Coriolan Overture

The Coriolanus Overture (German: Ouvertüre Coriolan, Op. 62) is a composition written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1807 to Heinrich Joseph von Collin's 1804 tragedy.^[1]

The structure and themes of the overture follow the play very generally. The main C minor theme represents Coriolanus' resolve and war-like tendencies (he is about to invade Rome), while the more tender E-flat major theme represents the pleadings of his mother to desist. Coriolan eventually gives in to tenderness, but since he cannot turn back having led an army of his former enemies to Rome's gates, he kills himself. It was premiered in March of 1807 at a private concert of the home of Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz. The Symphony No. 4 in B flat and the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G were premiered in that same concert.^[2]

Recordings

Two of the most highly regarded recordings are of Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker (1943)^[3] and Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1959. Sir Roger Norrington has created a notable period performance version with his recording of the overture with the London Classical Players.

Other notable recordings include those by Herbert von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic^[4], Karl Böhm with the Vienna Philharmonic, Carlos Kleiber conducting the Bavarian State Orchestra and Bruno Walter conducting the Columbia Symphony. The work was a staple of Arturo Toscanini's repertoire, and six recordings under Toscanini's baton are extant as well as one recording of rehearsal excerpts.

References

• Joseph Kerman/Alan Tyson, "Ludwig van Beethoven", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed 21 August 2007), (subscription access)

Notes

1. ^ Joseph Kerman/Alan Tyson, Grove online
2. ^ Steinberg, Michael. "The Symphony: a listeners guide". p. 19-24. Oxford University Press, 1995.
3. ^ Furtwängler conducts Beethoven: Album site from MusicandArts.com
4. ^ Album microsite from Deutschegrammophon.com

External links

• Coriolan Overture: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project. (includes original manuscript)

This article about a classical composition is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven Overtures 1807 compositions Classical composition stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР? Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre Ayumi Hamasaki Countdown Live 2005-2006 A Look at other dictionaries: Coriolan — The legendary figure Gaius Marcius Coriolanus is sometimes known as Coriolan. Coriolanus, a seventeenth century tragedy by William Shakespeare. Coriolan, 1952 5, Adaptation of Shakespeare s play by Bertolt Brecht The Coriolan Overture by… …   Wikipedia Coriolan (Beethoven) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Coriolan. Veturia aux pieds de Coriolan, tableau de Gaspare Landi (1756 1830) Coriolan, opus 62, de Ludwig van Beethoven, est une ouve …   Wikipédia en Français Coriolan-Ouvertüre — Ludwig van Beethoven schrieb 1807 seine Ouvertüre zu „Coriolan“ (op. 62) als Schauspielouvertüre zu Heinrich Joseph von Collins gleichnamigem Drama. Der Coriolan Stoff taucht zum ersten Mal bei Titus Livius in Ab urbe condita auf. Ouvertüre zu… …   Deutsch Wikipedia List of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven — The musical works of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) are listed below. Two overlapping lists of Beethoven s works are presented here. The first is a listing of his most well known works classified by genre. The second is a larger list of works,… …   Wikipedia Charles Munch discography — Alsatian conductor Charles Munch was one of the most widely recorded symphonic conductors of the twentieth century. Here is a partial list of his recordings. See main article: Charles Munch (conductor) for the conductor s biography. Contents 1… …   Wikipedia Charles Münch discography — Alsatian conductor Charles Munch was one of the most widely recorded symphonic conductors of the twentieth century. Here is a partial list of his recordings.See main article: Charles Münch for the conductor s biography.Partial List of Sound… …   Wikipedia Gaius Marcius Coriolanus — Veturia at the Feet of Coriolanus by Gaspare Landi (Photo courtesy The VRoma Project) Gaius Marcius Coriolanus is a Roman general who is said to have lived in the 5th century BC. He received his toponymic cognomen Coriolanus because of his… …   Wikipedia List of program music — Program music is a term usually applied to orchestral music in the classical music tradition in which the piece is designed according to some preconceived narrative, or is designed to evoke a specific concrete idea. This is distinct from the more …   Wikipedia Carlos Kleiber — (July 3, 1930 July 13, 2004) was an Austrian Argentine conductor.Early careerKleiber was born Karl Ludwig Kleiber in Berlin, the son of the Austrian conductor Erich Kleiber and Ruth Goodrich, an American. [cite news | author=Harvey Sachs |… …   Wikipedia Erich Leinsdorf — (Erich Landauer) (February 4, 1912 ndash; September 11, 1993) was an Austrian born American conductor.cite book | last=Slonimsky | first=N. | edition=8th edition | pages=p. 559| title=The Concise Baker s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians |… …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”