Books › Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927 › scan 139
Scan 139
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927
32 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026. Printed page 103. See the scan on archive.org.
1friend), the success of which was so great that the King bestowed on him the Order of Christ, and the post of maestro at the Real Cappella, with a salary of 30,000 francs. The new theatre in Lisbon was opened in 1755 with Perez's opera 'Alessandro nelle Indie,' in which a corps of cavalry and a Macedonian phalanx appeared on the stage. Perez procured the best Italian singers for the opera during his managership. Other operas are mentioned in Q.-L. In 1755 he came to London, and produced 'Ezio' with great success. Here also was published in 1774 a fine edition, with portrait, of his 'Mattutino de' Morti,' his best sacred work, though he also composed, when in Lisbon, a 'Credo' for two choirs, and other church music. An oratorio, 'Il martirio di San Bartolomeo,' was performed at Padua in 1779. His compositions can scarcely be called remarkable, and Fétis ranks him below Jommelli. In person he resembled Handel, and like him he lost his sight in old age, but worked on up to his death. Specimens of Perez's work will be found in Vincent Novello's various publications.
3In 1780 the composer resolved to return to Naples. On June 2 he embarked with his family on a Swedish ship, which was soon afterwards attacked by pirates. Perez and his son escaped the general massacre by hiding in the hold amongst the cargo; the ship was scuttled, and ran ashore at Albufeira. The composer lost all his possessions, which were considerable.
5F. G.; addns. J. B. T.
7PÉREZ, JUAN GINEZ, see GINES PÉREZ, Juan.
9PEREZ CASAS, BARTHOLOMÉ (b. Lorca, Jan. 24, 1873), Spanish conductor and composer. Originally 1st clarinet, and then a military bandmaster, he became a teacher at the Madrid Conservatoire, and founded a wind-instrument society. In 1914–15 he was enabled to found the Madrid Philharmonic Orchestra, which, with the Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Fernández Arbós), provides Madrid and many other Spanish towns with symphonic music. He has produced many new works, including Vaughan Williams's 'London Symphony.' His own works include a 'Suite Murciana' for orch. and a string quartet.
11J. B. T.
13PERFECT, used principally of INTERVALS and CADENCES; see those headings, also HARMONY and TEMPERAMENT.
15PERFECT FOOL, THE, opera in one act, written and composed by Gustav Holst; produced (B.N.O.C.) Covent Garden, May 14, 1923.
17PERGETTI. Probably the last castrato who ever sang in England. He made his first appearance at the Società Armonica, May 6, 1844, in an aria from 'Ciglio,' an opera of his own, and is described as 'a brilliant and expressive singer, who won a deserved encore' (Mus. Examiner).
19G.
21PERGOLA, LA, see FLORENCE.
23PERGOLESI (PERGOLESE), GIOVANNI BATTISTA (b. Jesi, near Ancona, Jan. 3, 1710¹; d. Pozzuoli, Mar. 17, 1736), composer.
25The original name of the family appears to have been Draghi, but in accordance with local custom those members of it who settled at Jesi were known as Pergolese or Pergolesi from Pergola, a town in the Marche, of which they were natives. This partly accounts for the error of Saverio Mattei, who maintained that the composer's surname was Jesi, and that he was given the name of Pergolese from his birthplace. He himself signed his name both as Pergolese and as Pergolesi; the form Pergolesi (i.e. dei Pergolesi) is more generally preferred in Italy, and the form Pergolese (Pergolèse) appears to have become popularised by French writers. Villarosa supposed the family of Pergolesi to have belonged to the nobility; but it is evident from a work entitled Picenorum mathematicorum elogia by Giuseppe Santini di Staffolo, professor at the University of Macerata (Macerata, 1779), that his father was a surveyor, and his grandfather a shoemaker. He appears to have been an only child.
27Pergolesi studied music at Jesi with a local master, Francesco Santini, and had lessons on the violin from one Francesco Mondini until his 16th year (1725, when he was sent to Naples and admitted to the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo, through the influence of Count Cardolo Maria Pianetti Mannelli, a nobleman of Jesi, whose services to the Austrians during the war of the Spanish Succession had earned him the protection of Charles VI. At Naples Pergolesi was placed first under Gaetano Greco and later (probably after Greco's death) under Durante. It has also been stated that he studied with Francesco Feo when Durante was summoned to Vienna. There is, however, no foundation for the story (given by Villarosa and reproduced by H. M. Schletterer) of Durante's visit to the Austrian capital. Between 1725 and 1728 he became master at the Conservatorio della Madonna di Loreto, and it was doubtless for this reason that Pergolesi became a pupil of Feo. His teacher of the violin was Domenico de Matteis. It has been stated that he showed a remarkable facility for extemporising chromatic passages on this instrument, and that his powers of composition were first made known to his teachers in this manner. The story, however, given by Villarosa with some detail and reproduced by some later writers, does not appear to have been believed by Florimo, in spite of his love of picturesque anecdote.
29Pergolesi made his first public appearance as a composer with a sacred drama entitled 'La
31¹ The date and place of his birth were given wrongly by many historians until the Marquis de Villarosa finally settled the question by reference to the register of his baptism, a facsimile of which is given by E. Faustini-Fasini in his life of Pergolesi (Gazzetta musicale di Milano, Aug. 31, 1899, etc.; published in book form by Ricordi, 1900).
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.