# Overtures & concert overtures



## mtmailey

I have not seen a thread about overtures & concert overtures.I am sure people like them here.There are plenty of them that sound great.
View attachment 19616


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## TrevBus

mtmailey said:


> I have not seen a thread about overtures & concert overtures.I am sure people like them here.There are plenty of them that sound great.
> View attachment 19616


So many. However, 2 of the best, IMO, Rossini and Franz Von Suppe. If I want to lose myself in fun, then these are the two I listen to more than others


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## mtmailey

There are famous ones like by BEETHOVEN such as his EGMONT overture which is my favorite.TCHAIKOVSKY has the 1812 overture which is also great.ELGAR has the cockaigne overture.MENDELSSOHN has the midnights summer dream which is also famous.


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## chrisco97

Ah yes, I love overtures. Some of my favourites include:

- _Coriolan_ by *Beethoven*
- _Egmont_ by *Beethoven*
- _Creatures of Prometheus_ by *Beethoven*
- _Marriage of Figaro_ by *Mozart*
- _Manfred_ by *Schumann*

There are, of course, many more that I enjoy...but these are the first ones that came to mind.


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## KenOC

Well, the Leonore #3 is obviously at the top of the heap (no, don't bother to disagree, you'll simply be wrong.) But in general, overtures are great because they're bite-sized with a "curiously strong" flavor.


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## TrevBus

KenOC said:


> Well, the Leonore #3 is obviously at the top of the heap (no, don't bother to disagree, you'll simply be wrong.) But in general, overtures are great because they're bite-sized with a "curiously strong" flavor.


I neither agree nor disagree. Whatever works for the listner.


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## Novelette

chrisco97 said:


> Ah yes, I love overtures. Some of my favourites include:
> 
> - _Coriolan_ by *Beethoven*
> - _Egmont_ by *Beethoven*
> - _Creatures of Prometheus_ by *Beethoven*
> - _Marriage of Figaro_ by *Mozart*
> - _Manfred_ by *Schumann*


Interesting! The Prometheus overture isn't so frequently selected out of Beethoven's overtures. It's sprightly, almost Haydn-esque, and short on the turbulence with which we frequently attribute Beethoven. Of course, that certainly does not make it a less significant work; indeed, the whole of The Creatures abounds of wonderfully interesting music.

If you haven't heard it already, you should definitely check out Beethoven's Consecration of the House Overture [Op. 124] and his Nameday Overture [Op. 115].


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## chrisco97

I have never heard those. I will definitely check those out. It is hard to beat a solid Beethoven overture!


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## Skilmarilion

chrisco97 said:


> _Coriolan_ by *Beethoven*


Indeed! One of LvB's very finest works.

To add, Mendelssohn's _The Hebrides_ goes without saying.


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## chrisco97

Skilmarilion said:


> Indeed! One of LvB's very finest works.
> 
> To add, Mendelssohn's _The Hebrides_ goes without saying.


Yup! I have never heard any of Mendelssohn's overtures, if I am not mistaken...now I have a starting point. :lol:


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## Novelette

chrisco97 said:


> Yup! I have never heard any of Mendelssohn's overtures, if I am not mistaken...now I have a starting point. :lol:


You are in for a treat! Mendelssohn's overtures are also very distinguished.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

*Sibelius* has composed a number of concert overtures.


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## techniquest

> Yup! I have never heard any of Mendelssohn's overtures, if I am not mistaken...now I have a starting point.


Mendelssohn's 'Hebrides' overture is a must! It's also known as 'Fingals Cave' and was written after he was inspired by a visit there.
I would like to add *Tchaikovsky* - Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overure; *Prokofiev* - Russian Overture; *Rimsky-Korsakov* - Russian Easter Festival Overture


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## anshuman

Wagner Tannhauser overture,Rossini's Barber of Seville the list goes on


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## waldvogel

Brahms has a couple of marvelous overtures, which are at the opposite ends of the emotional spectrum: the raucously funny _Academic Festival Overture_ and the bleak and driven _Tragic Overture_.


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## chrisco97

How could I forget the Academic Festival Overture? One of my absolute favourites! I still need to listen to the _Tragic Overture _more closely than I did the first time I heard it. :lol:


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## Novelette

Cherubini's Concert Overture in C Major is a real gem. It was a special commission requested of the composer, along with his D Major Symphony.

Good stuff, that!


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## Machiavel

I second Von Suppe, Rossini, Mendelssohn, Brahms tragic, Berlioz Les francs-juges, Le Corsaire, le Carnaval Romain. I really like the Oberon overture and Schoenberg Gurrelieder.


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## LouisMasterMusic

I have several favourites but I enjoy a lot of others alongside those I will list here. They are all too many to mention.

Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, TH 42 and CW 39 (probably the greatest piece Tchaikovsky ever composed)

Verdi: Overture to Nabucco

Verdi: Prelude to Acts I and III of La Traviata

Bizet: Overture to Carmen

Suppe: Overture to (The) Light Cavalry

Suppe: Overture to Poet and Peasant

Rossini: Overture to The Barber Of Seville

Rossini: Overture to The Thieving Magpie

Johann Strauss II: Overture to Die Fledermaus

Mozart: Overture to The Magic Flute

Mozart: Overture to The Marriage Of Figaro

Mozart: Overture to Don Giovanni

Beethoven: Overture to Egmont, Op.84

Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan (my favourite non-symphonic or concerto piece by Beethoven)

Verdi: Overture to La Forza Del Destino

Elgar: Cockgaine ("In London Town", Concert Overture, Op.40

Tchaikovsky: Festival Overture (1812), Op.49


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## TudorMihai

An overture worth mentioning is Enescu's _Concert Overture on Popular Romanian Themes_ in A major, Op. 32.





Also, Prokofiev wrote three overtures: Overture on Hebrew Themes (Op. 34), American Overture (Op. 42), Russian Overture (Op. 72).


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## spradlig

I recommend Shostakovich's "Festive Overture". I don't know what the critical consensus is, but I really like it.


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## LouisMasterMusic

I also really like the Shostakovich Festive Overture. It was only because there were so many other pieces that needed mentioning, that I forgot to include it.


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## Beethoven10

to play: Magic Flute, Shost Festival Overture, Kabalevsky Colas Breugnon, William Tell
to listen: Thieving Magpie, Miestersinger, Lohengrin (+ prelude to act 3)


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## isridgewell

Boieldieu - The Caliph of Bagdad
George Alexander Macfarren- Chevy Chase
Doreen Carwithen - ODTAA (One Damn Thing After Another)

Three great overtures that sit unfairly outside of the popular.


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## spradlig

Someone in this forum wrote something to the effect that Shostakovich's "October" and "Festive Overture" were generally considered turkeys, like Beethoven's "Wellington's Victory" is. I was surprised because I was unaware of any critical consensus that the "Festive Overture" was bad music (like everyone always bashes "Wellington's Victory"). I still don't know what opinion musical experts have of the Festive Overture, but I like it.


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## GioCar

I am quite surprised there are very few mentions to Wagner's overtures/preludes.
I was able to find Tannhauser, Lohengrin and Meistersinger but...no Hollander, no Parsifal, not even Tristan (!)...definitively they should be added to the list of the masterpieces in this genre.


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## Alfacharger

One of my favorites is Elliot Carter's Holiday Overture. Kind of like a joyful Piston meets Copland.


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## dgee

Overtures should be fun: Donna Diana by Reznicek is hilarious (and obscure these days), so is RVW's The Wasps, Dvorak Carnival, Ruslan and Ludmilla, Bartered Bride, Barber's School for Scandal, Bernstein's Candide. The Berlioz overtures are fantastic as well. Midsummer Night's Dream is sublime. And, yes, the Shos Festival Overture is a pretty jolly ride

If I don't hear von Suppe's music ever again it's too soon

Question - are shorter overtures (say, <8 mins) programmed less and less? I tend to see longer pieces up first in concert hall programmes...


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## KenOC

dgee said:


> ...(and obscure these days)...


I don't think any of those are at all obscure, though maybe heard more often on the radio than in the concert hall these days. On, you huskies!


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## dgee

Really just thinking the Reznicek - the rest are definitely all super standard fare


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## Vasks

spradlig said:


> I was unaware of any critical consensus that the "Festive Overture" was bad music. I still don't know what opinion musical experts have of the Festive Overture, but I like it.


It has been bashed by many a person on many a website; however, I too find it a whole lot of fun and one can never tire of fun pieces.


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## KenOC

spradlig said:


> Someone in this forum wrote something to the effect that Shostakovich's "October" and "Festive Overture" were generally considered turkeys...


Everyone likes the Festive Overture. I have never heard or read a word against it. (Vasks seems to have some contrary experience...) October, Shostakovich's only tone poem, is a good deal less popular but IMO very fine. I think I saw a negative comment once, probably because it was written as a Communist party occasional piece. Didn't seem to hurt its quality any.


