SINCE 1828
French overture
nounDefinition of French overture
: an overture of the 17th and 18th centuries in two repeated sections of which the first is homophonic and stately with dotted rhythms and the second is mostly faster and imitative
The French overture form … was traditionally the music accompanying the entrance of the French king into the opera.— Gordon Jones, Bach’s Choral Music, 2009
— called also ouverture
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