Overture

Overture (French ouverture, lit. "opening"; German Ouvertüre, Vorspiel, i.e., "prelude", lit. "play before") in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn began to use the term to refer to independent, self-existing instrumental, programmatic works that presaged genres such as the symphonic poem. These were "at first undoubtedly intended to be played at the head of a programme".

History

17th century

The idea of an instrumental opening to opera existed during the 17th century. Peri's Euridice opens with a brief instrumental ritornello, and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (1607) opens with a toccata, in this case a fanfare for muted trumpets. More important, however, was the prologue, which comprised sung dialogue between allegorical characters which introduced the overarching themes of the stories depicted.

French overture

Ode

Ode (from Ancient Greek: ᾠδή ōidē) is a type of lyrical stanza. A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist. It is an elaborately structured poem praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally.

Greek odes were originally poetic pieces performed with musical accompaniment. As time passed on, they gradually became known as personal lyrical compositions whether sung (with or without musical instruments) or merely recited (always with accompaniment). The primary instruments used were the aulos and the lyre (the latter was the most revered instrument to the Ancient Greeks).

There are three typical forms of odes: the Pindaric, Horatian, and irregular. Pindaric odes follow the form and style of Pindar. Horatian odes follow conventions of Horace; the odes of Horace deliberately imitated the Greek lyricists such as Alcaeus and Anacreon. Irregular odes use rhyme, but not the three-part form of the Pindaric ode, nor the two- or four-line stanza of the Horatian ode.

The Red Flag

"The Red Flag" is a song associated with left-wing politics, in particular with socialism. It is the semi-official anthem of the British Labour Party, and the official anthem of the Northern Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party and Irish Labour Party. The song is traditionally sung at the close of each party's national conference.

History

Irishman Jim Connell wrote the song's lyrics in 1889 in Nicholas Donovan's house. There are six stanzas, each followed by the chorus. It is normally sung to the tune of "Lauriger Horatius", better known as the German carol "O Tannenbaum" ("O Christmas Tree"), though Connell had wanted it sung to the tune of a pro-Jacobite Robert Burns anthem, "The White Cockade". The lyrics of the first verse and the chorus, which are the most well-known parts of the song, are as follows:

"The Red Flag" resonated with the early radical workers’ movement in the United States, and it appeared as the first song in the first edition of the Little Red Songbook of the Industrial Workers of the World in 1909. Only five of the six stanzas were printed, omitting the fourth stanza that begins, "It well recalls the triumphs past."

Red flag

Red flag may refer to:

Politics

Law

Military

Entertainment

Red

Red is the color at the end of the spectrum of visible light next to orange and opposite violet. Red color has a predominant light wavelength of roughly 620–740 nanometres. Red is one of the additive primary colors of visible light, along with green and blue, which in Red Green Blue (RGB) color systems are combined to create all the colors on a computer monitor or television screen. Red is also one of the subtractive primary colors, along with yellow and blue, of the RYB color space and traditional color wheel used by painters and artists.

Reds can vary in shade from very light pink to very dark maroon or burgundy; and in hue from the bright orange-red scarlet or vermilion to the bluish-red crimson.

Red was widely used in prehistoric cave art, made with red hematite or iron oxide, or red ochre. Early civilizations in China, the Middle East and Europe made red dyes from the madder plant or from a tiny insect called Kermes vermilio. Civilizations in the Americas made brilliant reds from another scale insect, the cochineal; ancient Chinese artists during the Han Dynasty used dye from the madder plant to color silk and pigments from lead oxide to color pottery.