Giacchino Rossini - William Tell: Overture

"This, Rossini’s final opera overture is music that tells a story- a kind of early 19th century movie soundtrack. The final section, which follows a big storm with huge winds and pelting rain and then a return to sunshine and bird song, is a hunt, with men on horseback chasing a stag. This galloping music became known in American culture as the theme for “The Lone Ranger.”

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Claude Debussy – Afternoon of a Faun 

It is a sunny warm afternoon and a faun, a mythical creature that is half man and half goat, has just awoken from a nap.  The music describes his yawns and lazy stretches, as the faun surveys the dappled light in the forest surrounding him. Debussy perfectly captures this languid mood with sensual music that floats through the orchestra- It’s as if we are floating in a dream.

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Franz Liszt – Les préludes    

"This music also tells a story, which Liszt writes about  at the beginning of the score. “What else is our life but a series of preludes to that unknown Hymn, the first and solemn note of which is intoned by Death?”  This noble, thrilling music describes the procession of events that populate an heroic life – John Williams couldn’t do it better!" 

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Peter Tchaikovsky – Capriccio Italian

"This music is a souvenir of Tchaikovsky's month long stay in Florence, Italy.  His hotel was near an army barracks, so he begins this piece with a grand military fanfare, followed by a melancholy folk song, a street dance and a tarantella.  This Italian inspired work gets faster and faster and ends in a burst of symphonic fireworks.  Tchaikovsky obviously had a great time in Florence! "

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Wolfgang Mozart – The Magic Flute: Overture

"The story of The Magic Flute takes place in a fairytale kingdom, populated by princes, dragons and evil queens.  The overture sets up the atmosphere of fantasy and magic beautifully – the opening three chords seem to cast a spell and bring forth music of great nobility, which is followed by fast, twinkling music which scampers across our ears like a forest elf."

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Ludwig van Beethoven – Egmont: Overture

"This magnificent overture is based on the life and heroism of 16th-century nobleman, the Count of Egmont who lost his life in a battle against foreign occupation. The overture begins with a profound expression of grief for this loss and ends with a thrilling Victory symphony-- for through his sacrifice, has inspired the people to rise up and defeat the occupying army."

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Felix Mendelssohn, Hebrides Overture

(Fingal’s Cave)          

"Hebrides Overture was inspired by an 1829 excursion to the British Isles, specifically Fingal’s Cave. The overture's opening is a perfect evocation of the dark, swirling waters at the caves mouth, and half way through you can feel the pelting rain and howling wind in that wild, savage landscape."

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Manuel de Falla – Danse Espagnole     

"Danse Espagnole is from a one act opera entitled La vida breve (The Brief Life.) Though the opera is seldom done today, the Danse Espagnole is performed very often, both in its orchestral garb and as a dazzling show piece for solo violin and piano. A raft of castanets, tambourines and brilliant orchestral color give life to this infectious and delightful Spanish waltz."

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Betrich Smetana - The Moldau 

"This tone poem describes the course of the river Moldau, starting from the two small springs, one warm (clarinets) and the other icy cold (flutes): these springs come together and the Moldau is born. The River courses through woods and meadows, through landscapes where a farmer's wedding is celebrated, the round dance of the mermaids in the night's moonshine: on the nearby rocks loom proud castles, palaces and ruins aloft. It swirls into the St John’s rapids, and then majestically vanishes into the sea."

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Leonard Bernstein- Overture to Candide

"This frothy curtain raiser was inspired by the operettas of Johann Strauss Jr. and Jacques Offenbach, and it bounces and breezes through the tunes heard later in the Bernstein’s witty musical.  The inspiration for this delightful piece of theatre is the 18th century’s satirist and philosopher Voltaire’s  novella of the same name. It is a satirical look at “this best of all possible worlds” (to quote Voltaire) through the rose-colored glasses of 1950’s America."

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Richard Wagner – Ride of the Valkyries

"This excerpt is from The Valkyrie, the 2nd opera in The Ring of the Nibelung.  It has graced movies like Apocalypse Now and become part of the fabric of American culture. As a prelude to the opera’s third act, it builds up successive layers of orchestral accompaniment until the curtain rises to reveal a mountain peak where 4 of the 8 Valkyrie sisters of Brünhilda have gathered in preparation for the transportation of fallen heroes to Valhalla.  As they are joined by the other 4, the vaulting ‘flying’ tune is carried by the orchestra, while, above it, the Valkyries, mounted on winged horses, greet each other and sing their battle-cry."

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Johannes Brahms - Academic Festival Overture, op.80

"Brahms composed this as a tribute to the University of Breslau, which had just awarded him an honorary degree of doctor of music.  Brahms, who was known as an ironic jokester, filled the overture with student drinking songs – a boozy tribute to university life. The overture’s orchestration is bigger and more colorful than any of his symphonies, and includes a grumbly contra bassoon, a piping piccolo and a raft of colorful percussion, all of which is brought to bear in the overture’s triumphant finale, a setting of the granddad of all student songs, Gaudeamus igitur."

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