Gioachino Rossini’s William Tell Overture
E677576
Gioachino Rossini’s William Tell Overture is a famous orchestral piece best known for its rousing finale, widely used in popular culture as musical shorthand for high-speed chases and heroic action.
Observed surface forms (1)
| Surface form | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| William Tell Overture | 0 |
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf | concert overture ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Guillaume Tell Overture
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Overture to William Tell NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| associatedWork | opera William Tell by Gioachino Rossini NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| basedOn | Friedrich Schiller’s play William Tell NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| composer | Gioachino Rossini NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | France ⓘ |
| culturalUse |
musical shorthand for heroic action
ⓘ
musical shorthand for high-speed chases ⓘ |
| featuresInstrument |
brass
ⓘ
solo cello ⓘ strings ⓘ timpani ⓘ woodwinds ⓘ |
| firstPerformanceContext | premiere of the opera William Tell in Paris ⓘ |
| follows | Italian overture tradition ⓘ |
| genre | classical music ⓘ |
| hasFamousExcerpt | Finale (March of the Swiss Soldiers) NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasPart |
Dawn (first section)
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Finale (March of the Swiss Soldiers) NERFINISHED ⓘ Ranz des Vaches (third section) ⓘ Storm (second section) ⓘ |
| influenced | use of classical music in film chase scenes ⓘ |
| key | E major (finale) ⓘ |
| language | instrumental ⓘ |
| movementCount | 4 ⓘ |
| narrativeTheme | Swiss struggle for independence ⓘ |
| notableUseInMedia | theme for The Lone Ranger radio and television series ⓘ |
| orchestration | full symphony orchestra ⓘ |
| originalMedium | opera house orchestra performance ⓘ |
| partOf | opera William Tell NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| period | Romantic era ⓘ |
| premiereDate | 1829 ⓘ |
| publisher | Troupenas (early French publisher of the opera) NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| recordingAvailability | widely recorded by major symphony orchestras ⓘ |
| sectionFunction |
Dawn section depicts sunrise in the Swiss Alps
ⓘ
Finale section depicts heroic cavalry charge ⓘ Ranz des Vaches section evokes Swiss pastoral life NERFINISHED ⓘ Storm section depicts a violent thunderstorm ⓘ |
| styleCharacteristic |
brilliant orchestration
ⓘ
dramatic contrasts ⓘ heroic martial character in finale ⓘ programmatic depiction of nature ⓘ |
| tempoCharacteristic | very fast in the finale ⓘ |
| typicalDuration | approximately 12 minutes ⓘ |
| usesMusicalForm | through-composed multi-section structure ⓘ |
| workTitleInItalian | Guglielmo Tell: Sinfonia NERFINISHED ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.