Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/17

PNEUMATIC ACTION. Alexandra Palace, London, if there were no pneumatic levers, the resistance to the finger at middle C with the couplers drawn would be 25 lbs. For a description of the invention see, vol. ii. p. 599. [ G. ]

POCO, a little; rather; as poco adagio, not quite so slow as adagio itself; poco sostenuto, somewhat sustained. It is the opposite of Assai. is a diminutive of poco and implies the same thing but in a smaller degree. This is a refinement of very modern invention. [ G. ]

PODATUS (Pedatus, Pes. A Foot, or Footed-note). A form of Ligature, much used in Plain Chaunt, and deiived from a very antient Neuma, which will be found figured at vol. ii. p. 467.

The Podatus consists of two notes, of which the second is the highest; and, in the square form of Notation now in use, is represented thus—

The two notes may be of the same, or different lengths; but, as a general rule, the second note the longest, more especially when the Ligature ascends only one Degree. [See .] [ W. S. R. ]

POELCHAU,, a distinguished amateur, born July 5, 1773, at Cremon in Livonia, left Russia during the reign of the Emperor Paul, and settled in Hamburg, where he formed an intimacy with Klopstock. On the death of Emmanuel Bach he bought the whole of his music, which contained many autographs of his father's. In 1813 he settled in Berlin, in 1814 became a member of the Singakademie, and assumed the charge of its library in 1833. At the request of the Crown Prince he searched the royal libraries for the compositions of Frederic the Great, and found 120 pieces. He died in Berlin, on Aug. 12, 1836, and his collection of music was bought by the Royal Library and the Singakademie. In 1855 the Singakademie sold their collection of the autographs of the Bach family to the Royal Library, which now has a larger number of these treasures than any other institution. There is a bust of Poelchau in one of the rooms. [ F. G. ]

POHL,, writer on musical subjects, born at Darmstadt, Sept. 6, 1819, comes of a musical family, his grandfather having been first maker of glass harmonicas, his father (died 1869) chamber-musician to the Duke of Hesse at Darmstadt, and his mother a daughter of the composer Beczwarzowsky. In 1841 he settled in Vienna, and after studying under Sechter became in 1849 organist of the new Protestant church in the Gumpendorf suburb. At this date he published Variations on an old 'Nachtwachterlied' (Diabelli), and other pieces. He resigned the post in 1855 on account of his health, and devoted himself exclusively to teaching and literature. In 1862 he published in Vienna an interesting pamphlet 'On the history of the Glass harmonica.' From 1863 to 1866 he lived in London, occupied in researches at the British Museum on Haydn and Mozart; the results of which he embodied in his 'Mozart und Haydn in London,' 2 vols. (Vienna, Gerold, 1867), a work full of accurate detail, and indispensable to the student. Through the influence of Jahn and von Köchel, and of his intimate friend the Ritter von Karajan, Mr. Pohl was appointed in January 1866 to the important post of archivist and librarian to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. [See vol. i. 591.] To his care and conscientiousness the present highly satisfactory condition of the immense collections of this great institution is due. In connection therewith he has published two works, which, though of moderate extent, are full of interest, and are marked by that accuracy and sound judgment which distinguish all Mr. Pohl's works, namely, 'Die Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde und ihr Conservatorium in Wien' (Braumüller, 1871), and 'Denkschrift aus Anlass des 100 jährigen Bestehens der Tonkünstler Societät in Wien' (Gerold, 1871). He has been for many years occupied on a biography of Haydn, which he undertook at the instigation of Jahn, and of which vol. i. was published in 1875 (Berlin, Sacco; since transferred to Breitkopf & Härtel) [App. p.750 "the second volume of the Life of Haydn was published in 1882, and that the third is in course of completion by Herr Mandyczewski, to whom Herr Pohl left his materials at his death, which took place in Vienna, April 28, 1887"]. The main facts are contained in his article on Haydn in this Dictionary (vol. i. 702–722). The summaries of the musical events of each year which Mr. Pohl furnishes to the 'Signale für die musikalische Welt,' of which he is the Vienna correspondent, are most careful and correct, and it would be a boon to the student of contemporary music if they could be republished separately. Mr. Pohl's courtesy to students desiring to collate MSS., and his readiness to supply information, are well known to the musical visitors to Vienna. [ F. G. ]

POHL, DR., a German musical critic well known for his thoroughgoing advocacy of Wagner. We learn from M. Pougin's supplement to Fétis that he was born at Leipzig, Sept. 12, 1826, that he devoted himself to mathematics, and after concluding his course at Göttingen and Leipzig was elected to a professorial chair at Gratz. This he vacated for political reasons, and then settled at Dresden and Weimar as a musical critic. He is one of the editors of the 'Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik,' and a frequent contributor to the musical periodicals. He began his Autobiography in the 'Mus. Wochenblatt' for Dec. 30, 1880. [ G. ]

POINT or DOT (Lat. Punctus, vel Punctum; Ital. Punto; Germ. Punct; Fr. Point). A very antient character, used in mediæval Music for many distinct purposes, though its office is now reduced within narrower limits.

The Points described by Zarlino and various early writers are of four different kinds.

I. The, used only in combination with notes naturally Imperfect, was exactly identical, both in form, and effect, with the modern 'Dot'—that is to say, it lengthened the note to which it was appended by one-half, and was necessarily followed by a note equivalent to itself in value, in order to complete the beat. The earliest known allusion to it is to be found in the 'Ars Cantus