Overture
An orchestral piece introducing an opera or other
longer work, or one written for concert performance. Overtures to
mid-17th-century Venetian operas typically consisted of a slow section
in duple metre followed by a faster one in triple; this served as a model
for the French Overture developed by Lully,
Purcell, Handel
and others. In Germany, 'Overtüre' was often used for an orchestral
suite beginning with an overture of this type. The
Italian overture, developed at Naples in the late 17th century, was in
three short sections (fast-slow-fast), often with a prominent trumpet
part. This type, or rather its first section extended on sonata lines,
survived into the Classical period, but it was not until Gluck
and Mozart that composers
began to connect the overture thematically or in other ways to the opera
that followed. The standard operatic overture between 1790 and 1820
consisted of a slow introduction and a fast movement in common time and
in sonata form but without repeats and with little or no melodic development.
After Wagner's "Tannhäuser"
(1845) independent overtures to serious operas were
largely replaced by shorter preludes, but the overture survived
in comic operas and operettas and as a concert
piece. Many concert overtures, such as Mendelssohn's
"The Hebrides", are descriptive pieces; others, like Berlioz's
"King Lear" and "The Corsair", are based on literary subjects or, like
Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture",
celebrate a particular event.
The Concert Overture was a symphonic work
in the manner of an overture that was not associated
with an opera. In general, the concert overture did not attempt
to tell a story but created a mood that can be associated
with a literary theme, a place, or an event. Many works of
this nature adhere closely to the principle of the sonata
form.