Overture

An overture is an orchestral piece that opens a larger work — typically an opera, but also oratorios and ballets — played before the curtain rises or the action begins. Its job is partly practical (settling the audience, signaling the evening is starting) and partly musical: many overtures preview melodic material that will return later in the work, giving the audience a taste of what's ahead.

Over time, composers also began writing concert overtures: standalone orchestral works in the same single-movement, curtain-raiser style, but not attached to any opera at all — Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture is the most famous example, written to commemorate a historical event rather than to open a stage work.

Where to start listening: Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture is a spectacular, self-contained entry point; Rossini's overture to The Barber of Seville shows the form's lighter, wittier side.