THE WORKS
The project relies on a corpus of approximately 150 overtures written in continental Europe that are representative of the genre as it would have been construed in Berlin or Leipzig in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The core of the sample consists of operatic, theatre, and concert overtures written between 1820 and 1850. In order to reflect the diversity of the genre, this selection includes works from three distinct “national” traditions (Germanic, French, and Italian), written by minor as well as major composers, and with or without explicit program. In order to account for the varying impact individual works had on the repertoire, the selection is biased towards canonical composers as well as to those who were popular then but are no longer now (Weber, Spohr, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Wagner in Germany; Spontini, Auber, Halévy, and Berlioz in France; Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi in Italy). This core group is complemented by a smaller number of overtures from the preceding decade (including works by Rossini and Schubert) as well as older overtures by Gluck, Mozart, Beethoven, Cherubini, and Méhul that continued to be part of the repertoire throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. Together, these 145 works form both a plausible (even though admittedly still artificial) reconstruction of the mid-nineteenth-century overture repertoire and a workable background for analyses of individual overtures.
Chronological List
1771-80
Christoph Willibald von Gluck, Iphigénie en Aulide (1774)
1781-90
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro (1786)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni (1787)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Così fan tutte (1789)
1791-1800
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte (1791)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, La Clemenza di Tito (1791)
Luigi Cherubini, Médée (1797)
1801-10
Ludwig van Beethoven, Prometheus (1800-01)
Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonore 2 (1804-05)
Ludwig van Beethoven, Coriolan (1807)
Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonore 3 (1805-07)
Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonore 1 (1807)
Gaspare Spontini, La Vestale (1807)
Joseph Weigl, Die Schweizerfamilie (1809)
Gaspare Spontini, Ferdinand Cortez (1809, rev. 1817 and 1824)
Ludwig van Beethoven, Egmont (1809-10)
Carl Maria von Weber, Silvana (1810)
1811-20
Carl Maria von Weber, Beherrscher der Geister (1811)
Gioacchino Rossini, La scala di seta (1812)
Giocchino Rossini, Il signor Bruschino (1813)
Gioacchino Rossini, L’Italiana in Algeri (1813)
Gioacchino Rossini, Tancredi (1813)
Louis Spohr, Faust (1813)
Ludwig van Beethoven, Fidelio (1814)
Gioacchino Rossini, Il Turco in Italia (1814)
Ferdinand Ries, Don Carlos (1815)
Gioacchino Rossini, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (1816)
Gioacchino Rossini, La Cenerentola (1817)
Gioacchino Rossini, La Gazza ladra (1817)
Franz Schubert, Ouvertüre “im italienischen Stil” D. 590 (1817)
Franz Schubert, Ouvertüre “im italienischen Stil” D. 591 (1817)
Franz Schubert, Overture in D major, D. 556 (1817)
Carl Maria von Weber, Jubel-Ouvertüre (1818)
Gaspare Spontini, Olimpia (1819, rev. 1821)
Felix Mendelssohn, Soldatenliebschaft (1820)
Carl Maria von Weber, Preciosa (1820)
1821-30
Felix Mendelssohn, Die beiden Pädagogen (1821)
Gaspare Spontini, Lalla Rûkh (1821)
Carl Maria von Weber, Der Freischütz (1821)
Ludwig van Beethoven, Die Weihe des Hauses (1822)
Gaspare Spontini, Nurmahal (1822)
Daniel François Esprit Auber, La Neige (1823)
Heinrich Marschner, Ali Baba (1823)
Gioacchino Rossini, Semiramide (1823)
Louis Spohr, Jessonda (1823)
Carl Maria von Weber, Euryanthe (1823)
Felix Mendelssohn, Ouvertüre für Harmoniemusik (1824, rev. 1826 and 1838)
Louis Spohr, Die beiden Galeerensklaven (1824)
Louis Spohr, Der Berggeist (1824)
Hector Berlioz, Les Francs-juges (1825-26)
Johann Christian Lobe, Die Flibustier (1825-26)
Louis Spohr, Macbeth (1825)
Felix Mendelssohn, Die Hochzeit des Camacho (1825, rev. 1827)
Felix Mendelssohn, Trompeten-Ouvertüre (1825-26, rev. 1833)
Gaspare Spontini, Alcidor (1825)
Felix Mendelssohn, Ein Sommernachtstraum (1826)
