WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.980 Welcome to another deep dive. Have you ever been 00:00:02.980 --> 00:00:05.099 walking through a brightly lit shopping mall 00:00:05.099 --> 00:00:07.780 in late December? Oh, yeah. Or, you know, perhaps 00:00:07.780 --> 00:00:09.800 sitting in a velvet lined seat at a symphony 00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:12.619 hall and you hear a piece of classical Christmas 00:00:12.619 --> 00:00:17.539 music that has this very specific. swaying, almost 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:20.059 hypnotic rhythm to it. That really distinctive 00:00:20.059 --> 00:00:22.260 rocking back and forth. Exactly. It just sort 00:00:22.260 --> 00:00:24.719 of rocks. And without even consciously realizing 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:27.940 it, your brain immediately says, ah, yes, wintertime, 00:00:28.019 --> 00:00:31.019 shepherds in a field, angels. Right. Have you 00:00:31.019 --> 00:00:33.020 ever stopped to wonder where that highly specific, 00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:36.439 almost universally recognized musical vibe actually 00:00:36.439 --> 00:00:38.979 came from? That's a great question. Today, we're 00:00:38.979 --> 00:00:42.240 taking a look at a single incredibly fascinating 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:45.640 Wikipedia article all about a musical genre called... 00:00:45.640 --> 00:00:48.500 the pastoral and our mission for this deep dive 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:50.840 is to uncover something that feels almost like 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:53.920 a historical heist a heist is a good word for 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:56.840 it we are going to explore how the rustic everyday 00:00:56.840 --> 00:01:00.340 street music of freezing italian bagpipers secretly 00:01:00.340 --> 00:01:03.219 infiltrated the absolute greatest hits of the 00:01:03.219 --> 00:01:06.359 baroque and classical eras and how it still fundamentally 00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:09.400 dictates the music you hear today It is a genuine 00:01:09.400 --> 00:01:11.719 pleasure to be exploring this with you because 00:01:11.719 --> 00:01:14.260 we really aren't just looking at, you know, dry 00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:17.299 music theory or dusty sheet music today. We are 00:01:17.299 --> 00:01:19.379 looking at a fascinating cultural bridge. We're 00:01:19.379 --> 00:01:21.480 examining this incredible historical through 00:01:21.480 --> 00:01:25.439 line between humble, everyday shepherds playing 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:28.400 to keep warm in the fields and the high art composers 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:31.819 writing for the grandest courts, kings and cathedrals 00:01:31.819 --> 00:01:34.719 in Europe. It's wild to think about. It really 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:38.510 is. It's a story of how a raw. earthy folk tradition 00:01:38.510 --> 00:01:41.370 was essentially captured in amber by classical 00:01:41.370 --> 00:01:44.030 music, preserving the sound of the streets inside 00:01:44.030 --> 00:01:46.469 the concert hall. Okay, let's unpack this. Let's 00:01:46.469 --> 00:01:48.209 start right at the foundation. Let's do it. The 00:01:48.209 --> 00:01:51.290 anatomy of a pastoral. What exactly is it we 00:01:51.290 --> 00:01:54.129 are listening to? The Wikipedia article defines 00:01:54.129 --> 00:01:57.189 the pastoral at its core as music that evokes 00:01:57.189 --> 00:01:59.760 a pastoral nature. Right, the countryside. Yeah, 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:02.859 it's meant to conjure the rural life, the agrarian 00:02:02.859 --> 00:02:05.859 ideal. That can come across in its strict formal 00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:09.159 structure or just its overall mood. But structurally, 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:11.400 if we look at the Baroque pastoral, it has some 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:14.060 very specific mechanical requirements. Very specific. