Online Music Library

Schubert – Overture in the Italian Style in C major D591

Notes:

The parts for this overture have been made from a “cut and paste” of the score. Each line is therefore locked into the length of the lines of the score. We have produced 2 versions of the parts:

  • the first is the usual portrait orientation, but some people will find the notes very small to read
  • the second version is a landscape orientation with the notes enlarged.

Please print the version that best suits you.

If you have difficulty downloading or printing the parts please let us know: icorchestra@gmail.com

 

Strings

Violin 1; Violin 1 landscape

Violin 2; Violin 2 landscape

Viola; Viola landscape

Cello/Bass; Cello/Bass landscape

Woodwind

Flute; Flute landscape

Oboe; Oboe landscape

Clarinet 1 in Bb; Clarinet 2 in Bb

Bassoon

Brass

Horn in C; Horn in C landscape

Trumpet

Percussion/Conductor

Timpani; Timpani landscape

Full Score

Youtube/MP3:

Youtube link

 

Program Notes:

Schubert Overture in Italian style in C Major

Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) is one of the best-loved and most important composers of the nineteenth century, his music consistently marked by a remarkable melodic gift, rich harmonies, and an expansive treatment of traditional forms.  During his short but extremely prolific career, he composed nine symphonies, dozens of chamber and solo piano works, and a host of operas and liturgical works.  His songs, numbering over 600, virtually created the genre of the art song.  He started composing in his teens, and some early works came to the notice of Antonio Salieri, who worked with the young composer on composition and music theory.

Schubert was among the many Gioacchino Rossini enthusiasts, and in 1817, he set aside the Symphony No. 6 that he was then working on to compose a pair of Overtures that evoke the world of Rossini. While the title they have since acquired, “in the Italian Style,” didn’t come from Schubert himself, the appellation is more than appropriate.

The Overture in C major is probably the more popular of the two, possibly because it was published many years before the other in D major.  It begins with a gently portentous slow introduction that leads into a duet for clarinet and bassoon. The strings then take up the tune.  After a brief pause, the tempo increases with a jolly melody with dotted rhythms that certainly calls Rossini to mind. Another theme is introduced by the flute and oboe before the eruption of one of those famous slow-building, repetitive “Rossini crescendos.”  A repeat of this music leads into another increase in tempo for the Overture’s exciting final moments.

Program notes by Chris Morrison – https://renochamberorchestra.org/program-notes-february-2019/