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Overture (from French ouverture, lit. "opening") is a music instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. [1] During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtures which were independent, self-existing, instrumental, programmatic works that foreshadowed genres such as the symphonic poem.
The overture to the opera is one of Hérold's most famous works and is a staple of orchestral repertoire. Performance history Zampa ...
The opera's libretto is based on the 1784 stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro ("The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro"). It tells how the servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, foiling the efforts of their philandering employer Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna and teaching him a ...
The short title, Così fan tutte, literally means "So do they all", using the feminine plural to indicate women. It is usually translated into English as "Women are like that". The words are sung by the three men in act 2, scene 3, just before the finale; this melodic phrase is also quoted in the overture to the opera.
The overture was based on Smyth's earlier composition, "The March of the Women". [11] Reviews in The Times drew a distinction between the ballad opera style of part 1, [12] with its light-hearted dialogue and songs, [10] and the sung-through style of part 2, [10] which they found heavy and less appropriate to the libretto. [12]
The French overture is a musical form widely used in the Baroque period. Its basic formal division is into two parts, which are usually enclosed by double bars and repeat signs. Its basic formal division is into two parts, which are usually enclosed by double bars and repeat signs.
In Italian opera after about 1800, the "overture" became known as the sinfonia. [54] Fisher also notes the term Sinfonia avanti l'opera (literally, the "symphony before the opera") was "an early term for a sinfonia used to begin an opera, that is, as an overture as opposed to one serving to begin a later section of the work". [54]
The "Overture" is the opening song and a dramatic instrumental introduction that establishes the setting as Toulon, France, 1815. The "Work Song" flows from the "Overture", the former opening with a choir of imprisoned men singing a melody later used in "Look Down" but eventually becoming a dark duet between the prisoner Jean Valjean and the ...