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:16.900 We are told it features a melody moving in thirds, 00:02:17.020 --> 00:02:19.120 and it is played over something called a drone 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:22.139 bass. Yes. Now, for the listener who might just 00:02:22.139 --> 00:02:24.479 enjoy listening to music but doesn't read sheet 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:27.419 music every day, can you explain what a drone 00:02:27.419 --> 00:02:31.120 bass actually is? Absolutely. Think of a drone 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:35.069 base as a musical anchor. Conceptually, it is 00:02:35.069 --> 00:02:38.169 a steady, continuous, unchanging, underlying 00:02:38.169 --> 00:02:41.349 note that just holds constantly at the very bottom 00:02:41.349 --> 00:02:43.569 of the music. Like it never moves at all. Never 00:02:43.569 --> 00:02:45.889 moves. It never shifts chords. It doesn't follow 00:02:45.889 --> 00:02:48.110 the complex harmonic progressions you might normally 00:02:48.110 --> 00:02:50.650 expect in classical music. It just sits there 00:02:50.650 --> 00:02:53.250 humming along, creating a sonic floor. Okay. 00:02:53.330 --> 00:02:55.770 And what that does is it entirely grounds the 00:02:55.770 --> 00:02:58.090 melody happening above it. So you have this long, 00:02:58.110 --> 00:03:00.729 sustained, unmoving note at the bottom, and above 00:03:00.729 --> 00:03:03.139 it you have a melody moving in thirds. And what 00:03:03.139 --> 00:03:06.159 exactly does moving in thirds sound like to the 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:08.340 human ear? It means the notes of the melody are 00:03:08.340 --> 00:03:10.780 harmonized at a specific interval, a third apart. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:13.460 Right. Which produces a sound that is incredibly 00:03:13.460 --> 00:03:17.060 sweet, parallel and consonant. There's no harsh 00:03:17.060 --> 00:03:20.460 tension there. Got it. So you have this droning 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:23.680 earthy floor and this incredibly sweet swaying 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:27.169 melody dancing right on top of it. perfectly 00:03:27.169 --> 00:03:29.710 mimics the actual physical mechanics of a bagpipe. 00:03:29.830 --> 00:03:31.430 Oh, because of the pipes themselves. Exactly. 00:03:31.650 --> 00:03:34.490 A bagpipe literally has drone pipes that play 00:03:34.490 --> 00:03:37.509 a constant, unyielding note while the player 00:03:37.509 --> 00:03:40.409 fingers a separate, complex melody on a different 00:03:40.409 --> 00:03:43.250 pipe called the chanter. The classical composers 00:03:43.250 --> 00:03:45.849 were literally writing orchestral music to sound 00:03:45.849 --> 00:03:48.580 like a piece of wood and leather. That is a fascinating 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:50.960 acoustic trick. You have an entire section of 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:53.520 cellos or double basses just imitating a leather 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:55.800 bag full of air. Yeah, pretty much. And the article 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:58.060 gives us the specific time signatures that create 00:03:58.060 --> 00:04:00.659 the swaying feeling. Pastorelles are generally 00:04:00.659 --> 00:04:04.460 written in 68, 98, or 128 meter and played at 00:04:04.460 --> 00:04:06.639 a moderate tempo. What's fascinating here is 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:09.599 how that specific time signature connects to 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:12.580 another deeply famous Italian style of music, 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:15.680 the tarantella. Oh, wow. Now, you might know 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:18.120 the tarantella as that frenetic, wildly fast, 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.720 almost chaotic Italian folk dance. Right. The 00:04:21.720 --> 00:04:24.259 legend is that the tarantella was danced to cure 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:26.720 the bite of a tarantula spider. So it is incredibly 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:28.459 rapid. You know, it's supposed to make you sweat 00:04:28.459 --> 00:04:31.839 the venom out. Exactly. But the pastoral is essentially 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:36.069 a slowed down version. of that exact same tarantella. 