1. William Tell Overture Junior Certificate Music Set A

2. William Tell – Swiss Legend

3. Composer Gioacchino Rossini (1792 – 1868) Italian (musical family) Singer and Harpsichord Player Romantic Period Composed in 1829

4. Overture to an Opera Rossini wrote 32 Operas ‘William Tell’ is the last of his operas An Overture is: An introduction to a larger work intended to settle the audience This overture contains NONE of the melodies heard in the opera

5. Programme Music Programme music describes a scene or tells a story Also called illustrative music Very popular in the Romantic Period Examples of Programme Music The Flight of the Bumble Bee The Flight of the Bumble Bee (Rimsky Korsakov) ‘Autumn’ from The Four Seasons ‘Autumn’ from The Four Seasons (Vivaldi) Pacific 231 Pacific 231 (Honneger) The Swan The Swan (Saint-Saëns) The Typewriter The Typewriter (Leroy Anderson) The William Tell Overture describes in sound, four different parts of the story

6. Romantic Period Composers: Beethoven was the first Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Brahms, Verdi, Schumann, Berlioz, Bruckner, Grieg, Dvořák, Chopin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Smetana, Elgar After the Classical Period Large Orchestra (brass valves invented) Piano (metal frame) Lots of Programme Music Nationalism (a reaction against German influence) Very expressive music (rich harmony, passionate melodies) Composers were freelance (no patrons) Composers very interested in literature and art Given this freedom composers ‘broke the rules’

7. The Story William Tell – 14th Century Swiss Legend Helped to free his country from Austrian rule Refused to obey Gessler (Austrian Governer of Switzerland) Ordered to place an apple on his son’s head and shoot it off Sentenced to prison but escaped during a storm Shot Gessler through the heart Led a revolt against the Austrians

8. Performance A: Sunrise in the Alps B: The Storm

9. Performance C: Shepherd on the Mountainside D: The Revolution