Gioacchino Rossini, Le Siège de Corinthe (1826)
Louis Spohr, Der Sturm von Missolunghi (1826)
Carl Maria von Weber, Oberon (1826)
Hector Berlioz, Waverley (1827-28)
Louis Spohr, Pietro von Abano (1827)
Gaspare Spontini, Agnes von Hohenstaufen (1827)
Daniel François Esprit Auber, La Muette de Portici (1828)
Peter Josef von Lindpaintner, Der Vampyr (1828)
Heinrich Marschner, Der Vampyr (1828)
Felix Mendelssohn, Die Hebriden (1828, rev. 1834)
Felix Mendelssohn, Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (1828, rev. 1834)
Ferdinand Ries, Die Braut von Messina (1829)
Gioacchino Rossini, Guillaume Tell (1829)
Louis Spohr, Der Alchymist (1829-30)
Daniel François Esprit Auber, Fra Diavolo (1830)
Vincenzo Bellini, I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1830)
Johann Christian Lobe, Die Fürstin von Grenada (1830, rev. 1833)
1831-40
Vincenzo Bellini, Norma (1831)
Hector Berlioz, Le Roi Lear (1831)
Ferdinand Hérold, Zampa (1831)
Heinrich Marschner, Hans Heiling (1831-32)
Richard Wagner, Konzert-Ouvertüre Nr. 1 (1831-32)
Richard Wagner, König Enzio (1831-32)
Felix Mendelssohn, Die erste Walpurgisnacht (1832, rev. 1842-43)
Richard Wagner, Konzert-Ouvertüre Nr. 2 (1832)
Felix Mendelssohn, Die schöne Melusine (1833, rev. 1835)
Conradin Kreutzer, Melusine (1833)
William Sterndale Bennett, The Merry Wives of Windsor (1834)
Ignaz Moscheles, Jeanne d’Arc (1834-35)
Richard Wagner, Die Feen (1833-34)
Richard Wagner, Columbus (1834-35)
Daniel François Esprit Auber, Le Cheval de bronze (1835)
Fromental Halévy, La Juive (1835)
Richard Wagner, Das Liebesverbot (1835-36)
William Sterndale Bennett, The Najades (1836)
Hector Berlioz, Benvenuto Cellini (1838, rev. 1852)
Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda, Overture no. 1 in D minor (1836)
Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda, Overture no. 6 in E-flat major (1836)
Richard Wagner, Polonia (1836)
Daniel François Esprit Auber, Le Domino Noir (1837)
Gaetano Donizetti, Roberto Devereux (1837)
Albert Lortzing, Zar und Zimmermann (1837)
Richard Wagner, Rule Britannia (1837)
William Sterndale Bennett, Die Waldnymphe (1838)
Louis Spohr, Der Matrose (1838)
Johannes Verhulst, Overture in B minor (1838)
Felix Mendelssohn, Ruy Blas (1839, rev. 1844)
Giuseppe Verdi, Oberto (1839)
Johannes Verhulst, Gijsbrecht van Aemstel (1839)
Richard Wagner, Eine Faust-Ouvertüre (1839-40, rev. 1843-44 and 1855)
Gaetano Donizetti, La Favorite (1840)
Gaetano Donizetti, La Fille du Régiment (1840)
Niels Gade, Nachklänge von Ossian (1840)
Julius Rietz, Concert-Ouvertüre (1840)
Giuseppe Verdi, Un Giorno di Regno (1840)
Johannes Verhulst, Overture in D minor (1840)
Richard Wagner, Rienzi (1840)
1841-51
Richard Wagner, Der fliegende Holländer (1841, rev. 1860)
Daniel François Esprit Auber, Les Diamants de la couronne (1841)
Hector Berlioz, Le Corsaire (1841)
Fromental Halévy, Le Guitarréro (1841)
Fromental Halévy, La Reine de Chypre (1841)
Robert Schumann, Ouvertüre, Scherzo und Finale (1841)
Gaetano Donizetti, Don Pasquale (1842)
Gaetano Donizetti, Linda di Chamounix (1842)
Albert Lortzing, Der Wildschütz (1842)
Louis Spohr, Konzertouvertüre im ernsten Stil (1842)
Giuseppe Verdi, Nabucodonosor (1842)
Felix Mendelssohn, Athalia (1843)
Julius Rietz, Hero und Leander (1843)
Louis Spohr, Die Kreuzfahrer (1843-44)
Richard Wagner, Tannhäuser (1845, rev. 1875)
Hector Berlioz, Le Carnaval romain (1844)
Niels Gade, Im Hochland (1844)
Franz von Suppé, Ein Morgen, ein Mittag und ein Abend in Wien (1844)
Albert Lortzing, Undine (1845)
Giuseppe Verdi, Alzira (1845)
Giuseppe Verdi, Giovanna d’Arco (1845)
Niels Gade, Ouvertüre Nr. 3 (1846)
Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda, Overture no. 10 in F major (1846)
Albert Lortzing, Der Waffenschmied (1846)
Julius Rietz, Der Sturm (1846)
Franz von Suppé, Dichter und Bauer (1846)
Friedrich von Flotow, Martha (1847)
Robert Schumann, Genoveva (1847-48)
Robert Schumann, Manfred (1848-49)
Otto Nicolai, Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (1849)
Giuseppe Verdi, La Battaglia di Regnano (1849)
Giuseppe Verdi, Luisa Miller (1849)
Niels Gade, Nordische Sennfahrt (1850)
Robert Schumann, Die Braut von Messina (1850-51)
Giuseppe Verdi, Stiffelio (1850)
Robert Schumann, Hermann und Dorothea (1851)
Robert Schumann, Julius Cäsar (1851)