The present volume contains four independent overtures. Whereas the overtures of Schiller's 'Bride of Messina', Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' and Goethe's 'Hermann and Dorothea' reveal literary and dramatic references in their titles, the Festival Overture on the Rhine Wine Song has its context in the contemporary music festivals at which choirs and musical societies came together to make music together. All overtures were composed during Schumann's time in Düsseldorf.