Editing French overture (section)

{{Short description|Musical form from the Baroque period}}
{{For|Bach's suite for harpsichord|Overture in the French style, BWV 831}}
{{Listen|type=music
 | filename     = Lully Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme - 01. Ouverture.ogg
 | title        = ''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'' – Ouverture
 | description  = Composed by [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]] (1670), performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra
 | filename2    = Muffat - Suite 2 - 1. Ouverture.ogg
 | title2       = Suite 2 – Ouverture
 | description2 = Composed by [[Georg Muffat]], performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra
 | filename3    = Bach - Cello Suite No. 5 - 1. Prelude.ogg
 | title3       = Cello Suite 5, BWV 1011 – Prelude
 | description3 = Composed by [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], performed on a viola by Elias Goldstein
 | filename4    = Handel - messiah - 01 sinfony - New version (deleted 3 coughs).ogg
 | title4       = ''Messiah'' – Overture
 | description4 = Composed by [[George Frideric Handel]], performed by the MIT Concert Orchestra
 | filename5    = Telemann - Concert Suite in D major TWV55D6 - 1. Overture.ogg
 | title5       = Concert Suite in D major for orchestra and viola da gamba, TWV 55:D6 – Overture
 | description5 = Composed by [[Georg Philipp Telemann]], performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra with cellist Stephen Balderston
}}
The '''French overture''' is a [[musical form]] widely used in the [[Baroque music|Baroque]] period. Its basic formal division is into two parts, which are usually enclosed by double bars and repeat signs. They are complementary in style (slow in dotted rhythms and fast in [[Fugue|fugal]] style), and the first ends with a half-cadence (i.e., on a dominant harmony) that requires an answering structure with a tonic ending. The second section often but not always ends with a brief recollection of the first, sometimes even repeating some of its melodic content.<ref name=Grove>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Waterman|first1=George Gow|last2=Anthony|first2=James R.|year=2001|title=French Overture|encyclopedia=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]|edition=2nd|editor1=[[Stanley Sadie]]|editor2=[[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]|location=London|publisher=Macmillan}}</ref>

The form is first encountered in [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]]'s ballet overtures from the 1650s.<ref name=Grove /> Later examples can be found as the opening movement of each of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]]'s [[Orchestral suites (Bach)|orchestral suites]], [[Partita for keyboard No. 4, BWV 828|Partita in D major, BWV 828]], [[Cello Suites (Bach)#Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011|C minor Cello Suite, BWV 1011]], and as an opening to many [[opera]]s and [[oratorio]]s by [[George Frideric Handel]] (including ''[[Messiah (Handel)|Messiah]]'' and ''[[Giulio Cesare]]''). The 16th of Bach's ''[[Goldberg Variations]]'' is a miniature French overture.

The French overture should not be confused with the [[Italian overture]], a three-part quick-slow-quick structure.