{{Short description|Musical genre}} {{redirect|Pastorella|person|Giulia Pastorella}} {{other uses}} {{more citations needed|auto=yes|date=December 2009}} [[File:Liksom en herdinna music.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Sheet music for Carl Michael Bellman's Fredman's Epistle 80, ''Liksom en Herdinna, högtids klädd'', one of several pastorales in the 1790 collection]] '''Pastorale''' refers to something of a pastoral nature in music, whether in form or in mood.
In Baroque music, a pastorale is a movement of a melody in thirds over a drone bass, recalling the Christmas music of ''pifferari'', players of the traditional Italian bagpipe and reed pipe. Pastorales are generally in {{music|time|6|8}} or {{music|time|9|8}} or {{music|time|12|8}} metre, at a moderate tempo.
Common examples include the last movement of Corelli's ''Christmas Concerto'' (Op.6, No.8), the third movement of Vivaldi's ''Spring'' concerto from The Four Seasons, the ''Pifa'' movement of Handel's ''Messiah'', the first movements of Bach's ''Pastorale'' (BWV 590) for organ, and the ''Sinfonia'' that opens part II of his Christmas Oratorio as an introduction to the angelic announcement to the shepherds. Scarlatti wrote some examples in his keyboard sonatas, and many other composers in the transition between the baroque and classical eras, particularly French (Marc-Antoine Charpentier, 8 sets, H.479, H.482, H.483, H.484, H.485, H.486, H.492, H.493), used this technique. Rossini famously included a Pastorale section in his ''William Tell Overture.'' The Italian pastorale ''Tu scendi dalle stelle'' is a widely popular Christmas carol by St. Alfonso Liguori, and Pietro Yon's ''Gesù bambino'' is another.
The Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's song collection ''Fredman's Epistles'' contain several pastorales, including ''Liksom en Herdinna, högtids klädd'' (Like a Shepherdess, Solemnly Dressed), which begins with a near-paraphrase of the start of Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux's French guide to the construction of pastoral verse.<ref>Britten Austin, Paul. ''The Life and Songs of Carl Michael Bellman: Genius of the Swedish Rococo''. Allhem, Malmö American-Scandinavian Foundation, New York, 1967. {{ISBN|978-3-932759-00-0}}. Pages 153–155</ref>
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Category:Baroque music Category:Classical period (music) Category:Italian folk music