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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. [9]
An overture provides an opening to a larger work, using themes from the rest of the piece, but is often played as a standalone work. Here are the best opera overtures according to three of the world's top conductors. The 20 Greatest Symphonies of all time.
- 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.
Before long the Italians were offering a version of their own, on a fast-slow-fast pattern. These – sometimes also called ‘sinfonia’ – could be fairly substantial, and could be played independently: the work known as Mozart’s Symphony No. 32 is an Italian overture in all but name.
The symphony as we know it emerged during the Classical period, roughly from 1730 to 1820. It evolved from earlier forms such as the Italian overture and the sinfonia, which were three-movement works used as preludes to operas. The term “symphony” itself comes from the Greek word “symphonia,” meaning “agreement or concord of sound.”
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).
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May 5, 2020 · The overture is simply an instrumental piece that plays before the start of the opera or one of its acts. In opera's early days, many overtures were considered incidental music that played before the audience was even seated. This was still the case during Mozart's era.
