What are your "favorite Overtures": to operas, plays, musicals, concert, you name it?

Hi Alberich! Good question and there are many of my favs listed. Here are some definitions of an overture:

1. In Music:

a. a piece of orchestral music containing contrasting sections that is played at the beginning of an opera or oratorio, often containing the main musical themes of the work

b. a similar piece preceding the performance of a play

c. a one-movement orchestral piece, usually having a descriptive or evocative title (tone-poem)

d. a short piece in three movements (French overture or Italian overture) common in the 17th and 18th centuries

One overture I'd like to add:

Barber's School for Scandal Overture

There are youth orchestra recordings of this work on YouTube so with hesitation I give this..there are several good recordings available for purchase.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA-rStBFwy4

Borodin - Prince Igor

Strauss II - Die Fledermaus

Beethoven - Egmont

Beethoven - Leonore Overture

Suppe - Light Cavalry

Weber - Der Freischutz

Nicolai - The Merry Wives of Windsor

Strauss II - The Gypsy Baron

Offenbach - Orpheus in the Underworld

Smetana - The Bartered Bride

Mozart - The Magic Flute

Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro

Mozart - Don Giovanni

Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture

Rossini - The Barber of Seville

And my top 5:

Wagner - Lohengrin

Wagner - Tannhäuser

Wagner - Rienzi

Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Wagner - Götterdämmerung

There. I think that's enough.

Edit: Well I like to refer to the Prelude as 'Overture'. It annoys me when there is no Overture to an opera (a weird quirk, I know).

'Overture' is simply what the opening of an opera is called SOMETIMES. Verdi's 'overtures' or 'preludes' are actually called 'Sinfonia' in the score - it's just a difference between traditions in various parts of the world. I waffle on like this so that some might omit some pieces just because they might not have the term 'overture' attached to them.

Some of the 'overtures' I particularly like are:

Beethoven - Leonora (No 3)

Hérold - Zampa (ou la fiancée de marbre)

Lalo - Le roi d'Ys

Mozart - Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)

Rimsky-Korsakov - May Night

Rossini - any of them - I love them all

J Strauss - Die Fledermaus

Verdi - La forza del destino

Wagner - Die Meistersinger

Weber - Der Freischütz

Of course, the 1812 Overture cited a couple of times above is a stand-alone concert piece and not a prelude to anything else.

I don't see why preludes should be excluded, just because a composer entitled opera opening thus and not as an overture! Means I can't say the First Act prelude to Traviata which is the most magical opening to an opera that I know. So I will have to go with Wganer - Mastersingers and Rienzi.

Can these include stand alone concert works like Tchaikovsky's fantasy to Romeo & Juliet?

If so then from those not mentioned I'd also add:

Overture to Manfred - Robert Schumann

(I think it's his greatest orchestral work)

Overture to Fingal's Cave(Hebrides) &

... to A Midsummer Night's Dream - Felix Mendelssohn

Overture to Othello - Antonin Dvorak

The Thieving Magpie - Gioachino Rossini

(probably only because of it's association with Clockwork Orange)

Overture to Coriolan,

Leonore II &

the Ruins of Athens - Ludwig van Beethoven

Here's my list

Brahms - Academic Festival

Brahms - Tragic

Nicolai - Merry Wives of Windsor

Mozart - Magic Flute ( my favorite my him)

Beethoven - Egmont

Candide

Strauss - Der Zigeunerbaron

and my absolute favorite at this moment,

Wagner's Rienzi Overture

Alberich, you are brimming with great questions this week!

My favorite Opera Overture: Verdi's "La Traviata" (she who has gone astray).

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the Sinfonia: Handel's "Messiah". I know every note in both of these Overtures/Sinfonias and I love them because they are such an appetizer of great things on the way!

All the best, Julian of N

Hi Alberich,

I'm trusting that your recent plethora of questions indicates an improvement in your health...I hope the trauma of your recent epidural has abated!

Anyway, my favourite overture/introduction is a Baroque one (of course!) - it's the dramatic Prologue (Toccata) to Monteverdi's opera "L'Orfeo." (1607.)

It's a majestic toccata for brass (featuring five trumpets!) and percussion - and this Prologue's theme recurs through out the opera. The theme (an early example of leitmotif) represents a Spirit of Music, symbolising the power of music - which, in turn, is embodied by Orpheus - whose music has remarkable power over the rest of the gods!

Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHIBJ67nRUg

Hafwen x

EDIT: Oh poo, I just re-read your question, Alberich, and realised you asked for overtures, specifically. Monteverdi definitely didn't use this term. Sorry!

*SIGH* guess I haven't imbibed enough coffee this morning yet...do you want me to delete my answer? H x

THE OVERTURE TO DIE FEEN!

I am joking, of course. My favourite overture to an opera is the magnificent overture to "Nina" (Paisiello)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfyFP0z5RfQ

It is not to everybodys taste, but is anything?

Another Paisiello overture that I like is the one to his opera "Il Barbiere di Siviglia"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmMrIII73Mw

(Not as spectacular as the Nina, but nice...)

and my absolute favourite cd at the moment is this:

http://cd.ciao.co.uk/Curtain_Up_Baroque_Opera_Over...

I couldnt find it on Amazon, but it does exist! and it has some wonderful music

and my favourite prelude for a totally-unMissLimLam kind of opera (dont you just love my terminology!?) is:

"Mazeppa" Overture - Tchaikovsky. (Sorry, cant find a youtube video... hopefully you know it anyway)

My favourite non-operatic overture (again, great terminology!) is the Overture from Telemann's Suite for Recorder in A Minor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ly3gPFags&feature

Marche Slave by P.tschaikovsky

1812 overture by P.Tschaikovsky

Oberon Overture by C.M.V Webber