In his compositional craft, Verdi was not reluctant to display some of his most powerful and dramatic music in his overtures, preludes and ballet scenes. His preludes before individual acts of the operas were shorter than his overtures, but they do foreshadow the mood and intense drama of the ensuing scenes. Paired together in this transcription are preludes from Ernani and Atilla, his fifth and ninth of 26 operatic works.