# Favorite Romantic Concert Overture



## Nix

Since there haven't been any polls like this recently, I can feel less guilty about making one! Plus I've been listening to Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, and feel slightly underwhelmed by it and would like the gauge the publics opinion. 

So favorite Romantic Concert Overture? No overtures to operas, purely ones that are standalone pieces, or have become standalone works (like Egmont). I also included works that are Romantic in sound, though modern in era (Barber and Shostakovich).


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## Nix

Right now my favorite is Russian Easter Overture, though I admit I haven't yet heard the Wagner or Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet. I've found that there seem to be very little middle ground for liking and disliking overtures... you either hate them or you don't- at least for me.


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## Manxfeeder

Shostakovich's Festive Overture. It was a big hit among school bands back in 1972-74, so it brings me back. Plus, it's a total barn-burner. Squeaking in second is the Russian Easter Overture.


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## Nix

Manxfeeder said:


> Shostakovich's Festive Overture. It was a big hit among school bands back in 1972-74, so it brings me back. Plus, it's a total barn-burner. Squeaking in second is the Russian Easter Overture.


It's still a big hit among youth bands and orchestras! And a really fun piece so I'm supportive of its popularity.


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## mmsbls

This was a very tough call. I voted _Egmont_, but Brahms' _Academic Festival_, Mendelssohn's _Hebrides_, Rimsky-Korsakov's _Russian Easter_ were all just a hair behind.


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## Polednice

Brahmsy, Brahmsy, McBrahmsington. How could I not vote for him? Personally, I think the _Tragic_ is quite a way above the _Academic Festival_, and, not only is it wonderfully depressing, it was the very first ever piece of music in the history of my pathetic little existence that I heard live.

It was a difficult choice though. I mean, say what you want about it, Tchaikovsky's _1812_ is undeniably a great deal of fun, and _Romeo and Juliet_, though played so much, always has some appeal. Dvorak's _Carnival_ is a gem too - that would probably have been my second choice.

I don't know if you've listened to it much before, but I would agree that Mendelssohn's _Hebrides_ can start to seem a tad lacklustre after a while. I'd recommended listening to his _Ruy Blas_ overture though - although he despised the play he wrote it for, it's rather fun!


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## Weston

For me it was a tie. Liszt's _Les Preludes_ is just about one of the most orgasmic pieces ever written if performed by a really large orchestra with a top notch brass section and a good recording. I'll take this over 1812 any day. But instead I went with _The Hebrides Overture_ if only because of the two memorable main themes that flow seamlessly together and the wistful images they evoke.

Honorable mention might go to Rossini's most famous overture to Guillaume Tell. Surely it might join the ranks of stand alone pieces. Parts of it are quite beautiful, and the galloping horse segment is still stirring if you can get images of The Lone Ranger out of your head.


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## Sid James

*Brahms'* _Tragic Overture _- because it's quite a substantial work & it makes a deep impression on me emotionally. Someone called it the best first movement that he had ever written. Indeed, if this had been a first movement for a symphony, it would have been rather hard to follow up adequately, the rest of the work would have to be pretty good to live up to this high standard. I think Brahms even surpassed himself in this work.

But of course, all of the others on your list are great as well. I can think of others like a few by Walton that I like a lot also, but I don't think they can really be described as "Romantic"...


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## Llyranor

I haven't heard that many of them, but I really really like Dvorak's Carnival Overture. I quite like Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet, too.


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## itywltmt

Your choices are all excellent. I chose Dvorak's Karnevil (which is the proper spelling, I believe), so colurful, joyous!

Berlioz' Carnaval Romain is also very good - why no love is being shown?? So is his Corsair and Rob-Roy overtures.

In the "other" category, I'd go for "In Springtime" by Karl Goldmark.


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## Klavierspieler

Beethoven wins, but Schumann comes in pretty close with Manfred.


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## Klavierspieler

Schumann's Hermann und Dorothea Overture is also very nice once you get past the popularity of the theme.


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## Meaghan

It was hard to pick between Egmont and Russian Easter. Egmont is close to my heart because it was one of the pieces I played in my first ever concert as part of an orchestra, but Russian Easter is so exciting! And it won, for me. 

The only overture here I kind of dislike is the Shosty. I played it in a wind ensemble once, and when we got the music, I was all excited that we were playing Shostakovich (not having heard the piece) and then was kind of disappointed after we read through it. It sounded too much like band music. But I know a lot of people like it, and to each their own.


