PERGOLESI. 615 
Chrifto, which has been fince fupprefied. Gaetano Greco, 
of whom the Italians Hill fpeak with reverence as a con¬ 
trapuntal, prefided then over that celebrated fchool. 
This judicious mafter, foon perceiving uncommon genius 
in his young pupil, took particular pleafure in facilitating 
his ftudies, and communicating to him all the myfteries 
of his art. The progrefs which the young mufician made 
was proportioned to the uncommon advantages of nature 
and art with which he was favoured; and, at a time 
when others had fcarcely learned the garnmut, he pro¬ 
duced fpecimens of his abilities which would have done 
honour to the firll mailers in Naples. At the age of 
fourteen, he began to perceive that tafte and melody 
were facrificed to the pedantry of learned counterpoint; 
and, after vanquilhing the neceffary difficulties in the 
lludy of harmony, fugue, and fcientific texture of the 
parts, he intreated his friends to take him home, that he 
might indulge his own fancies, and write fuch mulic as 
was moll agreeable to his natural perceptions and feelings. 
The inllant he quitted the conlervatorio, he totally 
changed his ilyle, and adopted that of Vinci, of whom he 
received leffons in vocal compofition, and of Hade, who 
was then in high favour. And, though he fo late entered 
the courfe which they were purfuing with fuch rapidity, 
lie foon came up with them ; and, taking the lead, at¬ 
tained the goal, to which their views were pointed, be¬ 
fore them. With equal fimplicity and clearnefs, he 
feems to have lurpalTed them both in graceful and in- 
terefting melody. 
His countrymen, however, were the laffc to difcover or 
allow his fuperiority ; and his firll opera, performed at the 
fecond theatre of Naples, called “ Dei Fiorentini,” met 
with but little fuccefs. The prince of Stigliano, firll 
equerry to the king of Naples, difcovering, however, 
great abilities in the young Pergolefi, took him under his 
protection; and from the year 1730 to 1734, by his in¬ 
fluence, procured employment for him at the Teatro 
Nuovo. But during this period the chief of his produc¬ 
tions were of the comic kind, and in the Neapolitan dia¬ 
led, which is unintelligible to the reft of Italy, except the 
“ Serva Padrona,” fet for the theatre of San Bartolomeo. 
It was not till the year 1735, that an account of his me¬ 
rit penetrated fo far as Rome, and inclined the directors 
of the opera there to engage him to compofe for the Tor- 
dinona theatre in that city. Pergolefi, ambitious of wri¬ 
ting for a better theatre and for better performers than 
thole for which he had hitherto been employed, and 
happy in having the exquifite poetry of Metaftafio’s 
Olimpiade to fet, inftead of the Neapolitan jargon, went 
to work with the zeal and enthufiafm of a man of ge¬ 
nius, animated by hope, and glowing with an ardent paf- 
fion for his art. The Romans, however, by fome unac¬ 
countable fatality, received his opera with coldnefs; and, 
the compofer being a young man but little known, they 
feemed to want to be told by others that his mufic was 
excellent, and would foon, by the admiration of all Eu¬ 
rope, make them affiamed of their injuftice and want of 
tafte. To complete his mortification at the ill reception 
of this opera, “ Nerone,” compofed by Duni, the next 
that was brought on the ftage, and for which his was laid 
afide, had very great fuccefs. Duni, a good mufician, and 
a man of candour, though greatly inferior in genius to 
Pergolefi, is faid to have been afhamed of the treatment 
which he had received; and with an honed indignation 
declared, that he was out of all patience with the Roman 
public, “ frenetico contro il publico Romano.” He even 
tried, during the ftiort life of this opera, to make a party 
in its favour among the profeffors and artifts who were 
captivated with the beauty of the mufic; but all their 
efforts were vain ; the time was not yet come when judg¬ 
ment and feeling were to unite in its favour. 
