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In motion pictures, an overture is a piece of 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.
Overture, musical composition, usually the orchestral introduction to a musical work (often dramatic), but also an independent instrumental work. Early operas opened with a sung prologue or a short instrumental flourish, such as the trumpet “Toccata” that opens Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607).
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
In the Baroque era, ‘overture’ could signify an orchestral or keyboard suite – an entirely self-sufficient collection of dances. In late 18th-century England the word was interchangeable with ‘symphony’. There’s more to this than the caprice of history.
A complete guide to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, including how audiences, performers and the composer himself have responded to this iconic and surprisingly controversial work.
- Verdi – The Force of Destiny. With a main theme made famous by the “Reassuringly expensive” Stella Artois TV campaign of the 1990s, this operatic opener is indeed “Reassuringly Verdi” with the Italian composer’s customary mix of exquisite melody and thundering full-orchestra outbursts.
- Mozart – The Magic Flute. At the age of 28, Mozart joined the Masonic order, a secretive organisation with a rich set of rituals and symbols that many scholars believe are evident in Mozart’s later works, The Magic Flute being one of them.
- Rossini – William Tell. The overture that broke the mould, Rossini’s William Tell Overture escaped the clutches of the classical world and flew into the mainstream.
- Dame Ethel Smyth – The Wreckers. After five years touring Europe trying to persuade theatre impresarios to stage it, Smyth’s best-known opera The Wreckers finally received its premiere in Leipzig in 1906.
OVERTURE (Fr. Ouverture; Ital. Overtura ), i.e. Opening. This term was originally applied to the instrumental prelude to an opera, its first important development being due to Lulli, as exemplified in his series of French operas and ballets, dating from 1672 to 1686.
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Overture (from the French ouverture, meaning opening) in music is the instrumental introduction to a dramatic, choral or, occasionally, instrumental composition.
