# Top 20 Overtures



## Arsakes

Name your top 20 overtures.

It's a bit hard for me to list them in any order, so I write down some of them in order to edit the whole thing later.

Meistersinger von Nürnberg's Overture (Wagner)
The Flying Dutchman's Overture (Wagner)
Julius Caesar (Schumann)
Egmont's Overture (Beethoven)
Prince Igor's overture (Borodin)
Ouverture solennelle (Glazunov)
Overture No.1 on Three Greek Themes (Glazunov)
King Lear's Overture (Balakirev)
Russlan and Lyudmila's (Glinka)
Carnival Overture (Dvorak)
Karelia Overture (Sibelius)
Overture: Ruy Blas (Mendelssohn)
Music To 'Rosamunde' - Overture (Schubert)

And several more I write later.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Do vorspiels/preludes/introductions count? If so then:

1. *Ligeti:* all the preludes from _Le Grand Macabre_
2. Wagner: Prelude to act I of _Tristan und Isolde_
2. Glinka: _Ruslan und Ludmilla_
2. Handel: _Giulio Cesare_
2. Bach: Overture from orchestral suite no. 3
2. Rameau: _Naïs_
2. Stravinsky: _The Rake's Progress_
2. Wagner: Prelude to act III of _Lohengrin_
2. Bach: Overture from orchestral suite no. 4
2. Mendelssohn: _A Midsummer Night's Dream_
2. Handel: _Messiah_
2. Mozart: _The Abduction from the Seraglio_
2. Wagner: Prelude to act III of _Tristan und Isolde_
2. Purcell: _Dido and Aeneas_
2. Mozart: _Le Nozze di Figaro_
2. Verdi: _The Force of Destiny_
2. Glass: Prelude to _Akhnaten_
2. Wagner: Prelude to act I of _Lohengrin_
2. Mendelssohn: Trumpet Overture
2. Wagner: Prelude to act I of _Parsifal_


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## Ramako

In a general guide, but not specific, order:

Bach's 3rd Orchestral Suite Overture
1812
Coriolan
Consecration of the House
Hebrides
Bach's 2nd Orchestral Suite Overture
Marraige of Figaro
Midsummer Night's Dream
Handel's Fireworks
Judus Maccabaeus
Magic Flute
Don Giovanni
Tristan Und Isolde act 1, at certain times of day


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## Bas

I like:
- the ouverture of Monteverdi's l'Orfeo
- the ouverture of Mozart's Zauberflöte
- the ouverture of Verdi's Nabucco
- the ouverture (sonatinao) of J.S. Bach's Actus Tragicus Cantate BWV 106


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## joen_cph

Favourite ones include

Mendelssohn The Hebrides
Beethoven Coriolan
Mozart Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte, Die Entführung
Schreker Vorspiel zu einen Drama
Wagner Parsifal (indeed)
Schumann Manfred
Tchaikovsky Hamlet (Simon recording)
Delius Irmelin
Langgaard Antichrist, prelude (Stupel recording)


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## PlaySalieri

No Order:

Magic Flute
Figaro
Seraglio
Clemenza di tito
Don Giovanni
Cosi Fan Tutte
Oberon
Euranthe
Der Freischutz
Barber of Seville
Thieving Magpie
William Tell
Forza Del Destino
Ruslan and Ludmilla
Fierrbas


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## jalex

Of concert overtures: Schumann's Manfred Overture is a masterpiece I think. Berlioz wrote lots of good ones (including the interesting but often forgotten Tempest Overture); my favourite is the relatively famous King Lear. Also Mendelssohn wrote some good ones

Of operatic overtures: in addition to the well known overtures from his late operas, Mozart's The Impressario has a fine overture. Pretty much all of Wagner's are fantastic.

I do think some distinction should be made between concert overtures and operatic ones. Concert overtures are essentially tone poems before the term was coined.


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## Ravndal

Strauss - Die Fledermaus (The Bat)

Best overture ever made


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## Olias

My top 5

Marriage of Figaro - Mozart
Cosi Fan Tutte - Mozart
Barber of Seville - Rossini
Midsummer Night's Dream - Mendelssohn
Candide - Bernstein


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## Klavierspieler

Schumann Manfred
Schumann Braut von Messina
Schumann Julius Caesar
Schumann Herman und Dorothea
Beethoven Egmont


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## Toddlertoddy

Beethoven: Egmont
Mozart: The Magic Flute
Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro
Schumann: Manfred
Rossini: The Barber of Seville
Wagner: Tannhauser
Schoenberg: Gurrelieder
Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress


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## bigshot

I love Poet and Pesant and William Tell. So much fun!


