Dictionary of Music - Birding America

304 pastoralkind of pasticcio is associated mainly with the eighteenthcentury, when it was a common practice tocreate a composition by joining together arias andother numbers from well-known operas. One ofthe best known is Love in a Village (1760) by theEnglish composer Thomas Arne (1710–1780). (Seealso BALLAD OPERA; MEDLEY.)pastoral A general term for any musical compositionor section of a composition that suggests countrylife, especially the sounds associated with shepherds.See also PASTORALE, defs. 2, 3.pastorale (päs′′tô rä′le) Italian. 1 A short dramaticentertainment of the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies whose plot concerns country life.Such plays, which are considered a forerunner ofopera, were popular first in Italy and then inFrance. 2 A short instrumental composition ormovement of a longer work in which the music tosome extent imitates country sounds. Such music isusually in 6/8 or 12/8 meter and moderate tempo,not unlike a lullaby. Often there are long-held notesin the bass, suggestive of the drones of shepherds’bagpipes, and a lilting melody in the treble, suggestingthe sound of a shepherd’s pipe. Famousexamples include Bach’s Pastorale for organ, andthe instrumental section marked Pifa (for pifferari,the Italian for “shepherds”) in Handel’s oratorio,Messiah; the latter is frequently referred to asSinfonia pastorale (“Pastoral Symphony”). 3 Adescriptive title for an instrumental work that moreor less suggests aspects of country life. Among thebest known are Beethoven’s Symphony no. 6, towhich he not only gave the title Sinfonia pastoralebut added descriptive titles for each movement;Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in D, op. 28, which thepublisher entitled “Pastoral Sonata” for reasons thatare not clear; and Vaughan Williams’s Symphonyno. 3, entitled Pastoral Symphony.patching The process of combining various circuitsor modules in a SYNTHESIZER to create a specificsound or “voice.” Sometimes the sound so createdis called a patch. The term comes from patchcords, the cables used in early synthesizers to interconnectthe various modules. Synthesizers often areused to imitate traditional acoustic instruments andnaturally occurring sounds, and in many the interconnectionsbetween modules are hard-wired internally,so that preselected patches can be played simplyby flipping switches and adjusting controls toobtain, for example, the rattling sound of snaredrums.patetico (pä te′tē kô) Italian.express great feeling.A direction topathétique (pA tā tēk′) French. A term directingthe performer to express deep feeling. It also appearsin the title of various compositions, of which thebest known are Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in Cminor, op. 13, entitled Grande sonate pathétique(usually translated as “Pathétique Sonata”), andTchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 6 in B minor, op. 74,entitled Symphonie pathétique.pathetisch (pä tā′tish) German.express great feeling.A direction topatter song A humorous song, often used incomic opera, which is sung very fast, in parlandostyle (see PARLANDO, def. 1). Indeed, its humordepends as much on this style of performance as theactual words of the song. Examples are found inMozart’s Don Giovanni (Leporello’s “Catalogue”aria), Rossini’s II Barbiere di Siviglia (“The Barberof Seville”; Figaro’s “Largo al factotum” aria), andin nearly all of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas (“Iam the very model of a modern Major-General” inPirates of Penzance; “The pluck of Lord Nelson” inPatience; “Oh a private buffoon is a light-heartedloon” in The Yeomen of the Guard; “When you’relying awake” in Iolanthe; etc.).The Ger-Pauke (pou′kə) pl. Pauken (pou′kən).man term for kettledrum (see TIMPANI).pausa (pou′zä).The Italian term for REST.pause 1 A held note (see FERMATA). 2 (pōz). TheFrench term for REST. 3 Pause (pou′ze). The Germanterm for REST.