Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/645

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PAINE.
PAISIELLO.
633

organ concerts, at which the principal compositions of Bach and Thiele were introduced to the American public. In 1862 he was appointed instructor of music at Harvard University, and in 1876 was raised to a full professorship as the first occupant of the chair. Other leading events in his career have been the production of his Mass at the Singakademie, Berlin, under his direction, Feb. 1867; of the oratorio 'Saint Peter,' also under his own direction, at Portland, June 3, 1873 (afterwards given by the Handel find Haydn Society, Boston, May 9, 1874); and of his first symphony, by Thomas's orchestra, at Boston, Jan. 6, 1876. Paine's compositions evince nobility and high aspiration, and mastery of the classical forms. His later works, beginning with the Trio in D minor (op. 22), show a gradually increasing tendency to the modern Romantic school, in both form and treatment. His orchestral works, with the exception of op. 34 (1879), have all been performed at Boston, New York, and other cities in the United States. Many of the piano pieces and chamber compositions have also frequently appeared in American concert programmes.

His published works consist of:—Op. 3. Variations for organ—'Austrian Hymn,' 'The StarSpangled Banner.' Op. 7. 'Christmas gift,' P.F. Op. 9. Funeral march, P.F. Op. 10. Mass (D), for solos, chorus, and orchestra. Op. 11. Vier Character-Stucke, P.F. Op. 12. Romance, C minor, P.F. Op. 19. Two preludes, organ. Op. 20. 'Saint Peter,' oratorio. Op. 25. Four characteristic pieces, P.F. Op. 26. 'In the Country,' 10 sketches, P.F. Op. 27. Centennial Hymn, words by Whittier; sung at the opening of the Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, May, 1876. Op. 29. Four songs, soprano.

The unpublished works comprise Sonatas for P.F. solo, and P.F. and violin; Fantasias, Variations, etc., for organ; a String Quartet; 2 P.F. trios; an Overture on 'As You Like It,' and a Symphonie-fantasia on 'The Tempest'; a Symphony in C minor (op. 23), and a ditto in A (op. 34), entitled 'Spring'; a Duo Concertante for violin, cello, and orchestra; songs; motets, etc., etc.

[ F. H. J. ]

PAISIBLE, an eminent flutist, resident in London in the latter part of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century. He composed overtures and act tunes for the following pieces—'King Edward the Third," 1691; 'Oroonoko' and 'The Spanish Wives,' 1696; 'The Humours of Sir John Falstaff ' [Henry IV, Part i.], 1700; 'She would and she would not,' 1703; and 'Love's Stratagem.' He also composed three overtures, published under the title of 'Music performed before Her Majesty and the new King of Spain'; Duets for flutes, published in 'Thesaurus Musicus,' 1693–96; and Sonatas and other pieces for flutes published at Amsterdam. He assisted St. Evremond in composing music for the Duchess of Mazarine's concerts at Chelsea.

[ W. H. H. ]

PAISIELLO, Giovanni, eminent composer of the Italian school in its pre-Rossinian period, was the son of a veterinary surgeon at Tarento, and was born May 9, 1741. At five years old he entered the Jesuit school at Tarento, where he attracted notice by the beauty of his voice. The elements of music were taught him by one Carlo Presta, a priest and tenor singer, and he showed such talent that his father, who had intended to educate him for the legal profession, abandoned this idea, and succeeded in obtaining admission for him to San Onofrio, at Naples, where he received instruction from the veteran Durante, and afterwards from Cotumacci and Abos.

During his five years of studentship, Paisiello's powers were exercised on church music, but, at the end of this time, he indulged in the composition of a dramatic intermezzo, which, performed at the little theatre of the Conservatorio, revealed where his real talent lay. The piece pleased so much that its composer was summoned to Bologna to write two comic operas, 'La Pupilla' and 'Il Mondo a Rovescio'; which inaugurated a long series of successes in all the chief Italian towns. 'Il Marchese di Tulipano,' written for Rome, enjoyed for years a European popularity. At Naples, where Paisiello finally took up his abode, he found a formidable rival in Piccinni, and later, when Piccinni had departed to Paris, in Cimarosa. The enthusiastic reception met with by his own operas, and by 'L'Idolo Cinese' in particular, was insufficient to set him at ease while his own supremacy was at all in danger. He seems all his life to have regarded every possible rival with jealous dislike, and on more than one occasion to have stooped to intrigue, not only to ensure his own success, but to defeat that of others.

In 1776, on the invitation of the Empress Catherine, who offered him a splendid salary, Paisiello left Naples for St. Petersburg. Among a number of operas written there must be mentioned 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia,' one of his best works, and to which a special interest attaches from its effect on the first representation of Rossini's opera of the same name. Coldly received when performed at Rome (after Paisiello's return from Russia), it ended by obtaining so firm a hold on the affections of the Roman public, that the attempt of another composer to write a new 'Barber' was regarded as sacrilege, nor would this audience at first give even a hearing to the famous work which finally consigned its predecessor to oblivion.

After eight years in St. Petersburg, Paisiello returned to Italy, stopping at Vienna on his way back, where he wrote twelve 'symphonies' for Joseph II, and an opera 'Il Re Teodoro,' containing some of his best music. He was now named Chapelmaster to Ferdinand IV. of Naples, and during the next thirteen years produced several of the works by which he became most widely known, notably 'I Zingari in Fiera,' 'Nina, o la Pazza d'Amore,' and 'La Molinara.' In 1797, on the death of General Hoche, Paisiello wrote a Funeral March, to order, for Napoleon, then General Buonaparte, who always showed a marked predilection for this composer's music,