Work type: Overture

Tchaikovsky’s score is an account of events that transpired during Napoleon’s invasion and the Battle of Borodino in 1812, which Russia lost to the French emperor. Tchaikovsky employs a combination of pastoral and martial themes, with the French National Anthem being heard more prominently as French forces approach and it seems the French are invincible … Read more

My sister is going to see The Barber of Seville this summer and I said she must research the story and background of the opera before going as it makes it so much more enjoyable. It is therefore ironic that only 4 weeks before I play the overture with the BHSO tonight, I am doing … Read more

Cosi fan tutte (1790) is the third in the great trilogy of operas composed by Mozart with Lorenzo da Ponte as his librettist. The other two are The Marriage of Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787). All three are comedies (opera buffa) with Cosi being the most light-hearted. The title, which is almost impossible to … Read more

Tchaikovsky wrote this piece in October and November 1869, when aged 28 and a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. It is formally a symphonic poem in sonata form (exposition; development; recapitulation). Tchaikovsky was deeply inspired by Shakespeare’s plays but it was Mily Balakirev, one of “The Five” Russian composers (the others being Cui, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov … Read more

Pure genius! The Marriage of Figaro Overture was written by Mozart just hours before the opera’s first performance in Vienna on 1st May 1786, and yet it is an obvious masterpiece of composition that remains as popular today as it was then. Frantic in style, the overture most unusually does not quote any themes from … Read more

Guiseppe Verdi was born in Leroncole in Italy on October 9th, 1813 and died in Milan, Italy on January 27th, 1901. He completed La Forza del Destino in 1861. The Overture runs for approximately 8 minutes and is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, … Read more

Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg in 1833. Under the influence of his musical father, he became a proficient pianist and helped with the family income by playing in various bars and restaurants. He also started composing from an early age, eventually making his living as a conductor and teacher in Vienna. He composed many … Read more

Im Herbst (In Autumn), is a concert overture written by Edvard Grieg in 1865. Edvard Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway in June 1843 and died in September 1907. His mother was his first piano teacher and taught him to play from the age of 6. In the summer of 1858, Grieg met the eminent … Read more