TUNE. ACT-TUNE (Fr. Entr'acte, Germ. Zwischenspiel), sometimes also called Curtain Tune. A piece of instrumental music performed while the curtain or act-drop is down between the acts of a play. In the latter half of the 17th century and first quarter of the 18th century act - tunes were composed specially for every play. The compositions so called comprised, besides the act-tunes proper, the ‘first and second music,
’ tunes played at intervals to beguile the tedium of waiting for...