00:04:36.129 --> 00:04:39.310 Really? Yes. It encompasses many of the exact 00:04:39.310 --> 00:04:42.389 same rhythms and melodic phrases, but it pulls 00:04:42.389 --> 00:04:45.550 them back to that moderate, gentle tempo. It 00:04:45.550 --> 00:04:48.050 takes that frantic galloping rhythm and turns 00:04:48.050 --> 00:04:50.850 it into a peaceful, rocking lullaby. Wait, let 00:04:50.850 --> 00:04:52.750 me push back on that for a second. So they took 00:04:52.750 --> 00:04:55.790 a frantic, chaotic dance meant to cure a venomous 00:04:55.790 --> 00:04:57.970 spider bite and just hit the slow motion button? 00:04:58.189 --> 00:05:00.250 Basically, yeah. Does that actually work musically, 00:05:00.310 --> 00:05:02.069 or does it just sound like a vinyl record playing 00:05:02.069 --> 00:05:04.110 at the wrong speed? It works brilliantly, and 00:05:04.110 --> 00:05:06.370 it has to do with the psychology of rhythm. When 00:05:06.370 --> 00:05:09.629 you play a 68 rhythm at a breakneck speed, it 00:05:09.629 --> 00:05:12.050 feels like galloping horses or a pounding heartbeat. 00:05:12.779 --> 00:05:15.199 Induces adrenaline. Right, panic mode. But when 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:17.420 you have that tempo, the exact same mathematical 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:19.939 subdivision suddenly mimics the rocking of a 00:05:19.939 --> 00:05:22.720 cradle, or the gentle swaying of wheat in a field, 00:05:22.839 --> 00:05:26.420 or a shepherd slowly walking. It changes from 00:05:26.420 --> 00:05:30.300 inducing panic to inducing deep relaxation. That 00:05:30.300 --> 00:05:33.079 completely reframes how I hear those rhythms. 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:35.920 So that gives us the what of the pastoral, the 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:40.379 slow, swaying, bagpipe imitating lullaby. Let's 00:05:40.379 --> 00:05:42.300 move into the where and the who. the roots of 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:44.279 it all. Because this music didn't just appear 00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:46.019 out of thin air in the middle of Venetian concert 00:05:46.019 --> 00:05:48.980 hall, it was directly inspired by a very specific 00:05:48.980 --> 00:05:51.579 group of people, the Piferari. Yes. These were 00:05:51.579 --> 00:05:53.639 the players of traditional Italian bagpipes, 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:55.819 and their rural Christmas music was the direct 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:58.540 inspiration for this entire genre. Imagine being 00:05:58.540 --> 00:06:00.939 a wealthy aristocrat in Rome or Naples in the 00:06:00.939 --> 00:06:03.439 17th century. Sitting in your palazzo. Right. 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:05.860 During the Christmas season, these rural shepherds 00:06:05.860 --> 00:06:07.720 would come down from the hills and into the cities, 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:10.439 playing this deeply traditional rustic music 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:13.480 right on the cold streets. And we have to understand 00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:15.959 why the urban elites were so captivated by this. 00:06:16.019 --> 00:06:18.160 Right. Why did they care? There was a massive 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:21.220 socioeconomic divide. The wealthy aristocrats 00:06:21.220 --> 00:06:24.160 and the elite composers of the Baroque era lived 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:27.920 highly structured, rigidly formal lives. To them, 00:06:27.939 --> 00:06:31.120 these freezing, dirt -poor shepherds represented 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:34.699 the pastoral ideal. Ah, romanticizing the simple 00:06:34.699 --> 00:06:37.279 life. Exactly. It was a highly sanitized obsession. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:40.790 They heard this raw... piercing street music 00:06:40.790 --> 00:06:43.250 and didn't just hear peasants, they heard a connection 00:06:43.250 --> 00:06:45.970 to nature, to antiquity, and to an uncorrupted 00:06:45.970 --> 00:06:48.319 way of living. And the instruments those shepherds 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:50.360 were playing are crucial to understanding the 00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:52.399 sound the classical composers were trying to 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:55.480 mimic. The article specifically details two instruments. 