Sinfonia is the Italian word are equivalent to Symphonie . However, when one speaks in French about a “sinfonia” this term means musical genre different and chronologically former to the symphony.

Thus, the Cantate S of Bach often start with a short purely instrumental movement named “sinfonia” (and in the case of cantatas BWV 52,174, and 207, the “sinfonia” are taken again like movements of the Brandenburger Concertos 1 and 3).