald Gluck:
-
Iphigénie en Tauride
-
Orfeo ed Euridice
-
Alceste
-
Antônio Carlos Gomes: Il Guarany
-
Edvard Grieg: In Autumn
-
George Frideric Handel
-
Overture to the Music for the Royal Fireworks
-
Overture to the Water Music
-
Overture to Messiah and other Oratorios
-
Joseph Haydn: Armida
-
Ferdinand Hérold: Zampa
-
John Ireland:
-
A London Overture
-
Satyricon Overture
-
Édouard Lalo: Le roi d'Ys
-
Franz Lehár: The Merry Widow
-
Andrew Lloyd Webber:
-
"Overture from Phantom of the Opera"
-
Hamish MacCunn: The Land of the Mountain and the Flood
-
Felix Mendelssohn:
-
The Hebrides (or Fingal's Cave)
-
Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage
-
A Midsummer Night's Dream
-
Ruy Blas
-
Die schöne Melusine (The Fair Melusine)
-
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
-
The Marriage of Figaro
-
La clemenza di Tito
-
Così fan tutte
-
Don Giovanni
-
Idomeneo
-
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
-
The Magic Flute
-
Modest Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina
-
Nikolai Myaskovsky:
-
Pathetic Overture
-
Salutation Overture
-
Otto Nicolai: The Merry Wives of Windsor
-
Carl Nielsen:
-
Jacques Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld
-
Sergei Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes
-
Emil von Reznicek: Donna Diana
-
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov:
-
Russian Easter Festival Overture
-
The Maid of Pskov
-
May Night
-
Gioachino Rossini:
-
La cambiale di matrimonio
-
Tancredi
-
Il signor Bruschino
-
Il turco in Italia
-
La Cenerentola
-
Semiramide
-
Il viaggio a Reims
-
The Barber of Seville
-
La gazza ladra
-
L'italiana in Algeri
-
La scala di seta
-
William Tell
-
Franz Schubert:
-
Robert Schumann:
-
Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op 52
-
Manfred
-
Genoveva
-
Faust
-
Julius Caesar
-
Hermann und Dorothea
-
The Bride of Messina
-
Dmitri Shostakovich: Festive Overture
-
Bedřich Smetana: The Bartered Bride
-
Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus
-
Jean Sibelius: Overture to The Tempest
-
Arthur Sullivan:
-
Franz von Suppé
-
Light Cavalry Overture
-
The Beautiful Galatea
-
Poet and Peasant
-
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky:
-
1812 Overture
-
Hamlet (Overture-Fantasy)
-
Romeo and Juliet (Overture-Fantasy)
-
The Nutcracker (Miniature Overture)
-
Giuseppe Verdi:
-
La forza del destino
-
Nabucco
-
I vespri siciliani
-
Richard Wagner:
-
Faust Overture
-
The Flying Dutchman
-
Lohengrin (both Act and Act III Preludes)
-
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
-
Rienzi
-
Tannhäuser
-
Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Wasps
-
William Walton
-
Johannesburg Festival Overture
-
Scapino Overture
-
Portsmouth Point Overture
-
Carl Maria von Weber:
-
James Barnes
-
"Alvamar Overture"
-
"Appalachian Overture"
Citations
General and cited references
External links
