I’m listening to Rossini’s ***William Tell Overture ***on WNED online. Not being an opera fan myself, I’m surprised to find that the famous Lone Ranger theme comes a good twelve minutes into the piece.
Does it signal the appearance of the hero, or his shooting the apple off his son’s head? At this point, does he also shoot the evil Austrian governor (Goessler?)?*
What transpires in the scenes leading up to Kemo Sabe’s theme? 
*I remember this from watching Mr Peabody and Sherman. 
Nothing happens; it’s the overture. An overture is not a linear synopsis of the opera.
It must coincide with *something *though. In the opera. An art form of which I obviously know very little.
Doesn’t it? 
Um, it’s the Overture. Nothing happens. The Overture is a piece of music that is played before the curtain rises. And the “Lone Ranger” part comes about 7.5 minutes in.
No, it just sets the mood for what’s to follow. It may contain themes of the opera, but not necessarily. Actually, in the case of William Tell, some performances play the overture at the beginning of the SECOND act, so that late-comers don’t miss out on it.
Do I have to listen to the whole opera to see if it’s in there at all? 
I saw that production live. Anyway, frequently the overture does contain music that appears later in the show, but not always. Sometimes it’s just to set the mood. In this case it’s the latter. To answer terentii, you don’t have to watch it all if you’re willing to take the word of someone who saw it live (or claims to if you’re skeptical).
It’s not “in there”, the way you mean it. But there’s a passage, “Passo di Soldati”, about a half hour into Act 3, that’s similar in that it evokes galloping horses.
So: The one piece of music automatically associated with the opera is not heard in the body of the opera at all. Interesting.
Aha! Does that mean William is coming to save the day?
No, the plot is a lot more complicated than that.
Drat! :mad:
+1
Actually, I don’t know that the Overture by itself was all that famous separate from the opera before it became the theme to The Lone Ranger. For opera buffs, “Ah, Mathilde, je t’aime et je t’adore,” and “Sois Immobile” are more famous. In fact, “Sois Immobile” is one of the greatest non-romantic love songs in opera. It’s the song where William instructs his son to remain still before he shoots at the apple.
There are a lot of great Overtures, and many are more notable than William Tell. Swan Lake and The Barber of Seville (also Rossini) have very famous Overtures.
FWIW, I like opera, but I don’t consider myself a “buff.” I dated a particularly obsessive one once, though.
I’m a big Rossini fan, and his overtures are mainly show cases for his beautiful melodies, which are famous for his crescendos. That is, musical phrases which are repeated, softly at first, then louder and louder until the crashing finale. It has a very thrilling and soaring effect on the ear, and as others here have said, it doesn’t necessarily evoke the opera itself.
Rossini also loved writing storm music. The William Tell Overture has a storm, and the afterglow of it just before the Lone Ranger part breaks out. In fact, I find that the Lone Ranger bit stomps on the coattails of the afterglow. The trumpets break out before the woodwind tones have even died away. Maybe it’s supposed to be like that, but it still pisses me off. :mad:
A storm also shows up in The Barber of Seville for no reason at all except Rossini loved storms in his music.
I love Rossini’s story. No tormented artist, he. Once he got tired of creating beautiful tunes, he quit. He spent the rest of his life happily chowing down on rich food and providing stud service for women.
The four sections of the overture are usually described as:
There’s a synopsis of the plot on the Wiki page for the Opera, if you’re interested:
My kind of dude! 
I love classical music, and the overture to Tannhäuser gives me chills. I just have never gotten into opera because I don’t enjoy having to sit for three hours listening to people sing in languages I don’t understand.
I think I’ve been to five operas in my life; one because it was part of my tour group’s itinerary, and four because the girl I was dating wanted to go. In all cases, I couldn’t follow the story even with the synopsis printed in my program.
At the Bolshoi, they have a screen mounted above the stage that scrolls the dialogue/lyrics (in Russian) in fair coincidence with what’s happening on stage. Unfortunately, the angular separation is so great it’s impossible to follow both at the same time.
I saw Joan of Arc at the Kremlin’s Palace of Congresses way back in 1975. The one thing I remember vividly is when the English, all dressed in Church garb, came marching out to burn her at the stake.
With few exceptions, I don’t care much for the musical theatre in general, since I think it’s silly for all those perfect strangers to be singing and dancing in perfect harmony at the drop of a hat. I’ve always wanted to interrupt them and ask “How come you guys all know the words?”
Strongest possible recommendation for “The Abduction of Figaro.” A lot of musical education there…and a few hearty laughs.
Or Anna Russell.