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Scan 76
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927
18 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026. Printed page 42. See the scan on archive.org.
1mythological subject, between the scenes of which harlequinade scenes were introduced, the two parts having no connexion. The music for the majority of them was composed by J. E. Galliard. Their popularity compelled the managers of Drury Lane to adopt pantomimes in order to compete successfully with their rival, and they were then soon produced at other theatres also. After a time the original form was changed, and in lieu of the mythological masque, a short drama, of three or four scenes, was constructed, the invariable characters in which, under different shapes, were an old man, his pretty daughter, or ward—whom he was desirous of uniting to a wealthy but foolish suitor, but who had a poorer and favoured lover—and the old man's knavish serving-man. The girl and her lover were protected by a benevolent fairy, whilst the old man and his favourite had the assistance of a malevolent spirit. To counteract the machinations of the evil being, the fairy determined that her protégés should undergo a term of probation under different shapes, and accordingly transformed them into Harlequin and Columbine, giving to the former a magic bat to assist him in his progress. The evil spirit then transformed the old man and his servant into Pantaloon and Clown, and the wealthy suitor into the Dandy Lover, and the harlequinade began, the two lovers being pursued by the others through a variety of scenes, but always foiling them by the aid of the bat.1 At length the fairy reappeared and declared the success of the lovers, and the piece terminated. Vocal music was largely introduced, not only in the opening, but also in the harlequinade, and the best English composers did not disdain to employ their talents in producing it. The two Arnes, Dibdin, Battishill, Linley, Shield, Attwood and others, all composed music for this class of entertainment. About 1830 the length of the opening was greatly extended, more spectacular effects introduced, and the 'transformation scene' became by degrees the climax of the whole. Original music was still composed for the pantomime, but the task of producing it was entrusted to inferior composers. Gradually the harlequinade scenes were reduced in number, the opening assumed the character of an extravaganza upon the subject of some nursery tale, and the music became a selection of the popular tunes of the day. In the early pantomimes Harlequin was the principal character, and continued so until the genius of Grimaldi placed the Clown in the most prominent position.
3In pantomimes of the middle period the pantomimists who sustained the principal parts in the harlequinade invariably performed in the opening the characters who were transformed. A consideration of the difference between the Italian Arlecchino and the English Harlequin is beyond the scope of our present purpose.
5W. H. H.
7(3) The entertainment now generally described as pantomime is historically descended from the above, but bears few traces of its descent. The harlequinade has vanished. The fairy-tale is retained merely as an indication that the entertainment is intended for children. The hero, called 'principal boy,' is acted by a woman; the comic character, generally principal boy's mother, is acted by a man. Beyond these conventions the pantomime is practically a revue, the attraction being the number of 'turns' from the variety stage incorporated into it. The music matches the 'turns.' c.
9PAOLO, ARETINO (b. Arezzo, 1544), musician to the Duke of Ferrara; maestro di cappella of Arezzo Cathedral, 1558. He composed a book of 'Madrigali cromati' (1549); a book of madrigals a 5-8 v. (1558); a Passion according to St. John; a Te Deum, Magnificats and other church music; the last dated composition, Milan, 1565 (Q.-L.).
11PAOLUCCI, GIUSEPPE (b. Siena, May 25, 1726; d. Apr. 26, 1776), pursued his musical studies under Padre Martini at Bologna, and like him became a Franciscan friar. After holding the position of choirmaster at a church in Venice and at Sinigaglia, he returned in 1771 to Assisi to be choirmaster of the Franciscan church there. He is chiefly known as the author of Arte pratica di contrappunto dimostrata con esempi di varj autori e con osservazioni … Venice, 1765, a work of the same nature as Martini's treatise.
13J. R. M.
15PAPE, JEAN-HENRI (b. Sarsted near Hanover, July 1, 1789; d. Asnières, near Paris, Feb. 2, 1875), pianoforte-maker. He went to Paris in 1811, and after visiting England his services were secured by Ignace Pleyel to organise the works of the piano factory which he had just founded. About 1818 he appears to have set up on his own account; and thenceforward, for nearly half a century, there was perhaps no year in which he did not produce something new. His active mind never rested from attempts to alter the shape, diminish the size, and radically change the framing, bellying and action of the pianoforte; yet, in the result, with small influence upon the progress of its manufacture. In shape he produced table pianos, rounded and hexagonal: he made an oval piano, a piano console (very like a chiffonier), and novel oblique, vertical and horizontal forms. Like Wornum in London and Streicher in Vienna, to do away with the break of continuity between wrest-plank and sound-board in the grand piano, he repeated the old idea that had suggested itself to Marius and Schroeter, of an overstriking action—that is, the hammers de-
171 The names Harlequin, Columbine and Pantaloon are derived from the Italian—Arlecchino, Colombina and Pantalone. Clown is known in Italy as Pagliaccio; in France as Pierrot, Paillasse, or Pitre; in German as Bajas, or Hanswurst (Jack-pudding)
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