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## joen_cph

Excluding Beethoven, Liszt and post-1885, Mendelssohn´s "The Hebrides" and Schumann´s "Manfred" are probably favourites, transcending IMO the more obvious possible traps of the genre ... I prefer a symphonic and Romantic, nature-evoking recording of "The Hebrides" like Atzmon´s, where you really hear the bird-cries and the salty sea, not a classicist rendering. 

Also listen to "Russian Easter" now and then, but just for the cinematic fun of it ...


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## violadude

Am I the only one that voted for School of Scandal?


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## itywltmt

violadude said:


> Am I the only one that voted for School of Scandal?


Sure looks like it...

SOS is good, just not as good as the others on the list.

And probably not as good as Le carnaval Romain!


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## Chi_townPhilly

For me, a very, VERY difficult call between Wagner's _Faust_ overture, Tchaikovsky's _Romeo & Juliet_ and Dvořák's _Carnival_ overture.

As of today, and if backed into a corner, I'd say _Carnival_ overture. Don't really want to say anything negative about the other two pieces (since they're also beyond great) but there's perhaps a little more conciseness and originality to the Dvořák.


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## clavichorder

Do overtures to unheard of opera's that never get performed and are therefore only known by their overture count? If so, then mine would be Chabrier's overture to Gwendoline!


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## Huilunsoittaja

I really like the Festive Overture and School for Scandal Overture too, only I consider them 20th Cent. overtures. Both were made in the 20th Cent by very 20th Cent composers. So, consequently I votes Russian Easter Overture as a favorite 19th cent. overture.


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## Taneyev

Tchaikovsky's Hamlet


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## Llyranor

I just got the chance to listen to the entire Hamlet overture by Tchaikovsky this week, and it is indeed very good! Not sure it's my favorite, but I'd still rank it very highly.


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## Vesteralen

I love School For Scandal, Tragic and Hebrides.

But, nothing beats Schumann's Manfred. Second place to Schumann's Genoveva.


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## Tchaikov6

Bringing back lots of old thread :lol:. I voted Rimsky-Korsakov Russian Easter Festival Overture... delightful.


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## Heck148

Hmmm - some really good ones in there - Brahms - Acad, and Tragic - LvB -Egmont, Dvorak -Carnival
Some great Wagner excluded, so it's a little easier...

Today - it's Dvorak - Carnival


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## SONNET CLV

I admit to having heard all of the listed overtures and to a highly favorable opinion about most of them, which makes picking a favorite difficult.

But Beethoven is the giant there (among giants, I admit) and in some ways his _Egmont_ is not only a great overture but a kind of microcosmic sample of Beethoven's musical essence. I've long considered that if I want to introduce someone to Beethoven's musical world, his sound, his power and glory, and do so in a brief punch of time, nothing fits the bill better than _Egmont_. The overture ranks high on my list of favorite Beethoven pieces, and it has held that position for decades. I visit the piece quite often, and enjoy cranking up the stereo a few extra db's whenever I spin that disc. Pure, essential Beethoven. Does it get better than that?

Barber's "...Scandal" overture is superb orchestral stuff, with an absolutely gorgeous lyric theme. It and Leonard Bernstein's "Candide Overture" remain my two favorite American overtures. Perhaps it's their similarities that interest me in linking them together.

The two Brahms overtures spin in my listening room at least once a year, though I more often hear them on radio. Two popular pieces, there, and essential Brahms. Good listens when you haven't time to invest in the longer symphonies or serenades or concerti.

The Mendelssohn _Hebrides_ is probably my favorite work from that composer. It is certainly the Mendelssohn I listen to most. Maybe I especially like it because it is the _other_ "Lone Ranger" music. Of course, the famous theme of the old television show "Lone Ranger" features the ending of an overture, the _William Tell _Overture of Rossini. But the rolling opening motif of the _Hebrides_ is featured in the interior soundtrack of the TV series. It's the music that plays when Ranger and Tonto are anticipating meeting the bad guys, right before a great shoot out. Listen for it next time you get a chance to watch Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels do their legendary western thing. "Heigh ho Silver, away!"

