Opening thoughts

Let’s start at the beginning. Or, at least, what used to be the beginning. As someone who has been attending orchestral concerts for a very long time, I’ve noticed that over the decades we have witnessed the decline of the overture to a point where it’s relatively unusual to find a concert that starts with one. What has happened?

It was once very different. I’m looking at a programme for A Grand Miscellaneous Selection of Music conducted by Henry Bishop at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on 4 April 1832. The substantial order of service was in three parts, each commencing with an overture: Weber’s Der Freischütz; Spontini’s Grand Overture to ; and Rossini’s Grand Overture to . Move on 26 years, to the Hallé Orchestra’s first concert under its founder conductor Charles Hallé, at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall on 30 January 1858: it, too, opened with , but also included Auber’s and Rossini’s .