Missattributions to giovanni pergolesi
Giovanni Pergolesi, an Italian composer, violinist, and organist, has been attributed with dozens of works ranging from intermezzo to opera seria, to sacred masses to secular instrumental music. One may be surprised to learn however, that many of the works attributed to Pergolesi, were not in fact written by him at all. This fact opens up a few questions such as: "Why was so much music misattributed to Pergolesi?", "Which works did he actually write?" and, "Who actually wrote the music that was attributed to Pergolesi?" This essay will explore each of these questions and decipher which works Pergolesi actually wrote himself.
Despite his short life, Giovanni Pergolesi had a fairly successful career in Italy writing music in a wide variety of genres, but was nearly unheard of outside the country. According to Barry Brook in an article for The Musical times, Several years after Pergolesi died, an “Italian opera buffa troupe performed his intermezzo La serva padrona in Paris, in 1752.” Brook continues to say that “the work enchanted a capricious public accustomed to the more serious and more grandiose stage works of Lully, Rameau and their followers. (Brook 141) Pergolesi’s opera buffa was like a breath of fresh air in France, which had already established its own style of serious opera. The exoticness of opera buffa had a large impact on Pergolesi’s popularity after his death. Suddenly, the people wanted more opera buffa and more important still, the people wanted more Pergolesi. To keep up with the growing demand of music composed by Pergolesi, many copyists and publishers began publishing works under Pergolesi’s name. Brook states that “this type of piracy occurred hundreds of times throughout the 18th century, and Pergolesi's supposed output was expanded tenfold.” (Brook 141) The reason so much music was attributed to Pergolesi was because his style of opera buffa became so popular in France and other countries that anything with Pergolesi’s name on it would sell. There were no copyright laws during this time so this type of activity was perfectly common.
In order to determine which attributions are real Pergolesi works and which are counterfeit, one must first determine a true Pergolesi autograph. While this is not the only way to determine the authenticity of a work, it is certainly a very effective way. According to Marvin Paymer, this process is not as easy as it sounds since “several major libraries and presumed authorities have ‘officially’ designated as autographs manuscripts in several diverse hands.” (Paymer 550) Pergolesi’s true autograph was found by comparing and contrasting the calligraphy of 26 different manuscripts attributed to Pergolesi.
Despite his short life, Giovanni Pergolesi had a fairly successful career in Italy writing music in a wide variety of genres, but was nearly unheard of outside the country. According to Barry Brook in an article for The Musical times, Several years after Pergolesi died, an “Italian opera buffa troupe performed his intermezzo La serva padrona in Paris, in 1752.” Brook continues to say that “the work enchanted a capricious public accustomed to the more serious and more grandiose stage works of Lully, Rameau and their followers. (Brook 141) Pergolesi’s opera buffa was like a breath of fresh air in France, which had already established its own style of serious opera. The exoticness of opera buffa had a large impact on Pergolesi’s popularity after his death. Suddenly, the people wanted more opera buffa and more important still, the people wanted more Pergolesi. To keep up with the growing demand of music composed by Pergolesi, many copyists and publishers began publishing works under Pergolesi’s name. Brook states that “this type of piracy occurred hundreds of times throughout the 18th century, and Pergolesi's supposed output was expanded tenfold.” (Brook 141) The reason so much music was attributed to Pergolesi was because his style of opera buffa became so popular in France and other countries that anything with Pergolesi’s name on it would sell. There were no copyright laws during this time so this type of activity was perfectly common.
In order to determine which attributions are real Pergolesi works and which are counterfeit, one must first determine a true Pergolesi autograph. While this is not the only way to determine the authenticity of a work, it is certainly a very effective way. According to Marvin Paymer, this process is not as easy as it sounds since “several major libraries and presumed authorities have ‘officially’ designated as autographs manuscripts in several diverse hands.” (Paymer 550) Pergolesi’s true autograph was found by comparing and contrasting the calligraphy of 26 different manuscripts attributed to Pergolesi.
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This entails comparing things such as clefs, accidentals, and tempo markings. What was discovered was that there were three main categories in which these 26 manuscripts fell into. Paymer describes them in the following way: “Group A, by Copyist No. 1, consisting of eleven manuscripts all written in one hand; Group B, by Copyist No. 2, composed of four manuscripts written in a hand very similar to but not identical with that of Copyist No. 1; Group C, consisting of eleven manuscripts in nine different hands.” (Paymer 552) By studying the three groups in more detail, it can be determined that the eleven manuscripts in Group A are actual autographs by Pergolesi. The four manuscripts in Group B are all forgeries by a professional copyist named Nicotra. The remaining manuscripts in Group C are by various copyists and are not autographs by Pergolesi.
Even though there have been many misattributions to Giovanni Pergolesi, he was still a talented and influential composer. In fact, the number of misattributions only shows how popular his works became. While it may seem daunting to try and figure out which works were forgeries, through carful attention to detail it is possible to decipher which work Giovanni Pergolesi wrote. Bibliography Brook, Barry S. “Pergolesi: Vindication after 250 Years.” The Musical Times, Vol. 127, No. 1717. Mar. 1986. pp. 141-145. Print. Paymer, Marvin E. and Brook, Barry S. “The Pergolesi Hand: A Calligraphic Study.” Notes, Second Series,Vol. 38, No. 3. Mar. 1982. pp. 550-578. Print. |