Run Time: Approx. 9 minutes

Verdi’s opera The Power of Fate (or The Force of Destiny) tells the story of doomed lovers Don Alvaro and Leonora, whose secret and opposed marriage sets off a chain of tragic events. Despite their desperate efforts—Leonora goes so far as to join a monastery and sequester herself in a remote cave —the ill-fated pair cannot escape crossing paths, and every reunion brings disaster. Though deeply in love, they are ultimately not destined to be together, and they are eventually separated by death.

Verdi begins his overture with three great brass chords that leave no doubt about how this story will end. After repeating the chords once more, he immediately introduces his fate theme—a turbulent, churning figure whose cyclical nature feels like a never-ending ride, a carousel with no exit. Presented in pulsing repetitions, the repeated motive rises three times before descending and beginning again. As the energy builds toward another repetition of the powerful brass chords, the orchestra begins to feel like an unstoppable force.

Though Verdi moves through several of the Opera’s major themes throughout the overture–touching on the tender love of the central couple, Leonora’s adoration for her father, and a few colorful battle scenes–the fate theme is never far away. It’s woven throughout the piece in different voices, sometimes strung together into a rhythmic ostinato that underpins the narrative. Omnipresent and unshakable, it haunts every corner of the music, despite its valiant efforts to move on—just as the lovers themselves try, and fail, to outrun their destiny.