French pitch
Music (now chiefly historical )
noun
A standard of pitch used in or associated with France; specifically a pitch where A (a') is tuned to 435 cycles per second.
- This pitch was given legal force in France in 1858 and adopted by many countries as a standard from 1859. In 1939 an international conference recommended that a' = 440 be used as the standard orchestral pitch, and the use of French pitch has been largely superseded by this..
Origin
Mid 19th century; earliest use found in Universal Review.