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French overture

noun

Definition 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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First Known Use of French overture

1846, in the meaning defined above

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The first known use of French overture was in 1846

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