Editing Overture (section)

== 19th-century opera ==
In 19th-century opera the overture, ''Vorspiel'', ''Einleitung,'' Introduction, or whatever else it may be called, is generally nothing more definite than that portion of the music which takes place before the curtain rises. [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''Vorspiel'' to ''[[Lohengrin (opera)|Lohengrin]]'' is a short self-contained movement founded on the music of the Grail.{{sfn|Tovey|1911|p=385}}

In Italian opera after about 1800, the "overture" became known as the ''sinfonia''.<ref name="auto">{{harvnb|Fisher|1998}}</ref> Fisher also notes the term ''Sinfonia avanti l'opera'' (literally, the "symphony before the opera") was "an early term for a sinfonia used to begin an opera, that is, as an overture as opposed to one serving to begin a later section of the work".<ref name="auto"/>