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## Vasks

Just a few places (to begin with; not that I'm going to search for more) that belittle the Festive Overture

http://www.theclassicalshop.net/Details.aspx?CatalogueNumber=SIG 135

http://www.good-music-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=9426.15;wap2

http://musicalpointers.co.uk/reviews/liveevents/Pletnev_Tocco_Mann.htm

http://books.google.com/books?id=qa...&q=shostakovich festive overture weak&f=false


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## KenOC

Vasks said:


> Just a few places (to begin with; not that I'm going to search for more) that belittle the Festive Overture


Thanks Vasks! It does appear that some people don't, indeed, care for the Festive Overture. A summary of the four references you offered:

Ref 1: I can't find the negative reference.

Ref 2: Evidently a forum; a "Mr. Little" says "I've played Festive Overture. Banal and sarcastic, but pretty fun, I'll give you that."

Ref 3: "Shostakovich's Festive Overture is hollow and banal and should be pensioned off..." Statement on a site I'm not familiar with by a Peter Grahame Woolf.

Ref 4: A dismissive passage in a book I've not heard of by an author ditto. The surrounding language is impressively pseudo-intellectual.


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## dgee

Vasks said:


> It has been bashed by many a person on many a website; however, I too find it a whole lot of fun and one can never tire of fun pieces.


If you really enjoy Festive Overture and fun pieces in general you really owe it to yourself to investigate brass bands - the same qualities are present in spades in the works of Philip Sparke, Eric Ball, Gilbert Vinter and Goff Richards. Probably also heaps of similarly fun bracing stuff for symphonic band


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## Mahlerian

KenOC said:


> The surrounding language is impressively pseudo-intellectual.


How can language in itself be pseudo-intellectual? Even much-abused words like "hermeneutic" and "text" have legitimate uses. It's the way language is used that separates erudition from posturing (as a smokescreen to cover the lack of ideas, rather than as a way to express ideas).


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## Hector

Kabalevsky's Colas Breugnon
Suppe's Beautiful Galathea
Shostakovich's Festive Overture


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## KenOC

dgee said:


> Really just thinking the Reznicek - the rest are definitely all super standard fare


Ah, I always forget that not everybody is as old as I am! The Reznicek was the theme to a popular radio show about Sergeant Preston of the RCMP (and his loyal dog King). There was even an early TV show! The overture's theme is permanently linked to the idea of Sergeant Preston charging over snowfields in pursuit of the bad guys.


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## Vasks

KenOC said:


> Ref 1: I can't find the negative reference.


You have to click on the word "review" to see the page, but here's what it says:

_Recorded live in Japan's Suntory Hall seven years ago, the start of this CD is unremarkable: the banal Festival Overture sounds like a deliberate Shostokovich joke _

*Malcolm Hayes

Classic FM Magazine - January 2009*

BTW: I merely searched the web for 5 minutes googling "shostakovich festive overture banal". Which is why you see the word banal. More searches using other similar adjectives would yield more negative comments.


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## moody

Hector said:


> Kabalevsky's Colas Breugnon
> Suppe's Beautiful Galathea
> Shostakovich's Festive Overture


Your first two choices are not concert overtures but from operatic works.


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## arpeggio

*Shostakovitch's Festive Overture*

Response to those who think Shostakovitch's _Festive Overture_ is a piece of ...

One: There is no accounting for taste.

Two: Even bad Shostakovitch is still pretty good.

Three: So what?

Four: They may be bad performances. Most professional orchestras, in order to show off, try to set speed records by performing the work in under six minutes. At those tempos the work sounds hectic. I like it when it is performed at a more leisurely tempo.


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## hpowders

Nothing does it for me more than a really good performance of Beethoven's Leonore Overture Number 3. Another incredible composition by this supreme master.


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## Alfacharger

One of my favorite purchases this year was the two Naxos CDs of the eleven Shakespeare Overtures by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. A taste of one below.






On a similar note, I also enjoy the "As You Like It" Overture by John Knowles Paine. A fun Robert Schumann like work.


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## moody

moody said:


> Your first two choices are not concert overtures but from operatic works.


I'll withdraw this as I thought only concert overtures were required.


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## Vasks

_


Alfacharger said:



One of my favorite purchases this year was the two Naxos CDs of the eleven Shakespeare Overtures by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

On a similar note, I also enjoy the "As You Like It" Overture by John Knowles Paine.

Click to expand...

_I heartily agree about the C-T, except I have only bought one volume last year. Meanwhile I've had the Zubin Mehta New World CD of "As You Like It" for a very long time and always look forward to playing it again.


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## moody

Bizets 0verture "La Patrie" is a great bit of drama.
Aubers "The Crown Diamonds" used to be a popular favourite.

Once all concerts started off with an overture, I think they often give short change now.


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## KenOC

"La Patrie" is way cool. French overtures rule.


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## Hector

I guess I misread the topic title.


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## moody

Hector said:


> I guess I misread the topic title.


No,I did and withdrew my comment.


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