Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/690

678 compositions are for the most part connected with the Service of the Church of England. They form however but a small portion of those still in MS., among which may be especially mentioned a setting of the 138th Psalm, and a cantata 'The Narrative of John the Baptist,' composed respectively for his degrees as Bachelor and Doctor of Music. On the recent completion of the new organ at Glasgow Cathedral—an instrument by Willis embracing all the most recent improvements in the organ-builder's art—Dr. Peace was appointed organist there. On this and on the organ, by Lewis, at the Glasgow New Music Hall, and on various instruments in different parts of England and Scotland, Dr. Peace is a frequent and most popular performer. [ J. H. ]

PEARSALL,, born at Clifton, March 14, 1795, of an old Gloucestershire family. He showed much talent for poetry and music at an early age, but was educated for the bar, to which he was called in 1821, and at which he practised till 1825. He then left England for the continent, and after some time settled at Mayence, where, during four years he took a brilliant part in literary, artistic, and archæological life, including music, in which he was the pupil of Panny, whose instructions in composition he pursued with characteristic ardour. In 1829 he returned to England, but after a year went back to the Continent and settled with his family at Carlsruhe, he resuming his intellectual pursuits, and composing and practising much music. The next few years were spent in travelling to Munich, Vienna, Nuremberg, and other towns, for musical and archæological purposes. In 1836 he revisited England, and hearing, apparently for the first time, some madrigals sung at London and Bristol, was so much inflamed by this new experience as to write a treatise on that style of music, which he published in Germany. A year later he sold his family property of Willsbridge, and again quitted England for Wartensee, on the Lake of Constance, where he purchased the castle. In 1847 he returned for a short visit, and then left his native country for the last time. Thenceforward till his death, Aug. 5, 1856, he resided at his castle en grand seigneur, eager to the last on all intellectual and artistic subjects, but especially on music. He wrote a great number of psalms, motets, anthems, and other church music, amongst them a Requiem, on which he set much store, treatises on music, and a 'Catholisches Gesangbuch' (1863), founded on that of St. Gall, and still in use. The bulk of this is however still in MS. His published works contain 47 Choral Songs and Madrigals, for 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 voices, including 'The Hardy Norseman,' and 'Oh, who will o'er the downs so free'—the fresh and spirited strains of which will keep Pearsall's memory green for many a long year among the part-singers of England. But besides these well-known songs the collection embraces madrigals such as 'Great God of Love,' and Lay a garland,' both for 8 voices, which may be pronounced to be amongst the most melodious and pure specimens of 8-part writing ever penned by an Englishman, and certain to be popular abroad if published there.

In the latter part of his life Pearsall was received into the Roman Catholic Church, and he added a 'de' to his name, calling himself De Pearsall. Had he made music his exclusive pursuit there is little doubt he would have risen to a very high rank. [ G. ]

PEDALIER. (1) A pedal keyboard attached to a pianoforte, and acting by connection with its mechanism upon the hammers and strings proper to it; or (2) an independent bass pianoforte so called by its inventors, Messrs. Pleyel, Wolff & C$ie$ of Paris, to be played by pedals only, and used with an ordinary pianoforte. J. S. Bach had a harpsichord with two rows of keys and pedals, upon which he played his trios, and for which he transcribed Vivaldi's string concertos, and composed the famous Passacaille in C minor. [App. p.745 "The sentence in lines 7–11 of the article is to be corrected, as recent researches made by Mr. Dannreuther leave scarcely any doubt that these works were intended for the organ."] Since Bach many clavecinists and pianists have had their instruments fitted with rows of pedals, and compositions have been specially written as, for instance, by Schumann, who wrote several 'Studien' and 'Skizzen' (op. 56 and 58) for the Pedal-Flügel or Pedalier Grand Pianoforte. C. V. Alkan, a French composer, has also written some noble works for this instrument, which, together with the above-mentioned transcriptions by Bach, were brought before the notice of the London musical public in 1871 by Monsieur E. M. Delaborde of Paris, an eminent pianist and remarkable pedalist, in his performance at the Hanover Square Rooms, upon a Pedalier Grand Piano specially constructed for him by Messrs. Broadwood. [App. p.745 "Gounod has written a suite concertante for pedal piano with orchestra, and a fantasia for the same on the Russian National Hymn, both for Mme. Lucie Palicot, by whom the former was introduced at the Philharmonic on April 21, 1887."] [ A. J. H. ]

PEDAL POINT, or Point d'orgue, in Harmony is the sustaining of a note by one part whilst the other parts proceed in independent harmony, and is subject to the following strict laws: (1) The sustained note must be either the Tonic or Dominant of the key; (2) Consequently the other parts must not modulate; (3) The sustained, or pedal note, when first sounded or finally quitted, must form part of the harmony.

The mere sustaining of a note or a chord against one or more moving parts does not constitute a pedal: as in the following examples from Beethoven—

nor does the simple sustaining of a note through harmonies to which it is common; though this is