Verdi, G :: La Forza del Destino Ouverture [The Power of Destiny Overture]

The opera La forza del destino (The Power of Destiny) by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) was finished in 1862. A work of the composer's late period, it represents a transitional stage in Verdi's stylistic development, combining traditional elements with portents of the future.

Motivated by a commission from the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg - and probably also by the urge to write a truly successful opera - Verdi applied all the expressive means at his disposal. The result is a work rich in contrasts. Tragedy and comedy, grand outbursts of passion, multicolored tableaux, merry camp scenes: all unite with the gloomy plot to produce a work of enormous explosive force. The same range and variety are found in compressed form in the overture. This arrangement for woodwind quintet is particularly well suited for bringing out the thick romanticism of Verdi s music.