Dictionary of Music - Birding America

ovvero 295Scarlatti. This form, which came to be called Italianoverture, consisted of three sections, fast–slow–fast.Whereas the French overture was largely abandonedabout 1750, the Italian overture, often called sinfonia,eventually developed into the classical SYMPHONY.The overtures of the classical period (1785–1820;Haydn and Mozart) tended to be in one movement,often in SONATA FORM. They generally includedsome material from the opera or play they introduced,usually in the form of melodies. Later, duringthe romantic period, overtures generally helped setthe mood for the plot of the play or opera. Anothernineteenth-century development was the CONCERTOVERTURE, an independent piece. Wagner, when heturned from opera to music drama (c. 1850; see WAG-NER, RICHARD), rejected the conventional overture infavor of a much shorter prelude, which led directlyinto the first scene of the opera.ovvero (ô ver′ô).See under OSSIA.