Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/768

756 PIRATES OF PENZANCE, THE. A comic opera in 2 acts; words by W. S. Gilbert, music by Arthur Sullivan. Produced at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York, Dec. 31, 1879; and at the Opera Comique, London, April 3, 1880. [ G. ]

PISARI, (called Pizari in Santini's catalogue), eminent church composer, and, according to Padre Martini, 'the Palestrina of the 18th century,' son of a mason, born in Rome in 1725. A musician named Gasparino, struck by his beautiful voice as a child, urged him to devote himself to music. His voice developed afterwards into a fine bass, but he took less to singing than to composition, which he studied under Giovanni Biordi. In 1752 he was admitted into the Pope's chapel as supernumerary, and remained a member till his death in 1778. His poverty was extreme, and many, perhaps apocryphal, stories are told of his writing his compositions with ink made from charcoal and water, etc. His finest work is a 'Dixit' in 16 real parts, sung at the SS. Apostoli in 1770 by 150 performers. A Kyrie and Gloria in 48 parts by Ballabene were performed on the same occasion. Burney was in Rome the same year, and speaks with astonishment of the learning displayed in the 'Dixit' (Present State, etc., iii. 383). It was composed for the court of Lisbon, together with a service for every day in the year, but the payment was so long delayed that by the time it arrived Pisari had died, and his nephew, a journeyman mason, inherited it. The singers of the Pope's chapel, disappointed with Tartini's 'Miserere,' requested Pisari to write one, which he did in 9 parts, but it was a comparative failure. Baini conjectures that the arduous nature of his task for the King of Portugal had exhausted his powers. For the Pope's chapel he composed several masses, psalms, motets in 8 parts, two Te Deums in 8 parts, and one in 4, which Baini pronounces a lastingly beautiful work. Santini had twelve large church compositions by Pisari; for full list see Fétis. [ F. G. ]

PISARONI,, an excellent contralto singer, was born at Piacenza, Feb. 6, 1793. Her instructors were Pino, Moschini, and Marchesi. Her first public appearances were made at Bergamo in 1811, in the rôles of Griselda, Camilla, and others, popular at that period. Her voice was then a high soprano, and her accomplishments as a singer so great that, in spite of a singularly unprepossessing appearance, she excited great admiration, and her fame spread rapidly all over Italy. A serious illness which she had at Parma, in 1813, resulted in the loss of some of her upper notes, which forced her to abandon her old soprano parts. She then applied herself to cultivating the lower register of her voice, which gained considerably in extent and volume, while the artistic resources she displayed were so great that the career by which she is remembered began in fact at this time. Some few of her notes had always a guttural, unpleasant sound, but in spite of this she was universally admitted to be the first Italian contralto. She appeared at Paris, in 1827, as Arsace in 'Semiramide.' Fétis writes of this occasion: 'Nerer shall I forget the effect produced on the audience when, advancing up the stage with her back to the public, contemplating the interior of the temple, she enunciated in a formidable voice, admirably produced, the phrase 'Eccomi alfine in Babilonia!' A transport of applause responded to these vigorous accents, this broad style, so rare in our days; but when the singer turned round, displaying features horribly disfigured by small-pox, a sort of shudder of horror succeeded to the first enthusiasm, many among the spectators shutting their eyes so as to hear without being condemned to see. But before the end of the opera her performance had gained a complete victory. After a few months the public thought no more about Madame Pisaroni's face, dominated as all were by her wonderful talent.'

She herself was so sensible of her physical defects that she never accepted an engagement without first sending her portrait to the manager, that he might be prepared exactly for what he was undertaking.

After singing in 'La Donna del Lago' and 'L'Italiana in Algeri,' displaying eminent dramatic as well as vocal qualities, she appeared in London in 1829, but was not appreciated. For two years afterwards she sang at Cadiz, and then returned to Italy. Here she failed to find the favour shown her in past days. Contralto parts were out of fashion; she had, too, earned an independent fortune. She retired accordingly into private life, and died at Piacenza, Aug. 6, 1872. [ F. A. M. ]

PISTON. A name given to one form of valve used in brass instruments for altering the course of the vibrating column of air, and thus producing alteration of pitch. The other form is termed a rotatory valve. The piston consists of a vertical tube inserted in the main air-way; usually, but not necessarily, at right angles to it. Four orifices communicate with it laterally; two belonging to the original bore; two connected with a bye-path or channel of greater length termed the 'valve slide.' In the vertical tube itself slides an air-tight cylinder or piston, pressed upwards by means of a spiral spring beneath it, and prolonged above into a circular button or finger-piece which can be depressed at pleasure. Across the cylinder are two oblique perforations occupying its central portion. In a state of rest, one of these is continuous on either side with the bore of the instrument, and the bye-path is obstructed. But when the fingerpiece is depressed in opposition to the action of the spiral spring, the former is closed, and communication is established by the other between the main bore and the valve slide or channel. The ordinary cornet à pistons, so named from this ingenious contrivance, usually possesses three of these pistons worked by the first three fingers of the right hand, the musical effect of which has been described under that title. [, vol. i. p. 403.] The Euphonium or bass saxhorn is generally furnished with a fourth valve for the left hand. The series may, however, be extended to six or more, though it is rare to see the above