For some reason or other I always associate Shostakovich's _Festive Overture_ with William Walton's _Crown Imperial_. Both are festive pieces with plenty of melody, and the Shostakovich piece seems to my ears very British, and quite different from what I'm used to from the Russian master. Both pieces are good. And Walton also has the _Portsmouth Point Overture_ and the _Scapino Comedy Overture_, the two of which make for a great sampling of that English master's handiwork. There are actually a great many great British overtures, and shorter orchestral works that serve as overture-like concert openers (such as Vaughn Williams's _In the Fen Country_) that one could devote an entire thread to exploring them. Instead, why not listen to a few.

The other pieces on the above list, the Russian works, the Berlioz (who also wrote _Le Corsaire Overture_), the Liszt, are sure fire warhorses, all worthy of a hearing now and then, no matter how well tread they are. Add the Dvorak in there, too. Probably my favorite of Liszt's tone poems is _Les Preludes_ and I can never resist a hearing of the great _Overture Solennelle_, especially when the cannons shoot and the bells ring. Remember the old Mercury disc which featured Deems Taylor talking about the recording of the Tchaikovsky piece? _That _(with Antal Dorati and the Minneapolis Orchestra) is a blockbuster!

So many fine overtures and preludes out there. I could write about favorites for hours, combing my record and CD shelves for well-loved gems.

But I'll leave with one final mention, one maybe not so familiar to many, but an overture that must be heard. It is by the contemporary American composer Peter Boyer. The _Celebration Overture_.






_That_ is a piece to celebrate. It can certainly open a symphony concert, I would think. And since I prefer overtures with exciting, colorful dramatic themes and poignantly beautiful lyric themes, this one fits the bill. Please, give it a listen.


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## Pugg

Not one minute of hesitation: Beethoven: Egmont


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## KenOC

Heard Beethoven's Leonore Overture #3 on the radio today, still my favorite.

Just a while ago, they played Lalo's _Le roi d'Ys_ overture, a real barn-burner in the finale. Don't hear this too often!


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## Pugg

KenOC said:


> Heard Beethoven's Leonore Overture #3 on the radio today, still my favorite.
> 
> Just a while ago, they played Lalo's _Le roi d'Ys_ overture, a real barn-burner in the finale. Don't hear this too often!


Thank you for sharing .:tiphat:


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## Bettina

I almost always vote for Beethoven and this is no exception! Egmont for sure. But Hebrides is a pretty close second...such a quintessentially romantic work with its evocation of the Scottish seascape.


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## Pugg

Bettina said:


> I almost always vote for Beethoven and this is no exception! Egmont for sure. But Hebrides is a pretty close second...such a quintessentially romantic work with its evocation of the Scottish seascape.


I will be honest, I like them all but just like real live with one vote / one counts election, one has to make a choice.


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## Judith

Love Hebrides! Beautiful music. Somewhere I want to visit in future which would really make me feel the music! Heard its lovely there!


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## Brahmsian Colors

Agree with Judith, the Hebrides is my favorite...actually, co-favorite with Wagner's Tannhauser Overture (Dresden version). which was not even listed here. :scold:


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## QuietGuy

It's a shame we couldn't vote for more than one. I voted for Barber's School for Scandal, but Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet comes in a close second in my book. Also, Walton's Portsmouth Point is good, as is Carter's Holiday Overture.


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## Heck148

Brahms Tragic is my favorite today.


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## Pugg

Beethoven still leading.


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## Tchaikov6

Pugg said:


> Beethoven still leading.


By a long shot!


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## Pat Fairlea

Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture gets my vote. An Overture should grab the attention and hint at the pleasures to come. And I would have put Glinka's Russlan & Ludmilla overture on that list.


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## Klassik

This is a tough one because there are many good choices. Ultimately, I'd probably narrow it down to the two Brahms pieces, the two Tchaikovsky works, and Shostakovich. Shostakovich makes it tough, but I'd probably go with Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture. I know it goes without saying with Tchaikovsky, but the melodies from that are just so memorable.


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## Pugg

Pat Fairlea said:


> Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture gets my vote. An Overture should grab the attention and hint at the pleasures to come. And I would have put Glinka's Russlan & Ludmilla overture on that list.


To be fair, O.P dates from 2011.


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## Merl

Surprise surprise, I voted for Beethoven.


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## Meyerbeer Smith

Of course.

But the Russian composers come close.


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## Pugg

SimonTemplar said:


> Of course.
> 
> But the Russian composers come close.


The guy on the pic is staying a gentleman trough the end.


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## Brahmsian Colors

Pugg said:


> The guy on the pic is staying a gentleman trough the end.


That would be Berlioz.


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