Pergolefi returned to Naples with the fmall crop of 
laurels which had been beftow'ed on him by profelfors 
and perfons of tafte, who in every country compofe but a 
Vol. XIX. No. 1329. 
very inconfiderable part of an audience. He was indeed 
extremely mortified at the fate of his opera, and not much 
difpofed to refume the pen, till the duke of Matalon, a 
Neapolitan nobleman, engaged him to compofe a rnafs 
and vefpers for the feftival of a faint at Rome, which was 
to be celebrated with the utmoft magnificence. Though 
Pergolefi had but too much caufe to be diflatisfied with 
Roman decrees, he could not decline the duke’s propofi- 
tion ; and it was on this occafion that he compofed the 
“ Mafs, Dixit, et Laudate,” which have been fince fo often 
performed for the public, and tranfcribed for the curious. 
They were heard for the firll time in the church of San 
Lorenzo in Lucina, with general rapture; and, if any 
thing could confole a man of genius for fuch unworthy 
treatment as he had lately experienced at Rome, it mull 
have been the hearty and unequivocal approbation he 
now received in the fame city. His health, however, 
daily and vifibly declined. His friends had perceived, by 
his frequent fpitting of blood, for four or five years be¬ 
fore this period, that he was likely to be cut off in his 
prime; and his malady was ft ill increafed by this laft 
journey to Rome. His firll patron, the prince of Stigli¬ 
ano, who had never cealed to love and protedl him, ad- 
vifed him to take a fmall houfe at Torre del Greco, near 
Naples, on the fea-fide, almoft at the foot of Mount Ve- 
fuvius. It is imagined by the Neapolitans, that perfons 
afflicted with confumptions are either fpeedily cured, or 
elfe killed, in this fituation ; and fo it happened in the 
prefent cafe. 
During his laft ficknefs, Pergolefi compofgd his cele¬ 
brated cantata of Orpheus and Euridice, and his “ Stabat 
Mater,” at Torre del Greco, whence he ufed to go to Na¬ 
ples from time to time to have them tried. The “ Salve 
Regina,” which is printed in England, was the laft of his 
productions; and he died very loon after it was finiflied, 
in 1737, at the age of 33. The inllant his death was 
known, all Italy manifelled an eager defire to hear and 
poffefs his productions, not excepting his firll and molt 
trivial farces and intermezzi; and not only lovers of ele¬ 
gant mufic, and curious collectors elfewhere, but even the 
Neapolitans themfelves, who had heard them with indif¬ 
ference during his lifetime, were now equally folicitous 
to do jultice to the works and memory of their deceafed 
countryman. Rome, fenlible now of its former injuf¬ 
tice, as an amende honorable had his opera of Olimpiade 
revived; an honour which had never been conferred on 
any compofer of the 18th century. It was now brought 
on the ltage w-ith the utmoft magnificence, and the indif¬ 
ference with which it had been heard but two years be¬ 
fore, was converted into rapture. 
Pergolefi is charafterifed by Dr. Burney as “the child 
of tafte and elegance, and nurfling of the graces.” His 
works make an era in modern mufic. His fame is chiefly 
built on his vocal compofitions; “in which (fays Dr. 
Burney) the clearnefs, fimplicity, truth, and fweetnefs, 
of expreffion, juftly entitle him to a fupremacy overall 
his predeceffors and cotemporary rivals, and to a niche 
in the temple of Fame among the great improvers of the 
art.” Burney's Hiji. of Mufic. 
PER'GUBA, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 
Olonetz : fixty-four miles north of Petrozavodlk. 
PERGULA'RIA, f. [from pergula, Lat. a balcony, or 
trellis, in allufion to its twining habit and fragrant blofi- 
foms, which renderthis genus very defirable for bowers.] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs pentandria, order digy- 
nia, or rather gynandria, natural order of contortae; 
(apocinete, Juff.). Generic characters—Calyx: perian- 
thium one-leated, five-cleft, upright, acute, permanent. 
Corolla: one-petalled, falver-lhaped: tube cylindrical, 
longer than the calyx ; border five-parted, flat, with ob¬ 
long fegments. NeCtaries five, femi-fagittate, ere6l, com- 
preifed, attenuated into a dagger-point, curved inwards, 
with a nodding tooth at the outer bale. Stamina: fila¬ 
ments < ■■ ■ - ; antherte two to each gland, curved 
7 S upwards, 
