The Tragic Overture (German: Tragische Ouvertüre), Op. 81, is a concert overture for orchestra written by Johannes Brahms during the summer of 1880. It premiered, under Hans Richter, on 26 December 1880 in Vienna.^[1] Most performances last between twelve and fifteen minutes.

Brahms chose the title "tragic" to emphasize the turbulent, tormented character of the piece, in essence a free-standing symphonic movement, in contrast to the mirthful ebullience of a companion piece he wrote the same year, the Academic Festival Overture. Despite its name, the Tragic Overture does not follow any specific dramatic program. Brahms summed up the effective difference in character between the two overtures when he declared "one is laughing, the other crying."^[2]

Tragic Overture (13:50)

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The Tragic Overture comprises three main sections, all in the key of D minor.

Theorists have disagreed in analyzing the form of the piece: Jackson finds Webster's multifarious description^{[citation needed]} rather obscurist and prefers to label the work's form as a "reversed sonata design" in which the second group is recapitulated before the first, with Beethoven's Coriolan Overture as a possible formal model.^[3]

The work is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings.

• Pascall, Robert, ed. (2008). Brahms: Biographical, Documentary and Analytical Studies. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-24522-7.

• Tragic Overture, Op. 81 (Brahms): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Orrin, Howard. Program Notes: Tragic Overture, Op. 81 (archived 2016)
• Hansen, Kelly Dean (October 14, 2008). "Listening Guide: Tragic Overture (D minor), Op. 81". Brahms Listening Guides. – (Using a recording by Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic)