Composed in 1935, this Overture has the slow foxtrot as its basic rhythm. Hence the title. It opens straight away with the first subject, a short, angular and syncopated theme in two voice parts, supported by a sketchy base and some percussion. Then follow two forms of a subsidiary theme in close succession, the first powerful and staccato, the second quiet and smooth. A bridge passage leads to the second subject proper, a long, sustained and curvilinear melody, richly harmonised. This is interrupted abruptly by a shrill passage in the woodwind, which introduces the codetta, formed from a third version of the subsidiary theme. The exposition is then repeated entire. After a development on classical lines and including a fugato, the recapitulation follows. At the end of the second subject a cadenza-like passage, containing double trills on trumpets, clarinets and flutes, leads to the lively coda, based on a new semi quaver version of the subsidiary theme.

As a whole, the Overture is jocular and energetic in character. Two saxophones and a clarinet in E flat play important parts in the score.