February 5, 2025 | Author: Dominic Nicholas | Category:Repertoire Guides
Opera Garnier in Paris
The air-clearing, mood-setting purpose of overtures, not to mention the fact that they are often choc-full of the best tunes of the works they introduce, makes them among the most musically arresting works in the repertoire. So it’s no surprise that they are hugely popular as standalone concert works and amongst discerning 8notes members.
Here is our definitive list of the absolute best of them, together with links to sheet music, so you can try them out for yourself. If you can’t find a version for your instrument, remember that members can request new versions at any time.
This is overture Genesis. Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607) is one of the earliest examples of an opera. Its short opening Toccata, though not labelled ‘Overture’, performs exactly the same function as an overture—it clears the air and signals the start of the drama. The composer liked it so much, he reused the music for the opening of his brilliant Vespers of 1610.
Handel wrote many marvellous overtures to his operas and oratorios. One of his most well-known, however, was not from a dramatic work (at least not in the ordinary sense), but as an opening to his quite literally explosive ‘Music for the Royal Fireworks.’
Mozart’s most risqué opera—the plots consists of the rescue from a young maiden from a Turkish harem—has one of his most fun overtures. The catchy main tune is given extra heft by the addition of a battery of Turkish percussion—a bass drum, cymbals and a triangle—which help to establish the location of the action. It was this opera that was said to have inspired Emperor Leopold II’s comment that it contains ‘too many notes’, to which Mozart replied ‘There are just as many notes as there should be.’
Beethoven had a torrid time trying to write an overture for his only opera, 'Fidelio' (1805). 'Leonore Overture No. 3', despite the name, was his second attempt. The work was so long, however, that it overwhelmed the opening of the opera, so he eventually discarded it. Despite this, it is regarded as the greatest of his several attempts and so it has survived as a concert work.
Daddle, daddle, dah; daddle, daddle, daddle, daddle, daddle, dah—you know the one. Mozart’s cracking overture to his opera 'The Marriage of Figaro' has become so popular it has found it’s way in to any number of films and TV programmes, including 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory', 'The King’s Speech', 'Mad Men', 'Zombieland' and in the 1983 Eddie Murphy, Dan Ackroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis movie 'Trading Places':
You could take your pick, depending on your mood, between two great Rossini Overtures. 'The Barber of Seville' (1816 ) is full of urbane melodies that, unusually, do not appear in the opera itself. But his wonderfully varied ‘William Tell Overture’ (1829) just pips it. It consists of a lyrical representation of dawn, played by lowers strings with timpani; followed by a dramatic storm; the idyllic Ranz des vaches (‘call to the dairy cows’); and, most iconically, a high energy cavalry charge.
Mozart’s last opera, premiered just two months before his death, is one of his greatest not to mention most instantly and enduringly successful works. The overture is a delight, consisting of a noble slow introduction followed by a fast section full of deliciously playful counterpoint. Both sections reappear before the whole draws to a vigorous and satisfying close.
Choosing amongst Wagner’s many brilliant overtures is like choosing a favourite child. There is the wallowing Eb lugubriousness of Rheingold, the bombast of Die Meistersinger, the exquisite spectral beauty of Lohengrin, the prayerfulness of Parsifal, the epoch-making ambiguity of Tristan and Isolde. Our choice, however, is the brilliant overture to Tannhäuser (1845), not least because it contains one of the greatest melodies he ever wrote, The Pilgrims’ Chorus.
Verdi’s opera La forza del destino (1862) is a tragedy in which destiny frustrates the happiness of its main protagonists at every turn. The opera’s ‘fate’ motif is introduced at the outset in a three note unison in the brass. The agitated figure that follows presages one of opera’s great melodies, which was later popularised through its use in the movie ‘Jean de Florette’ and in an advert for the lager Stella Artois..
One of the most melodically rich operas ever to have been written, 'Carmen' (1875) contains a toe-tappingly catchy overture, not least because it previews one of the most famous melodies from the opera itself, the incomparable Toreador Song from Act 2.
