'This book is an important contribution to scholarship in its field. It combines an enviable command of the relevant musical sources and of developing social settings for overtures in the nineteenth century, painting a very broad picture of influence across musical Europe throughout an extended time period that is convincingly drawn and firmly located in up-to-date scholarship that has been perused with rigour. Balanced with this is an eye for analytical minutiae and an ability to establish musical procedures carefully and accurately. That the author manages this balancing act in English prose that is actually enjoyable to read is a testimony to his powers of communication.' John Irving, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
Introduction; 1. Making overtures; 2. Form as formula; 3. Potpourri overtures; 4. Beginning before the beginning; 5. Strong subordinate themes; 6. Open-ended expositions; 7. Recomposed recapitulations.