А. Shibinskaya

“Allegrezza del nuovo maggio” – An Experiment In the Tradition of Pasticcio

The article considers an original performance project “Allegrezza del nuovo maggio” by the American lute player Paul Beier (director of Galatea Early Music Ensemble). The project is a vocal-instrumental cycle consisting of various pieces by the Italian composer of the seventeenth century, Biagio Marini. In this essay the author traces the tradition of pasticcio – early practice of composing new works based on music by one or more composers. In the Baroque era pasticcio was an opera composed of arias and ensembles taken from the works written earlier. The authors sought to combine the most popular music fragments into a whole. Such works were most often created for the purpose of entertaining the audience. Sometimes certain arias were included specifically for a certain performer. Pasticcio or rather the basic principles of this practice were developed in the genres of instrumental music. “Allegrezza del nuovo maggio”, composed from pieces by the composer of the early Baroque – is a super cycle, consisting of four cycles, organized in accordance with the change of seasons. Beier, apparently, relied on the tradition of pasticcio in the composing his work from the plays belonged to another composer and combining them into a single thematic line. The musician managed to create a work that could fit in the framework of cyclic forms of the seventeenth century and concert practice of that time.

Key words

pasticcio, vocal-instrumental cycle, Biagio Marini, supercycle, seasons.

• Read full article