An opera overture today, by Carl Maria von Weber. The opera Der Freischutz has such a quintessential German plot, involving shooting contests and magic bullets and the sale of one's soul to the Devil and haunted forest glens and hunters' choruses and, well, just about everything you'd expect from a German opera without getting into the whole Teutonic Gods thing. It's actually one of my favorite operas, full of lyric beauty and German legend. It appeals to em especially right now by virtue of its forest settings, and right now the novel I'm working on is in an extended portion set within a great forest. The overture itself is a masterpiece that stands well on its own, but as an overture it's especially effective, establishing the sound world and drawing us into a world of nature and beauty and also darkness.
Enjoy!
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