Schubert wrote two overtures with the parenthetic tag "In the Italian Style" and both in the same year. The reason for his sudden attention in composition to things Italian was the rapid rise in popularity of Rossini in Vienna. With the staging of L'inganno felice in 1816 and L'italiana in Algeri the following year, the country was in the thrall of the Italian master's music, as was much of Europe during that time. The Overture in D major here is the first and less popular of the two that Schubert wrote, but its introductory music is well known from the composer's reuse of it in his Overture to Rosamunde. That introductory section is marked Adagio and opens grimly, with a descending figure that augurs tragedy or some dark mood. The theme that follows, however, is bright and lovely, if tinged a bit with a melancholic sense. The Allegro that forms the main portion of the Overture begins with lively a melody that is light and chipper, but not particularly Italianate. But in the middle section, Schubert rather unabashedly quotes from the aria in Rossini's Tancredi, Di tanti palpiti. The main Allegro thematic material returns and this delightful Overture ends with a rousing close.

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