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## Vaneyes

Barber: _The School for Scandal_
_LvB: Leonora 3_
_LvB: Egmont_
_Berlioz: Rob Roy_
_Bernstein: Candide_
_Brahms: Academic Festival_
_Brahms: Tragic_
_Dvorak: Carnival_
_Elgar: Alassio: In the South_
_Gershwin: Cuban _
_Mendelssohn: Hebrides_
_Mozart: Marriage of Figaro_
_Mozart: Cosi fan tutte_
_Mozart: Don Giovanni_
_Mozart: Magic Flute_
_Nielsen: Maskarade_
_Rossini: William Tell_
_Schubert: Rosamunde_
_Schumann: Manfred_
_Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet Fantasy_


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## moody

Nicolai: Der Tempelritter
Rossini: Il Signor Bruschino
Sullivan: Il Ballo
Brahms: Academic Festival
Von Suppe: Light Cavalry
Beethoven: King Stephen
Smetana: The Bartered Bride
Dvorak: Carnival
" In Nature's Realm
Elgar: In the South (Alassio)
Bizet: La Patrie
Wagner: Rienzi
Thomas: Mignon
Auber: The Crown Diamonds
Offenbach: Overture To A Grand Orchestra
Nielsen: Helios
Walton: Scapin
Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini
Berlioz: Roman Carnival


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## Arsakes

I haven't made my mind yet, too busy currently.

Keep up the good work with posting interesting overtures 

---

Edit to add, in no specific order:

Academic Festival (Brahms)
Tragic (Brahms)
Manfred (Schumann) 
Braut von Messina (Schumann)
Philemon und Baucis (Haydn)
L'Isola Disabitata (Haydn)
Il Ritorno di Tobia (Haydn)
Fireworks Overture (Handel)
The Force of Destiny (Verdi)
Lohengrin preludes (Wagner)
Smetana - all of his overtures!
and some of Mozart and Rossini's overtures.

My problem about Wagner is I don't have many Operas from him, but I have two CDs of his preludes and overtures (Decca and Naxos Best of Wagner). So I just know them not the Opera themselves.


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## MorrisMinor

No one seems to have mentioned Weber's overture to Der Freischutz. This is one of the greatest overtures of all time. Lohengrin and Tannhauser are up there as well, along with Manfred and Parsifal.


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## tankership

Here's a few I listen to quite a bit among MANY,MANY more.


1	Wagner	Rienzi
2	Herold	Zampa
3	Beethoven	Egmont
5	Belioz	Roman Carnival
4	Wagner	Das Liebesverbot
5	Suppe	Morning Noon and Night in Vienna
6	Berlioz	Le Corsaire
7	Offenbach	La Vie Parisienne 
8	Kalman	Die Csárdásfürstin 
9	Nielsen	Overture to the ballet Maskarade
10	Rimsky-Korsikov	Russian Easter Overture
11	Suppe	Goal of the Wanderer
12	Dvorak	Carnival Overture
13	Shostakovitch	Festive Overture
14	Rossini	William Tell
15	Tchaikovsky	1812
17	Rossini	Siege of Corinth
18	Offenbach	Orphée aux enfers (arr. By Binder)
19	Wagner	Der fliegende Holländer 
20	Varney	Les Mousquetaires au Couvent


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## juliante

Anyone anything to add to this?


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## Biffo

juliante said:


> Anyone anything to add to this?


Not enough Berlioz so,

1 King Lear
2 Roman Carnival
3 Le Corsaire
4 Benvenuto Cellini
5 Fantasia on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'

From Beethoven -

6 Coriolan
7 Leonore No 3
8 Egmont
9 The Consecration of the House

The rest

10 Wagner: The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
11 Wagner: Tannhauser
12 Elgar: In the South
13 Herold: Zampa
14 Rossini: William Tell
15 Rossini: The Thieving Magpie
16 Suppe: Light Cavalry
17 Dvorak: Carnival
18 Dvorak: In Nature's Realm
19 Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro
20 Don Giovanni (with its concert ending)

Probably loads of others I have missed.


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## vesteel

Wagner Rienzi
Wagner Das Liebesverbot
Mozart Figaro
Herold Zampa
Beethoven Egmont
Suppe Light cavalry
Glinka Ruslan and Ludmilla
Rossini William Tell
Mendelssohn Hebrides
Beethoven Cariolan
Mozart Seraglio
Tchaik 1812
Mendelssohn Midsummer
Maillart Villars
Auber Muette
Bernstein Candide
Brahms Academic
Offenbach Belle Helene
Auber Bronze Horse
Raff Dame Kobold


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## Merl

One that wouldn't be in my top 20 is Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. It bores me to tears.


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## KenOC

Merl said:


> One that wouldn't be in my top 20 is Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. It bores me to tears.


There is no music that can't be saved by bigger cannons.


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## joen_cph

Merl said:


> One that wouldn't be in my top 20 is Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. It bores me to tears.


