Description
Franz Schubert
arr. Lawrence Dale Harper
Overture in the Italian Style, D.591
for wind ensemble
Instrumentation: 2 Fl., 2 Ob., 2 Cl., 2 Hn., 2 Bsn., Double Bass
Year: 1817
Duration: 7 minutes
Level 5
Score preview
Schubert’s Overture in the Italian Style, D.591 was one of two overtures with this title which the composer wrote in the year 1817. These were both free-standing overtures, unrelated to any opera or ballet. This of course was somewhat unusual at the time but came about as a way of capitalizing on the huge success that Rossini had enjoyed in this period when his opera music was sweeping through Europe. Although the slow introduction certainly shows the influence of Haydn, the Allegro itself is a wonderful homage to Rossini’s lyricism and his techniques of building long crescendos through repetition and sequence.
