Overture to an Overture
Grab your hankies. In this week’s On the Music: The New York Philharmonic Podcast, host Mark Travis reveals the tragic story behind Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture: to avenge his banishment from Rome after long and valiant service, the general Coriolan leads an opposing army against his native city. When his mother, wife, and son plead with him to relent, the tortured general places his fate in the hands of the Roman mob, effectively choosing suicide
Operatic, no? In fact, Wagner was convinced that Beethoven intended the Coriolan Overture to be a self-portrait. Decide for yourself as the Philharmonic performs this powerful work June 14-16.
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