Soirees Musicales , based on music of Rossini Based on material of Rossini conceived for the piano, Britten has arranged a wiry score, retaining Rossini's harmonies even when they amounted to no more than two parts, achieving an even cleaner sonority than the Italian opera orchestra through selective instrumentation. His Peter Grimes revitalized British opera, but his Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and other works for children, either as listeners or performers, are most memorable to the public. The famous overture is a veritable tone poem, beginning with a description of a Swiss dawn. A mountain storm gathers to the sounds of distant thunder, finally erupting in its full fury. With its passing, the skies clear and raindrops fall from the branches.
Birds sing their songs in the fresh air of a mountain meadow.
This pastoral scene is interrupted by the trumpet fanfare to a vigorous march. The finale is readily recognized by fans of The Lone Ranger . William Tell was a legendary hero of Switzerland. His story, though not verified by history, represents the spirit of the Swiss movement for independence from the Austrian Hapsburgs in the 1300's. The Austrian governor, Gessler, had ordered all Swiss to bow to a hat he had set up on a pole in the main square of Altdorf.