# Favourite 19th Century Overture



## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

Tell me what your favourite 19th Century overture is and why... the 'why' part is what makes it interesting 

for me it is Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture - not only is the descriptive writing really effective in depicting the mighty sea where it meets the land but I also think the sonata structure is so beautifully formed. It also was one of the first classical pieces I ever analysed in school - so I have fondness for it cos of this too. 

J


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## handlebar (Mar 19, 2009)

I'd probably pick either Leonora #2 or the 1st, The Fidelio Overture.

Jim


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

I just noticed that in this post. every Overture that I mentioned was a 19th Century Overture!

If I wanted to steer clear of ground that I already covered, and join in the spirit of the Original Poster 
and mention a _Concert_ Overture, I guess I could say Tchaikovsky's *Romeo & Juliet* _Fantasy-Overture_.

Why?? Oustanding melodies (of course), broad scope (for a piece called an Overture... 
it's really more like a proto-Tone-Poem), dramatic shifts and sweep...


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I'll have to go with The Hebrides Overture as well for all the reasons Jaime mentions. Also it weaves together two of the most beautiful themes or melodies of all time.


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## Guest (Jul 23, 2010)

It's hard to go against the Fingal's Cave. Not only is it probably one of my favorite overtures, it's one of my all-time favorite pieces too. Both Brahms overtures are good as well.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Well I quite enjoy overtures by guys like Rossini, Berlioz, Beethoven & the Mendelssohn as well, but if you put me on the spot it would have to be Brahms' _Tragic Overture._ It (obviously) has a tragic feel, but the theme is also made to sound consoling in some ways. It has a symphonic scope and is a very profound statement.


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## Guest (Jul 23, 2010)

I agree, Andre. It's unfortunate the Tragic Overture is not frequently played, and as much as I love the Academic Festival Overture it probably gets a little too overplayed. Both great pieces though.


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## anshuman (Jul 6, 2010)

Leonore No.3,Coriolan(The karajan recording), The Hebrides, Academic Festival Overture,Roman Carnival, Overture to Tannhauser. Actually too many favourites to name a single one. I'm a bit sentimental about Fingal's Cave though, as it made me passionate about classical music while in school.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I really like some of the Berlioz overtures, like Le Corsaire, and Beatrice and Benedict.

Rimsky Korsakov's Russian Festival Overture for sure.


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## shsherm (Jan 24, 2008)

The Light Calvalry by Franz von Suppe is my favorite because I heard it performed by the Chicago Symphony at a children's concert as a young child and this music ignited my interest in classical music.


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## BeethoFan (Jun 23, 2010)

Beethoven's Egmont. Von Weber's Ruler of Spirits comes in a very close second.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Festival Overture. The juxtaposition of solemn, chant-like themes with unbridled celebratory dance music is very dramatic, especially when you hear the former transformed into the latter, or hear both at the same time.


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## tgtr0660 (Jan 29, 2010)

Beethoven's Egmont and Leonora #3; Mendelsohn's overture for "A Midsummer Night Dream". Among many others...


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## Rasa (Apr 23, 2009)

The ouverture to "La Muette de Portici" by Auber. It's such a dragon, so archetypical it's good


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## JAKE WYB (May 28, 2009)

For me many of Dvoraks overtures are marvellous particularly, *Othello* which is dramatic and moody and *Kate and the Devil* which is wonderfully glowing and sparkly.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Hebrides or Romeo and Juliet


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## Falstaft (Mar 27, 2010)

Hard to pick -- certainly Egmont & Coriolan, Midsummer, and Tannhauser (anything following that in Wagner I don't consider a traditional overture) would be at my top.


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Expressed visually


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Re: above--

_Thieving Magpie...

Hebrides... and_

(huh, what??)

Auber's _Masaniello_???


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

I quite like Rossini's William Tell!


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> Re: above--
> 
> _Thieving Magpie...
> 
> ...


Close. The Bugs Bunny drawing is from _The Rabbit of Seville_ and the Stella is Verdi's _La Forza Del Destino _overture, which was used in their adverts for years. I thought a glass of beer was a bit more tactful and straightforward than it's other image. What was the thought process that lead to Masaniello?

It was a bit tricky to find a 'safe' image of that scene from Clockwork Orange.

I was going to post this guy but he's mainly a 18th century entity:


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

I would have to say Mendelssohns Hebrides. 

In any case it would be one of Mendelssohns as he first established the concert overture as a starter at concerts.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Argus said:


> Close. The Bugs Bunny drawing is from _The Rabbit of Seville_


Weirdly, that image didn't show on the computer I was using at the time (a 'net-nanny' thing, I suppose, I guess they flagged it as "entertainment"). However, the 'Clockwork Orange' image came through "clear as an azure sky of deepest summer." Net nannies... go figure.


Argus said:


> What was the thought process that lead to Masaniello?


Famous Belgian stuff... (?) Guess I was 4000 miles away from exposure to 'Stella Artois' commercials.


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## TWhite (Feb 23, 2010)

I've got three favorites: 
Brahms: Academic Festival Overture. A perfectly realized, colorfully orchestrated concert overture made up entirely of German University Drinking Songs. Now, THAT'S clever, IMO. 

Dvorak: Carnival Overture. Colorful, rowdy, exciting, with a brief central section of incredible melodic beauty. 

Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Overture (La Grande Paque Russe). A very powerful, stunningly orchestrated work based on Russian Liturgical themes that leads to one of the most overpowering orchestral climaxes I've ever heard. My all-time favorite Russian overture.

Tom


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*mmm...*

Many, but I'll give you just one.

