Commissioned by conductor Jules Étienne Pasdeloup during 1873 and composed during the early part of the winter that followed, Georges Bizet's "Patrie" Overture was a smash hit when first performed on February 15, 1874. It was conceived as a musical testimonial to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1971, and thus keyed in very nicely to the sentiments of the Paris audience that first heard it that day at the Cirque d'hiver. It did not, however, prove to have much staying power: many long decades have passed since it was part of any orchestra's (French or otherwise) standard repertoire, and it has been the subject of considerable derision from both Bizet's admirers and Bizet's detractors. It is a fine example of a short-term triumph turned into a long-term embarrassment—precisely the opposite of Bizet's roughly contemporaneous masterpiece, the opera Carmen (1873-1975).

Patrie is described as an "Ouverture dramatique pour Grand Orchestre," and is dedicated to Bizet's colleague Jules Massenet (then a virtually unknown composer awaiting the breakthrough that would come with the operas Hérodiade and Manon in 1881 and 1884, respectively). It falls into three sections of unequal length: an opening Moderato that covers a great deal of raw, martial, bombastic ground; a central Andantino in 3/4 time that moves from the opening C minor into the warmer region of A major; and a truncated reprise of the opening Moderato that finds its way to triumphant C major.

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