The lively, sometimes dramatic, overture has occasionally been performed and recorded.

In the 1850s the concert overture began to be supplanted by the symphonic poem, a form devised by Franz Liszt in several works that began as dramatic overtures.

The earliest work here is George Whitefield Chadwick's dramatic overture "Melpomene" (1887), in a 1958 performance led by Leonard Bernstein.

Although he did not make any dramatic overtures, Mr. Peres sounded an eloquent and conciliatory note in answering even the most hostile questions.

Yesterday, in a dramatic overture, Mayor David N. Dinkins visited the neighborhood twice, mixing a highly personal appeal for peace with a sharp condemnation of violence.

Mr. Dole's dramatic overture, coming less than two weeks before Election Day, was yet another indication of his difficulties as even many prominent Republicans say they have all but given up on him.

The next decade saw a dramatic overture,The Templar, the oratorios Immanuel (1854) and Judith (1858), and some chamber music.

The second program, on Sunday afternoon, turned to Berlioz's orchestral work, with another dramatic overture, "Le Corsaire," followed by "Harold in Italy," a four-movement symphonic tone poem.

American diplomats described the visit as a dramatic overture that demonstrated to the Arab world that President Bush is concerned about the rising civilian death toll in Lebanon.

Selling Virgin would be a dramatic overture to the regulators.