Sarema by Zemlinsky...well I am cheating because Mahler composed it for him.

http://www.amazon.com/Sarema-Zemlin...r_1_72?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1294163431&sr=1-72

Martin


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Schumann's Genoveva Overture for me. It contains all the romantic trappings I love: the struggle, the chest-beating, the "woe is me", the manic-depressiveness, the whole shebang.


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## mueske (Jan 14, 2009)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> Weirdly, that image didn't show on the computer I was using at the time (a 'net-nanny' thing, I suppose, I guess they flagged it as "entertainment"). However, the 'Clockwork Orange' image came through "clear as an azure sky of deepest summer." Net nannies... go figure.Famous Belgian stuff... (?) Guess I was 4000 miles away from exposure to 'Stella Artois' commercials.


I live in Belgium and I've never seen them... 

And my choice would be Hebrides, or Manfred by Schumann.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Well if you live in Belgium, chances are that you'll miss Stella Artois - you have thousands of better beers available ,)


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## Rasa (Apr 23, 2009)

Speaking of Belgium and 19th century ouvertures:


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Dvorak's Carnival overture because its just so fun.


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## Charon (Sep 8, 2008)

Of those that I've heard...

Mendelssohn's Ruy Blas Overture.


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## Nix (Feb 20, 2010)

Russian Easter Overture! It's more substantial, excellent melodies and orchestration.


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

1= Herold's Zampa
1= Mendelssohn's Hebrides
3. Suppe's Poet & Peasant
4. Glinka's Ruslan & Ludmilla
5. Rossini's Italian Girl in Algiers
Why? Because I like them.

NB. 20th Century: Bernstein's Candide


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

OP: That's easy. The Beethoven Leonore Overture No. 3.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Beethoven leonore no 3

no contest - one of the most remarkable pieces ever composed.

Interesting to hear leonore 1 and leonore 2 - how he brought of those ideas to perfection in leonore 3.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

weber's der freischutz for a close second


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I really like Lalo's overture to "Le Roy d'Ys". A big, beefy work with a very unusual (but effective) ending, trumpets blazing. Kind of rare, and it's hard to find a good recording, but Rozhdestvensky does it up in fine style on this YouTube performance. Be sure to turn up the volume!


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## TwoPhotons (Feb 13, 2015)

I do not know enough 19th century overtures to give an accurate answer, but I was very impressed by *Korsakov*'s "The Tsar's Bride" Overture recently. Grabs your attention right from the beginning with a wonderfully Russian-sounding melody.


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

Beethoven's Coriolan Overture. Amazing drama and use of silences, running the gamut of emotions in a mere four and a half minutes.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

*Dvorak's* Hussite Overture is very appealing (and criminally undervalued). I'll also go for:
*Rossini's* Overture "La Gazza Ladra."
*Fibich's* overture to "Sarka."
*Tchaikovsky's* overtures "Voyevoda", "1812", & "Hamlet."
*Glazunov's* Ouverture Solennelle.
*Wilhelm Stenhammar's* "Excelsior!" (Concert Overture).
*Franz Berwald's* Overture to "Estrella de Soria."
*Beethoven's* "Egmont" & "Wellington's Victory."
*Mendelssohn's* "Fingal's Cave."
*Schumann's* "Manfred."
*Balakirev's* Overture on Three Russian Themes.
*Mikhail Glinka's* Spanish Overture no. I (Capriccio brillante on "Jota Aragonesa").
*Dargomyzhsky's* overture "Baba-Yaga."


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## Stirling (Nov 18, 2015)

Beethoven Egmont.


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## Geoff48 (Aug 15, 2020)

Maybe because it’s the first overture I remember The Barber of Seville, the 1929 Toscanini version on. 12” 78. Then, when I started collecting records myself I bought a 5 overture anthology conducted by Malcolm Sargent. It had Fingal’s Cave and Silken Ladder both of which I loved. And if we can include overtures which are more properly symphonic poems I really loved Romeo and Juliet. Somehow the first record of the Kousevitsky set on 78s had got broken, an inherent risk with 78s and it wasn’t till much later that I discovered the piece started with a slow introduction. I recently heard that version on Spotify and somehow it seemed more dramatic than any other version I had heard. Probably nonsense of course but somehow I suspect the first version you hear, particularly if you play it often, imprints itself on the memory even if that is subconscious.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Mendelssohn - Trumpet Overture
Wagner - Meistersinger overture
Tchaikovsky - 1812
Kalinnikov - Bylina


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Wagner's Parsifal Overture for its "holiness."

If it must be stand-alone, I'd have to say Brahms Tragic Overture for its craftsmanship.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Without a doubt Tchaikovsky's 1812.


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## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

My parents were never rich. Dad had a good, "white-collar" job, a big cog in a very small wheel. I learned after his passing that his salary was always very modest, but, from time-to-time, when the company did well, he would earn a good bonus. I remember the year he came home with a HiFi system. It must have been in the very late-Sixties, and Mother was delighted. So was I, as I got to have the old 'gramophone' unit in my bedroom, so I could play my older brothers' Beatles and Dylan records. 

Three albums accompanied the new HiFi. One by Nat King Cole, another by Simon and Garfunkel. The third record, was played over and over and over again. Mother loved it. Whilst other records followed it, I must have heard this one several hundred times through the following years, and it is now indelibly etched into my mind.

My favourite Overture?

Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Probably the Tragic Overture (Brahms).


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## Logos (Nov 3, 2012)

Weber: Der Freischuetz, Euryanthe, and Oberon.
Beethoven: Egmont, Coriolan, Leonore 3


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Rossini: William Tell
Berlioz: Beatrice and Benedict; Le Corsair
Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night's Dream
Massenet: Phedre
Reznicek: Donna Diana


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## Logos (Nov 3, 2012)

Another unmentioned thus far--Mendelssohn: Die schöne Melusine


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