It´s a 3D-piece. One can always supplement with a bit of table fireworks at home. Maybe a few dioramas plus some singing in Russian and French too.


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## MusicSybarite

Rimsky-Korsakov - Russian Easter Festival Overture
Weber - Der Freischütz, Euryanthe, Oberon
Beethoven - Coriolan, Egmont
Wagner - Tannhäuser
Mendelssohn - The Hebrides
Suppé - Dichter und Bauer, Leichte Cavallerie
Brahms - Academic Overture
Saint-Saëns - Spartacus
Villa-Lobos - Alvorada na Floresta Tropical
Vaughan Williams - 49th Parallel (prelude)
Shostakovich - Overture on Russian and Kirguiz Themes
Prokofiev - Russian Overture
Dvorák - Othello
Sibelius - Karelia Overture, op. 10
Nielsen - Helios Overture, Maskarade
Kabalevsky - Colas Breugnon, Pathetic Overture
Elgar - Cockaigne (In London Town), Froissart, In the South
Schubert - Overture in the Italian Style in C major, D. 591
Chadwick - Adonais
Bantock - Pierrot of the Minute
Berlioz - Le Carnaval Romain
Strauss II - Der Fledermaus
Braga Santos - Symphonic Overture No. 3
Goldmark - Penthesilea, Im Frühling
Atterberg - Overture in A minor, op. 4
Respighi - Belfagor
Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet
Glière - Gyul'sara, Shakh-Senem
Taneyev - Orestiade Overture
Novák - Lady Godiva
Stenhammar - Excelsior!
Nicolai - The Merry Wives of Windsor
Balakirev - Overture on 3 Russian Themes
Bizet - Patrie
Weingartner - Der Sturm
Korngold - Sursum Corda

Oops, that's more than 20


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## Enthusiast

To me a good list would need to start with four or more by Rossini, three by Mozart, two or three by Beethoven, both the Brahms concerto overtures, two or three by Berlioz, Wagner's Meistersinger and two or three by DVorak. That's nearly 20 before I start. But I don't think I could easily leave any out as they are all wonderful in different ways. So I've failed the test on this one.


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## D Smith

Since the list was limited to 20, I just picked one per composer:

Barber: School for Sandal Overture
Beethoven: Egmont Overture
Bernstein: Candide Overture
Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture
Borodin: Prince Igor Overture
Brahms: Academic Festival Overture
Dvorak: My Home, Overture
Glinka: Rusian and Ludmilla Overture
Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture
Miaskovsky: Huipigung Overture
Mozart: Don Giovanni Overture
Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld Overture
Rimsky Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture
Rossini: Thieving Magie Overture
Schubert: Rosamunde Overture
Schumann: Manfred Overture
Shostakovich: Festive Overture
Smetana: Bartered Bride Overture
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
Wagner: Die Meistersinger Overture


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## geralmar

Reznicek: Donna Diana. Made famous in "Challenge of the Yukon" (radio); later "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" (television) .


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## licorice stick

Here is a definitive list of the greatest overtures of all time, as determined by objective supercomputer analysis:

(21. The Magic Flute (Mozart))
20. A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn)
19. Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)
18. The Corsair (Berlioz)
17. A Life for the Tsar (Glinka)
16. The Hebrides (Mendelssohn)
15. The Silken Ladder (Rossini)
14. Egmont (Beethoven)
13. Leonore No. 3 (Beethoven)
12. William Tell (Rossini)
11. 1812 (Tchaikovsky)
10. Die Fledermaus (Strauss, Jr.)
9. Der Freischutz (Weber)
8. Bartered Bride (Smetana)
7. Carnival (Dvorak)
6. The Thieving Magpie (Rossini)
5. Meistersinger (Wagner)
4. Oberon (Weber)
3. Cockaigne (Elgar)
2. Tannhauser (Wagner)
1. Barber of Seville (Rossini)


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## MarkW

Leonore No. 3
Consecration of the House
Marriage of Figaro
Magic Flute
Don Giovanni
Beatrice et Benedick
Midsummer's Night Dream

(That's pretty much it for me in terms of "greatest.)


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## Meyerbeer Smith

Must-haves:

Berlioz - Benvenuto Cellini
Boieldieu - La dame blanche
Borodin - Prince Igor
Donizetti - Rosmonda d'Inghilterra
Glinka - Ruslan and Lyudmila
Gluck - Iphigénie en Aulide
Herold - Zampa
Mozart - Magic Flute
Rimsky-Korsakov - Tsar's Bride
Rossini - La gazza ladra
Suppé - Poet & Peasant
Verdi - Luisa Miller
Wagner: Das Liebesverbot (exhilarating), Rienzi, Flying Dutchman, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, Meistersinger, Parsifal !

Then again...

