Ouverture, revised by Benadett Douglass The French ouverture, often referred to today as a “French overture,” originated in French Baroque music of the seventeenth century. Jean-Baptiste Lully invented ouvertures to accompany King Louis XIV’s entrance into the opera hall. They were comprised of two pricnipal sections that were, respectively, “homophonic and stately” and “faster and imitative” (Grove Dictionary). The first section featured dotted and double-dotted rhythms, which assisted in creating a “pompous,” heroic, and majestic nature to the piece (as in Lully’s Atys of 1676). The second section was rapid and often fugal, which created a contrast to the first section. The second section would be followed by a return to the dotted-notes of the first section. In the seventeenth century, ouvertures were created specifically to accompany King Louis XIV’s entrance into the opera hall or theater, and were intended to project an air of importance, linked to the motion long associated with royalty: slow and grand movement. To hear an example of a eighteenth-century ouverture that precedes a French opera, listen to the ouverture to Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes of 1735. It wasn’t long before such overture movements were used to precede a suite of dances. Together, the pompous ouverture followed by a suite of dances became the hallmark musical genre associated with France. As usage increased across Europe, the scope of the “overture” increased as well. Notably in the early eighteenth century, Bach used the term “ouverture” to refer to four of his large-scale pieces that are now more commonly called orchestral suites. These large works no longer served as entrance music to operas and plays. In modern times, the term “overture” often refers to an introductory orchestral piece that precedes a larger work. It does not necessarily include multiple sections, but it generally does because of its length. It almost always ends with a faster, more exciting section; without it, it runs the risk of being called a “prelude” or “introduction” instead. Pieces of the same nature as overtures that do not precede larger works but are rather meant for orchestral concert programs may be called “concert overtures” (Grove Dictionary).