00:06:55.660 --> 00:06:58.019 Right. First is the zampogna, which is the traditional 00:06:58.019 --> 00:07:00.879 Italian bagpipe. This is the instrument providing 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:03.100 that continuous humming grown bass we talked 00:07:03.100 --> 00:07:05.759 about, along with the melody. But the zampogna 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:08.319 was very often accompanied by a second instrument, 00:07:08.540 --> 00:07:11.199 the piffero, which is the namesake of the pifferari 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:14.180 players themselves. And the piffero is a truly 00:07:14.180 --> 00:07:16.740 remarkable piece of musical history. to dissect. 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:20.720 It is described as a primitive, keyless, double 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:23.240 reed, oboe type instrument. Can we break down 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:25.399 what double reed actually means for the sound? 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:27.680 Because when we think of classical woodwinds 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:31.720 today, we think of very smooth, polished, silver 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:35.139 keyed instruments. It is the exact opposite of 00:07:35.139 --> 00:07:37.939 smooth and polished. Unlike a flute. where you 00:07:37.939 --> 00:07:40.639 blow gently over a hole or a clarinet that uses 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:43.160 a single reed against a mouthpiece. A double 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:45.839 reed is literally two pieces of stiff cane tied 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:48.439 together. When you blow through them, they vibrate 00:07:48.439 --> 00:07:50.720 violently against each other. Oh, wow. It creates 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:53.139 a buzzing, piercing tone. Think of the harsh 00:07:53.139 --> 00:07:56.139 nasal sound of a duck call. And because the piffaro 00:07:56.139 --> 00:07:58.300 is keyless, the player is just covering wooden 00:07:58.300 --> 00:08:00.779 holes directly with their bare fingers. It is 00:08:00.779 --> 00:08:03.199 a rugged outdoor instrument specifically designed 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:06.040 to be loud enough to cut right through howling 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:08.819 winter winds across a mountain valley. A duck 00:08:08.819 --> 00:08:10.379 call cutting through the winter wind. That is 00:08:10.379 --> 00:08:13.360 such a vivid auditory image. And depending on 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:14.720 where you are in Italy, this instrument goes 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:16.740 by quite a few regional names. Yes, it does. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:19.379 The Wikipedia article notes it is also commonly 00:08:19.379 --> 00:08:23.079 called a shiramella, a pepita, or a bifera. And 00:08:23.079 --> 00:08:25.199 it is so important to point out that this is 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:27.620 not just an archaeological dig into dead history. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:29.639 Not at all. We aren't talking about a forgotten 00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:32.379 practice from hundreds of years ago. This music 00:08:32.379 --> 00:08:35.110 is still alive. You can travel to the regions 00:08:35.110 --> 00:08:37.529 of southern Italy today where the zamponia continues 00:08:37.529 --> 00:08:39.990 to thrive. You really can. You can still hear 00:08:39.990 --> 00:08:43.309 a solo zamponia player or one accompanied by 00:08:43.309 --> 00:08:46.230 that piercing piffreau keeping this exact same 00:08:46.230 --> 00:08:49.210 unbroken musical tradition alive in the streets. 00:08:49.529 --> 00:08:51.990 It is a living, breathing tradition that has 00:08:51.990 --> 00:08:55.570 survived centuries. And that survival is exactly 00:08:55.570 --> 00:08:58.110 what makes the next part of our deep dive so 00:08:58.110 --> 00:09:00.450 compelling. Right. Because we have to look at 00:09:00.450 --> 00:09:02.980 how that living... gritty, street -level tradition 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:05.940 got scooped up and polished by the most elite 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:08.100 musical minds in European history. Here's where 00:09:08.100 --> 00:09:10.460 it gets really interesting. We are talking about 00:09:10.460 --> 00:09:14.139 the classical mega -hits. The big ones. The absolute 00:09:14.139 --> 00:09:16.639 rock star composers of the Baroque and classical 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:20.840 eras essentially hijacked this bagpipe vibe and 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:22.580 made it the centerpiece of their masterworks. 