OVERTURE (OF. orerture, Fr. ourerture, opening, from OF. overt, Fr. °avert, open, from OF. eerie, Fr. to open, from OF. aorrir, ancrir, to open. front Lat. ad, to 4- deoperire, to open, from off + operirc, to cover, from ob. before 4- •rerirc, to open ; connected with Lith. rerti. OChureh Slav, !Teti, Skt. var, to open, Oscan rail, gate; the OF. ovrir may, however, be a variant of a rrir, to open, from Lat. aperirc, to open). In a general sense, an intro duction, especially to an opera. The first operas had no overtures. They either began directly with the action or were preceded by a prologue Which was sung. With the development of in struments it became customary to open an oper atic performance with an instrumental prelude. These introductions, however, were nothing more than arrangements of popular madrigals for in struments. The oldest form of the overture origi nated in France, and here we can distinctly see the influence of the vocal style. Lully (1633 871 established this. Alessandro Searlatti 11659-1725) began with an Allegro, which was followed by a Grace and ended with another .11 /rgro or Presto. This form is known as the Italian overture. At that time, however. it was simply designated as Sinfonia. Such Sinfonie
were soon used for concert performances, and composers began to write instrumental Sinfonie. It was but a step to the separation of the three parts into as many distinct movements. Hence the modern S y in phony (q.v .) . The modern over ture may be divided into three distinct classes. (1) The concert orerture, a Nvork in sonata font]. But there is no repetition of the first, or exposition section. To this class belong the overtures of Beethoven. such as Egmont, Corio/anus. (2) The opera overture, consisting of a combination of various (generally the most melodious) themes from the opera. This was chiefly cultivated by Rossini, but with a more serious and artistic purpose by Weber. (3) An overture built upon themes from the opera, but with the definite purpose of giving a of the action. The most famous example of this kind of overt tire: is that to Tannknuser, in which Wagner makes use of two principal themes, the chorus of the elder Pilgrims and the Venus musie. In this third class of overtures we may also place the preludes of Wagner's later dramas, which they lead directly, without a close, into the first act. See LEITMOTIV ; PRELUDE,