Overture

The overture is the orchestral introduction to an opera, ballet, or stage work, and a concert form in its own right: a compact single movement that previews an opera's themes or stands alone as a dramatic curtain-raiser. From the French and Italian forms of the Baroque to the Rossini overtures whose crescendo became a signature device, and on to concert overtures by Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky, the form condenses theatrical energy into ten minutes of pure orchestral rhetoric. Recorded collections, above all the Rossini albums of conductors such as *Fritz Reiner* and the *Orpheus Chamber Orchestra*, made the overture album a hi-fi staple.