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:24.860 We are talking about pieces of music that define 00:09:24.860 --> 00:09:27.519 Western culture. Truly. There is the last movement 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:30.320 of Arcangelo Corelli's Christmas Concerto, Op. 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:33.460 6. number eight. There is the third movement 00:09:33.460 --> 00:09:36.720 of Antonio Vivaldi's Spring Concerto. Four Seasons. 00:09:36.820 --> 00:09:39.519 Yes, from the legendary Four Seasons. And there 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:42.039 is the Pifa movement from George Friedrich Handel's 00:09:42.039 --> 00:09:45.080 Messiah. Right in the middle of these monumental, 00:09:45.379 --> 00:09:48.240 highly sophisticated compositions, you suddenly 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:51.080 have full string sections mimicking the drone 00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:53.539 and the duck call sound of Italian shepherds. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:55.759 It really is staggering when you consider the 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:57.820 cultural weight of those pieces. Think about 00:09:57.820 --> 00:10:00.240 Vivaldi's Spring. You have all this high high 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:02.759 art Venetian violin mastery, but the third movement 00:10:02.759 --> 00:10:05.419 is literally a pastoral dance. The lower strings 00:10:05.419 --> 00:10:07.259 are holding that bagpipe drone and the upper 00:10:07.259 --> 00:10:09.539 strings are playing that swaying simple shepherd's 00:10:09.539 --> 00:10:12.580 melody. But the most profound application of 00:10:12.580 --> 00:10:15.240 this has to be from Johann Sebastian Bach. Okay, 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:17.279 tell me more about that because we usually think 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:20.860 of Bach as the ultimate master of complex mathematical 00:10:20.860 --> 00:10:23.679 counterpoint, not simple peasant music. Exactly, 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:26.470 which makes his use of the pastoral. So striking. 00:10:26.629 --> 00:10:29.409 He utilized the pastoral form in some highly 00:10:29.409 --> 00:10:32.490 specific, deeply theological ways. He wrote a 00:10:32.490 --> 00:10:35.769 standalone pastoral, BWV 590, for the organ, 00:10:35.850 --> 00:10:38.350 which is beautiful. Right. But the crucial example 00:10:38.350 --> 00:10:41.570 is the Sinfonia that opens part two of his massive 00:10:41.570 --> 00:10:45.639 Christmas oratorio. Bach uses this specific pastoral 00:10:45.639 --> 00:10:49.259 form that's swaying 128 meter, the unmoving drone, 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:52.419 the parallel thirds, as the direct musical introduction 00:10:52.419 --> 00:10:54.419 to the angelic announcement to the shepherds. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:57.000 So he is setting a scene. It is more than just 00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:59.360 setting a scene. It is a profound theological 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:02.120 statement. By bringing the gritty, recognizable 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:04.659 music of street -level bagpipers into the pristine 00:11:04.659 --> 00:11:07.080 environment of a grand German church, Bach is 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:09.000 musically demonstrating that the divine message 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:11.320 of the Christmas story was delivered to the lowest, 00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:14.320 poorest rungs of society first. That is incredible. 