Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/682

false ideas of Hasse and Metastasio would for ever have excluded it. [See Opera, Eleventh Period, p. 514b.]

The triumphant success of Gluck's later works put an end, at once, to the existence of the 'Concert Opera,' both in Italy and Germany: and, with it, the Pasticcio necessarily fell to the ground. Since his death, no genuine Pasticcio of any importance has ever been produced. Only in a very few cases have two or more Composers consented to write the separate Acts of the same work; and, judging from past experience, we may confidently hope that the abuse will never again be revived.

The leading principle of the Pasticcio has been frequently introduced into English Operas, more especially those of the older School. The 'Beggar's Opera' will occur to the reader as a notable instance of its application. But it must be remembered that in Operas of this class the Music is often only of an incidental character, and the objection to the system is therefore far less serious than in the case of Italian Operas of the same, or even earlier date.

[ W. S. R. ]

PASTORALE, 1. A dramatic composition or opera, the subject of which is generally of a legendary and pastoral character. Pastorales had their origin in Italy, where, at the time of the Renaissance, the study of the Eclogues of Theocritus and Virgil led to the stage representation of pastoral dramas such as Politian's 'Favola di Orfeo,' which was played at Mantua in 1472. The popularity of these dramatic pastorales spread from Italy to France and Spain, and eventually to Germany; but it is principally in France that they were set to music, and became of importance as precursors of the opera. In April 1659 'La Pastorale en Musique,' the words by the Abbé Perrin, the music by Cambert, was performed at Issy, at the house of M. de Lahaye, and proved so successful that the same authors wrote another similar work, 'Pomone,' which was played in public with great success in May [App. p.745 "on March 19"] 1671. These two pastorales are generally considered as the earliest French operas. The pastorale, owing to the weakness of its plot, was peculiarly suited for the displays of ballet and spectacle which were so much in vogue at the French court, and examples of this style of composition exist by nearly all the French composers before the Great Revolution. Lully's 'Acis et Galathée' ('Pastorale heroïque mise en musique') is perhaps one of his finest compositions. Matheson ('Vollkommener Kapellmeister'), with his passion for classifying, divides pastorales into the very obvious categories of comic and tragic, and gives some quaint directions for treating subjects in a pastoral manner. The pastorale must not be confounded with the pastourelle, which was an irregular form of poetry popular in France in the 12th and 13th centuries.

2. Any instrumental or vocal composition in 6-8, 9-8, or 12-8 time (whether on a drone bass or not), which assumes a pastoral character by its imitation of the simple sounds and melody of a shepherd's pipe. The Musette and the Siciliana are both 'pastoral' forms; the former is of a slower tempo, and the latter contains fewer dotted quavers. 'He shall feed his flock' and the 'Pastoral Symphony' in the Messiah are both in 12-8, and so is the Pastoral Sinfonia which begins the second part of Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Other examples of this class of composition are the first movement of Bach's Pastorale for organ (Dörffel, 788), and the air 'Pour Bertha moi je soupire' in Meyerbeer's opera 'Le Prophète.' The 'Sonnambula' was originally entitled 'Dramma pastorale.'

[ W. B. S. ]

PASTORALE. 'Sonata pastorale' is the title ^[1]often given to Beethoven's Sonata in D, op. 29, but apparently quite without warrant. Its opening Allegro and its Finale both begin with long passages on a pedal bass, both are also in triple time, and so far have a 'pastoral' air; but Beethoven has said nothing of any such intention. The original edition is entitled 'Grande Sonate pour le Pianoforte,' and the autograph is inscribed 'Gran Sonata.' It is worth notice that this is the first of the Sonatas which is not composed expressly both for harpsichord or pianoforte; all the preceding ones have the words 'pour le Clavecin (or Clavicembalo) ou Pianoforte' on the title-page.

It was composed in 1801 and published in Aug. 1802. According to Czerny the Andante was for long a special favourite of the composer's, and often played by him. The fly-leaf of the autograph—in the possession of Herr Johann Kaffka of Vienna—contains a little piece of 17 bars long, for 2 voices and chorus, aimed at the unwieldy figure of Schuppanzigh, Beethoven's favourite first violin, and entitled 'Lob auf den Dicken'—'Glory to the fat.' It begins thus:—

etc.

[ G. ]

PASTORAL SYMPHONY in Handel's 'Messiah.' A short and unaffected little piece of music in 12-8 time, serving to introduce the scene of the 'Shepherds abiding in the field.' Handel more than any other great composer was accustomed to 'prendre son bien partout où il le trouvait,' and mostly without acknowledgment. In the present instance he has affixed the word 'Pifa' to this movement, more probably to indicate the reason for inserting it than to show that it was not his own composition, a matter which probably did not occupy his thoughts in the least. People in those days had not ready access either to older or contemporaneous works, and were not in a position to compare one thing with another; and our composer, often in a great hurry to get through his mighty task, did not trouble himself to enlighten them: his superb genius answered for all, as it gave life and immortality to anything he chose to put on paper. When it was first called a Pastoral Symphony is not very clear; Randall & Abell's edition gives the word 'Pifa' only, a fact overlooked by Dr. Rimbault in his

1. Originally perhaps by Cranz, the publisher, of Hamburg.