Overture in C, "In Memoriam"

In late 1864, Sullivan received commissions to write overtures for the Philharmonic Society of London and the Norwich Festival. The first was to be based on Sir Walter Scott's poem Marmion, but the second had no theme assigned. Inspiration for the Norwich Festival commission came with the sudden death of Sullivan's father in September, 1866. Sullivan turned his grief to the completion of this overture. The overture enjoyed considerable popularity in the composer's own lifetime, but it was rarely heard in the 20th century. Outside of Britain, performances were conducted by the composer in Leipzig, Germany, with the Gewandhaus Orchestra (1867); by Jules Pasdeloup in Paris, with the Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire (1879); and Theodore Thomas in Chicago, Illinois, with the Theodore Thomas Orchestra (1886). Only two recordings were made before 1992. Since then the piece has been recorded several more times. ==Structure==

The composition is structured as a single multi-tempo movement marked Andante religioso - Allegro molto and lasts around eleven to twelve minutes in performance. The critic Andrew Lamb writes that, although the composer described the overture as an outpouring of grief, The piece's dark, slow texture has its main theme in the major key, as seen here in its first appearance in Myles B. Foster's piano reduction: This theme reaches its final, grandest restatement in the last section of the overture. The musical scholar Arthur Jacobs comments that the slow hymn-like tune, with its repetition of the single note, "traps Sullivan into banality". ==See also==