Overtures in Relation to Their Operas

DavidA said:

One of the most masterly overtures is what Verdi set to Rigoletto. It's very short but sums up the whole terrible tragedy of Gilda and the Duke.

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Strictly speaking that one's a prelude.

N.

Great overture - poor opera: Oberon by Weber

N.

Don Fatale said:

Some would say I Vespri Siciliani's overture is far better than the opera, although I think the opera is underrated.

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Great, another Vespri fan. I fail to understand why other people don't fully appreciate the typical Verdian tunefulness of this piece. The libretto may be somewhat rambling and the end anticlimatice, but the music is superb.

N.

Don Fatale said:

There is no piece that encapsulates Verdi's musical palate more than the Vespri Overture.

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That's a bold assertion, however, one that I have to agree with. The work is mid Verdi and may not have the compactness of the "trilogia", but then it is a French grand opera. Perhaps of all Verdi's operas it is the one that most sums up what went before it as well as prefiguring what came after.

N.

Pugg said:

The overture is fine, after that, waiting for hours to come to " Merce, Dilette Amiche"

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Such is the received wisdom, but there are plenty of Verdian 'big melodies' before the fifth act. The ensembles at the ends of acts three and four would not be out of place in any of the other mid period operas. The libretto is too long and sprawling (but without much actually taking place), but the music is wonderful even if uneven.

N.