William Tell Overture

William Tell Overture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The overture to the opera William Tell, especially its high-energy finale, is a very familiar work composed by Gioachino Rossini. There has been repeated use (and sometimes parody) of this overture in the popular media, most famously for being the theme music for the Lone Ranger radio and television shows, and it is quoted by Dmitri Shostakovich in his Symphony No. 15. William Tell was the last of Rossini's 39 operas, after which he went into semi-retirement, although he continued to compose cantatas, sacred music, and secular vocal music.

The William Tell Overture is often associated with certain competitive sports, such as horse racing.

The overture is written in four parts, each segueing into the next:

• Prelude - a slow passage with low-pitch instruments such as cello and bass
• Storm - dynamic section played by full orchestra
• Ranz des Vaches (call to the dairy cows) - featuring the English horn (this music is often used in animated cartoons to signify daybreak)
• Finale - ultra-dynamic "cavalry charge" galop heralded by trumpets and played by full orchestra. (This is the Lone Ranger theme, which gave rise to the joke: Q. Where does the Lone Ranger take his garbage? A. To the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump!)

Franz Liszt prepared a piano transcription of the overture in 1838 (S.552).

[edit] Media

William Tell Overture

Cesare Sodero's band performs part 2 (Ranz des vaches) of the overture in 1914.

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Finale MIDI located here

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/v/FjMWOzeuRiw&hl=ko&fs=1&

 

William_Tell_Overture.mid

 

William_Tell_Overture.mid

0.03MB