Auber - Muette de Portici; Fra Diavolo; Cheval de bronze
Beethoven - Fidelio
Berlioz - Béatrice et Bénédict; Corsaire
Bizet - Carmen
Bernstein - Candide
Donizetti - Roberto Devereux; Maria Stuarda
Goldmark - Die Konigin von Saba
Lalo - Le roi d'Ys
Massenet - Roi de Lahore; Le Cid; Roma
Meyerbeer - Prophète; Étoile du Nord; Dinorah (storm, chorus, & prayer); Struensee
Mozart - Figaro; Don Giovanni; Così
Nicolai - Merry Wives of Windsor
Reyer - Sigurd
Rossini - Barber (of course); Italiana; Guillaume Tell; Ermione (with chorus)
Strauss - Guntram
Suppé - Light Cavalry
Tchaikovsky - Maid of Orleans
Weber - Freischutz; Euryanthe


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## licorice stick

Posted in the wrong thread! Oops


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## licorice stick

Here is another batch of great overtures. The supercomputer is still ranking them to extend the top 20 list reported above. 
The Beautiful Galatea (Suppe)
Light Cavalry (Suppe)
Ruslan and Lyudmila (Glinka)
Clemenza di Tito (Mozart)
Nabucco (Verdi)
Forza del Destino (Verdi)
Don Pasquale (Donizetti)
Anna Bolena (Donizetti)
Roberto Devereux (Donizetti)


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## Roger Knox

licorice stick said:


> The supercomputer is still ranking them to extend the top 20 list reported above.


Are there any explanations or references associated with this supercomputer? How can it account for taste?


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## licorice stick

The machine learning algorithms were trained with tongue swabs from a representative cross-section of society. The organic molecules on the swabs were extracted and characterized by high resolution mass spectrometry.


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## SONNET CLV

Haven't seen Peter Boyer's "Celebration Overture" mentioned here (or did I miss it on somebody's list?). It's one of my favorites since I first heard it several years back:






Is it one of the "greatest" overtures? Well, such a notion is debatable. But it's a great listen.

For you fans of the Barber and Bernstein overtures, this Boyer is a winner.

Perhaps my single favorite overture remains the _Egmont _by LVB. That is quintessential Beethoven, sort of a summation of his musical art in capsulate form. I never tire hearing it.


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## OperaFans2002

Well, these are my opinions, here are some of my favorite Overture Operas.

1. Tannhauser (Wagner)
2. Aureliano di Palmira (Rossini)
3. Hansel und Gretel (Humperdinck)
4. Prelude to Lohengrin (Wagner)
5. Tristan und Isolde Prelude to Act III (Wagner)


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## Animal the Drummer

One that isn't mentioned anywhere above but might very well be my favourite of all: Vaughan Williams "The Wasps" overture.


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## Caryatid

I'm a fan of Cherubini's overture to _Medee_. Other than that I'll take Brahms's, and _Meistersinger_. Those are the essential ones for me.


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## Ned Low

Der fliegende hollander 
Tannhäuser 
Die meistersinger 
Egmont


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## Brahmsian Colors

Overtures in no special order:

Mendelssohn: Hebrides
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Mendelssohn: Trumpet
Mozart: Marriage of Figaro
Weber: Euryanthe
Berlioz: Rob Roy
Brahms: Academic Festival
Beethoven: Leonore #3
Schubert: Rosamunde
Wagner: Tannhauser (Dresden version)
Wagner: Die Meistersinger
Reznicek: Donna Diana
Verdi: La Forza del Destino
Strauss: Die Fledermaus
Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld
Smetana: Bartered Bride
Rimsky-Korsakov: Procession of the Nobles from "Mlada"
Elgar: Cockaigne 
Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks
Bernstein: Candide


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## Aries

A quick evaluation:

1. Tchaikovsky: 1812
2. Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
3. Wagner: Tannhäuser
4. Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer
5. Beethoven: Leonore
6. Beethoven: Die Weihe des Hauses
7. Borodin: Prince Igor 
8. Prokofiev: Russian Ouvertüre
9. Beethoven: König Stephan
10. Rimski-Korsakoff: The Tsar's Bride
11. Beethoven: Fidelio
12. Beethoven: Egmont
13. Wagner: Concert Ouvertüre No. 2
14. Wagner: Concert Ouvertüre No. 1
15. von Weber: Jubel-Ouvertüre
16. Wagner: Rienzi
17. von Weber: Freischütz
18. Wagner: Parsifal
19. Rossini: Wilhelm Tell
20. Bizet: Carmen


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## Roger Knox

licorice stick said:


> The machine learning algorithms were trained with tongue swabs from a representative cross-section of society. The organic molecules on the swabs were extracted and characterized by high resolution mass spectrometry.


All conceived on April 1st.


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