An overture is a musical introduction without singing that was used in ballets, operas, and oratorios during the 17th century. In the early Romantic era, composers like Beethoven and Mendelssohn created overtures that stood alone as complete, programmatic works. These pieces were originally meant to be played at the beginning of a musical program.

During the 17th century, operas sometimes began with instrumental music. For example, Peri’s Euridice started with a short, repeating instrumental passage called a ritornello, and Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (1607) opened with a toccata, which was a fanfare played by muted trumpets. However, the most important part of an opera’s opening was the prologue. This section included sung dialogue between characters that represented abstract ideas and introduced the main themes of the story.

French overture

The French overture first appeared in the court ballets and operatic overtures created by Jean-Baptiste Lully. He developed this style from an earlier two-part form called "ouverture," which was used in French ballets as early as 1640. The French overture has two main parts: a slow introduction with a special rhythm called "dotted rhythm" (a pattern of long and short notes, except for the first chord), followed by a lively section where musical themes are repeated and developed. After the overture, a series of dance tunes often play before the performance begins, and it may return after the Prologue to start the main story. This style was also used in English opera, such as Henry Purcell's Dido and Æneas. Its unique rhythm and purpose influenced later composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel, and Georg Philipp Telemann. The French overture is commonly found in preludes to musical suites and in non-staged vocal works like cantatas. For example, it appears in the opening chorus of Bach's cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61. Händel also used this form in some of his Italian operas, such as Giulio Cesare.

Italian overture

In Italy, a special type of musical piece called an "overture" began in the 1680s. It became popular through the operas of Alessandro Scarlatti and spread across Europe. By the mid-1700s, this Italian form replaced the French version as the standard for operatic overtures. The typical structure of an Italian overture has three movements: fast, slow, and fast. The first movement usually has a rhythm with two beats per measure and is in a major key. The slow movement is often short and may use a different key. The final movement is lively, often with rhythms similar to a gigue or minuet, and returns to the key of the first section. Over time, the first movement sometimes included fanfare-like sounds and followed a pattern called "sonatina form," which is like sonata form but without a development section. The slow movement also became longer and more expressive. Italian overtures were often played separately from their operas and became significant in the early development of the symphony.

18th century

Before the 18th century, the symphony and the overture were similar, with overtures often taken from operas to be used as separate instrumental pieces, and symphonies placed at the beginning of operas like overtures. After changes in opera seria, overtures became different from symphonies. Composers started to connect the music in overtures to the stories and emotions of their operas. Parts of the opera were introduced in the overture, following new ideas that music and other stage elements should support the story. An example is the overture to La Magnifique by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, which includes quotes from several arias in the opera. This "medley form," where music from the opera is included in the overture, continued in overtures for many musical theatre works written in the 20th and 21st centuries.

19th-century opera

In 19th-century opera, the overture, also called Vorspiel, Einleitung, or Introduction, is usually the part of the music played before the curtain rises. Richard Wagner's Vorspiel to Lohengrin is a short, complete piece of music based on the themes from the Grail.

In Italian opera after about 1800, the term "overture" became known as the "sinfonia." Fisher explains that the term "Sinfonia avanti l'opera" (meaning "symphony before the opera") was an early name for a sinfonia used to begin an opera. This term described an overture that started the opera, rather than one that introduced a later part of the work.

Concert overture

By the end of the 18th century, opera overtures were sometimes played in concert halls without being part of an opera. However, the "concert overture," a piece meant to be performed alone in concerts and based on a literary theme, became more common during the Romantic era. Carl Maria von Weber composed two concert overtures: Der Beherrscher der Geister (1811, a revised version of an earlier opera overture) and Jubel-Ouvertüre (1818, which includes God Save the King at its end).

Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream overture (1826) is often considered the first true concert overture. Mendelssohn also wrote other concert overtures, including Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage (1828), The Hebrides (1830, also called Fingal’s Cave), Die schöne Melusine (1834), and Ruy Blas (1839). Other composers who created early concert overtures include Hector Berlioz, with works like Les Francs juges (1826) and Le corsaire (1828).

In the 1850s, the concert overture was gradually replaced by the symphonic poem, a form developed by Franz Liszt. This new style allowed composers more freedom to shape music based on specific themes or stories. Composers like César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns, Richard Strauss, Alexander Scriabin, and Arnold Schoenberg preferred the symphonic poem, while others, such as Anton Rubinstein, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, and Arthur Sullivan, continued to write overtures.

During the time when symphonic poems were popular, Brahms composed two overtures: Academic Festival Overture (Op. 80) and Tragic Overture (Op. 81). Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture was clearly influenced by the symphonic poem. His Romeo and Juliet is also labeled a "fantasy-overture."

In European music after 1900, some overtures still followed traditional styles. For example, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Festive Overture (Op. 96, 1954) has two connected sections: "Allegretto" and "Presto." Malcolm Arnold’s A Grand, Grand Overture (Op. 57, 1956) is a 20th-century parody of 19th-century concert overtures. It uses a large orchestra, an organ, extra brass instruments, and unusual parts for four rifles, three vacuum cleaners, and an electric floor polisher. The piece is dedicated to President Hoover.

One song from The Who’s rock opera Tommy is called an "Underture."

Film

In movies, an overture is a musical piece that establishes the tone of the film before the opening credits begin. Well-known examples include Gone with the Wind (1939) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962). For more examples, you can look at the list of films with overtures.