Path 26
Famous overtures
Twelve overtures from Mozart's Figaro to Bernstein's Candide, each a complete piece in a few minutes.
Mozart → Beethoven → Rossini → Weber → Mendelssohn → Wagner → Berlioz → Offenbach → Brahms → Tchaikovsky → Bernstein
William Tell Overture
This guide follows Rossini’s William Tell Overture (1829) in one part.
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Follow all 20 sections as they play, free for 3 days
0:02–11:29
Four connected scenes. Dawn is for five cellos over double basses. The Storm breaks out in E minor for the full orchestra and fades to a flute. The Ranz des vaches, in G major, is the calm after the storm: the cor anglais leads, alternating with the flute, and ends in a duet with the triangle. The opens with trumpets and runs as an E major galop, its themes stated in repeated pairs (A, B), with A returning, and finally the .
- I. Prelude / Dawn
- II. Storm
Section boundaries in music are not always sharp; a transition may be felt over a pause or a held chord.
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