Overture (French ouverture, lit. "opening"; German Ouvertüre, Vorspiel, i.e., "prelude", lit. "play before") in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn began to use the term to refer to independent, self-existing instrumental, programmatic works that presaged genres such as the symphonic poem. These were "at first undoubtedly intended to be played at the head of a programme".
The idea of an instrumental opening to opera existed during the 17th century. 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 trumpets. More important, however, was the prologue, which comprised sung dialogue between allegorical characters which introduced the overarching themes of the stories depicted.
As a musical form, however, 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 was frequently followed by a series of dance tunes before the curtain rose, and would often[vague] return following the Prologue to introduce the action proper. This ouverture style was also used in English opera, most notably in Henry Purcell's Dido and Æneas. Its distinctive rhythmic profile and function thus led to the French overture style as found in the works of late Baroque composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach. The style is most often used in preludes to suites, and can be found in non-staged vocal works such as cantatas, for example in the opening chorus of Bach's 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.
In Italy, a distinct form called "overture" arose in the 1680s, and 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 usual[weasel words] form is in three generally homophonic movements: fast–slow–fast. The opening movement was normally in duple metre and in a major key; the slow movement in earlier examples was usually quite[weasel words] short, and could be in a contrasting key; the concluding movement was dance-like, most often with rhythms of the gigue or minuet, and returned to the key of the opening section. As the form evolved, the first movement often[vague] 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.[by whom?] In this context, they became important in the early history of the symphony.
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. Fisher also notes the term Sinfonia avanti l'opera (literally, the "symphony before the opera") was "an early term for for a sinfonia used to begin an opera, that is, as an overture as opposed to one serving to begin a later section of the work".
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 (Temperley 2001). Mendelssohn's other contributions to this genre include his Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage overture (1828), his overture The Hebrides (1830; also known as Fingal's Cave) and the overtures Die schöne Melusine (The Fair Melusine, 1834) and Ruy Blas (1839). Other notable early concert overtures were written by Hector Berlioz (e.g., Les Francs juges (1826), and Le corsaire (1828)).
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 programmatic requirements (Temperley 2001). The symphonic poem became the preferred form for the more "progressive" composers, such as César Franck, Richard Strauss, Alexander Scriabin, and Arnold Schoenberg, while more conservative composers like Anton Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky, Johannes Brahms, 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'.
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" (Temperely 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 brass instruments, and obbligato parts for four rifles, three Hoover vacuum cleaners (two uprights in B♭, one horizontal with detachable sucker in C), and an electric floor polisher in E♭; it is dedicated "to President Hoover".
List of some common overtures
Some well-known or commonly played Overtures:
- Anton Arensky: A Dream on the Volga
- Malcolm Arnold:
- Beckus the Dandipratt
- Tam O'Shanter
- Daniel-François-Esprit 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
- Ruins of Athens
- Hector Berlioz:
- 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:
- Alassio: In the South
- George Gershwin: Cuban Overture
- Mikhail Glinka: Ruslan and Ludmilla
- Antônio Carlos Gomes: Il Guarany
- Joseph Haydn: Armida
- Ferdinand Hérold: Zampa
- John Ireland:
- A London Overture
- Satyricon Overture
- Édouard Lalo: Le roi d'Ys
- Franz Lehár: The Merry Widow Overture
- Hamish MacCunn: The Land of the Mountain and the Flood
- Felix Mendelssohn:
- Hebrides (or Fingal's Cave)
- Calm Sea and a Prosperous Voyage
- Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Nikolai Miaskovsky:
- Pathetic Overture
- Salutation Overture
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
- Otto Nicolai: The Merry Wives of Windsor
- Carl Nielsen:
- Jacques Offenbach:
- Orpheus in the Underworld
- Sergei Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes
- Emil von Rezniček: Donna Diana
- Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture
- Gioachino Rossini:
- La cambiale di matrimonio
- Il Signor Bruschino
- Il Turco in Italia
- La Cenerentola
- Il Viaggio a Reims
- The Barber of Seville
- La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie)
- L'italiana in algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers)
- La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder)
- William Tell
- Franz Schubert:
- Overture in Italian Style, D560
- Robert Schumann:
- Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op 52
- Dmitri Shostakovich: Festive Overture
- Bedrich Smetana: The Bartered Bride
- Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus
- Jean Sibelius: Overture to The Tempest
- Arthur Sullivan:
- The Mikado
- The Gondoliers
- The Yeoman of the Guard
- Franz von Suppé
- Light Cavalry Overture
- The Beautiful Galatea
- Poet and Peasant
- Peter Tchaikovsky:
- Festival Overture "1812"
- Hamlet [Overture-Fantasy]
- Romeo and Juliet [Overture-Fantasy]
- The Nutcracker Overture
- Giuseppe Verdi:
- La forza del destino
- Richard Wagner:
- Faust Overture
- Rienzi Overture
- The Flying Dutchman
- Tannhäuser Overture
- Die Meistersinger von Nürberg
- William Walton
- Johannesburg Festival Overture
- Scapino Overture
- Portsmouth Point Overture
- Carl Maria von Weber:
- Der Freischütz
- Invitation to the Dance
- Blom 1954.
- Blom 1954.
- Waterman and Anthony 2001.
- Temperley 2001.
- Burrows 2012, [page needed]
- Fisher 2001.
- Fisher 2001.
- Larue 2001.
- Fisher 1998.
- Temperley 2001.
- Anon. 1957; Maycock 2009; Burton-Page [n.d.]; Anon. 1957 mistakenly says just three rifles, but publisher's website confirms four, as stated also in Maycock 2009.
- Anon. 1957. "Music: Op. I for Vacuum Cleaners" Time (April 22).
- Blom, Eric. 1954. "Overture". Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, fifth edition, edited by Eric Blom. London: Macmillan Publishers; Toronto, Canada: Macmillan Publishers.
- Burrows, Donald. 2012. Handel, second edition. Master Musicians Series. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
- Burton-Page, Piers. [n.d.] "Malcolm Arnold: A Grand, Grand Overture, Programme Note". Chester-Novello publisher’s website. (Accessed 6 November 2009)
- Fisher, Stephen C. 1998. "Sinfonia". The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, four volumes, edited by Stanley Sadie. London: MacMillan Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-333-73432-7 ISBN 1-56159-228-5.
- Fisher, Stephen C. 2001. "Italian Overture." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
- Larue, Jan. 2001. "Sinfonia 2: After 1700". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
- Maycock, Robert. 2009. "What's On/Programme Notes, Malcolm Arnold (1921–2006), A Grand, Grand Overture, Op. 57 (1956)" BBC Proms programme, Prom 76: Last Night of the Proms (Saturday 12 September).
- Temperley, Nicholas. 2001. "Overture". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
- Waterman, George Gow, and James R. Anthony. 2001. "French Overture". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.