Coriolan Overture

The structure, in sonata form, and themes of the overture follow the play only generally - "the work remains remarkably self-contained, musically and formally".^[3] The main C minor theme ('Allegro con brio') represents Coriolanus' resolve and war-like tendencies (he is about to invade Rome), while the more tender E-flat major theme represents the pleadings of his mother to desist. Coriolanus eventually gives in to tenderness, but since he cannot turn back having led an army of his former enemies, the Volsci, to Rome's gates, he kills himself. (This differs from the better-known play Coriolanus by William Shakespeare, in which he is murdered. Both Shakespeare's and Collin's plays are about the same semi-legendary figure, whose actual fate was not recorded.)

Winton Dean identified Méhul's overture to his opera Mélidore et Phrosine (1794) as a precursor in terms of its "stormy D minor allegro with a distinct anticipation of Coriolan".^[4] One of Wagner's longest 'programmatic elucidations' of musical works in 1852–54 is that for Beethoven's Coriolan Overture.^[5]

The Coriolan Overture is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B♭, two bassoons, two horns in E♭, two trumpets in C, timpani, and strings.^[6]

The overture has been recorded many times. Early recordings include the Berlin State Opera Orchestra and Bruno Walter in 1923,^[7] the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra and Willem Mengelberg in 1926,^[8] and the Berlin State Opera Orchestra again, with Otto Klemperer in 1927.^[9] For a Diapason survey in 2015, after comparisons Rémy Louis chose the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1943, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner in 1959.^[10] Period performances include the London Classical Players under Roger Norrington and Academy of Ancient Music with Christopher Hogwood.