00:11:14.539 --> 00:11:17.159 He is using the shepherd's own musical language 00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:20.539 to valigate them before the choir of angels even 00:11:20.539 --> 00:11:23.720 begins to sing. It is an incredibly brilliant 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:26.820 narrative and cultural device. He is basically 00:11:26.820 --> 00:11:29.399 creating a cinematic soundscape with a social 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:31.700 message built into the sheet music. Exactly. 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:33.980 If you want the aristocratic audience in the 00:11:33.980 --> 00:11:36.799 pews to instantly picture freezing shepherds 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:39.039 in a field at night, you just play the bagpipe 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:41.200 music they hear on the streets, but you play 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:43.700 it on a massive church organ or a full orchestra. 00:11:43.980 --> 00:11:46.960 It's genius. And this viral trend didn't stop 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:49.799 with the Baroque era. The Wikipedia article shows 00:11:49.799 --> 00:11:52.070 how this transition seems. into the classical 00:11:52.070 --> 00:11:55.049 era and beyond. We have Domenico Scarlatti writing 00:11:55.049 --> 00:11:57.649 pastoralis directly into his keyboard sonatas. 00:11:57.850 --> 00:12:01.090 We have the French composer Marc -Antoine Charpentier 00:12:01.090 --> 00:12:03.389 who completely obsessed over this technique. 00:12:03.629 --> 00:12:05.950 Charpentier is a fascinating case because he 00:12:05.950 --> 00:12:08.490 represents how this Italian street music merged 00:12:08.490 --> 00:12:11.190 with refined French compositional techniques. 00:12:11.470 --> 00:12:14.070 He didn't just dabble in the pastoral. He wrote 00:12:14.070 --> 00:12:17.720 eight massive separate sets of them. He recognized 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:19.980 that the French courts, much like the Italian 00:12:19.980 --> 00:12:23.980 elites, were absolutely infatuated with the pastoral 00:12:23.980 --> 00:12:26.279 ideal. And speaking of bringing it into the modern 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:28.340 concert hall, we have to talk about Giochino 00:12:28.340 --> 00:12:31.200 Rossini. Fast forward a bit and Rossini famously 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:34.539 slips a massive pastoral section right into the 00:12:34.539 --> 00:12:37.440 middle of his iconic William Tell overture. Oh, 00:12:37.460 --> 00:12:40.750 yeah. Most people know that piece of music for 00:12:40.750 --> 00:12:43.330 the galloping, adrenaline -fueled Lone Ranger 00:12:43.330 --> 00:12:45.809 theme at the very end. But right before that 00:12:45.809 --> 00:12:48.929 chaotic finale, Rossini deliberately gives the 00:12:48.929 --> 00:12:51.870 audience a peaceful, swaying pastoral scene, 00:12:52.090 --> 00:12:54.970 usually featuring a solo English horn or flute 00:12:54.970 --> 00:12:58.029 over a drone. It's beautiful. He uses the tranquility 00:12:58.029 --> 00:12:59.990 of the Shepard's music to make the explosion 00:12:59.990 --> 00:13:02.809 of the finale feel that much more intense. It 00:13:02.809 --> 00:13:05.169 just goes to show how enduring and versatile 00:13:05.169 --> 00:13:07.909 this musical shortcut was for composers. If we 00:13:07.909 --> 00:13:10.110 connect this to the bigger picture, it explains 00:13:10.110 --> 00:13:12.649 so much about our modern everyday relationship 00:13:12.649 --> 00:13:15.809 with holiday music. Because you might be wondering 00:13:15.809 --> 00:13:19.289 why this very specific 68 Italian bagpipe rhythm 00:13:19.289 --> 00:13:22.230 is something you instantly associate so heavily 00:13:22.230 --> 00:13:25.539 with winter and Christmas today. Yeah, why is 00:13:25.539 --> 00:13:27.980 that so hardwired into us? It isn't just because 00:13:27.980 --> 00:13:30.820 Bach and Handel used it. It is because those 00:13:30.820 --> 00:13:34.059 early Piferaris were specifically playing Christmas 00:13:34.059 --> 00:13:37.120 music in the streets. And that association carried 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:39.179 all the way through history into some of the 00:13:39.179 --> 00:13:41.620 most popular Italian Christmas carols ever written. 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:44.720 Right, the holiday soundtrack. The article highlights 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:47.860 a massively popular Italian Christmas carol called 00:13:47.860 --> 00:13:49.960 Ducendi dalle stelle, which is appropriately 00:13:49.960 --> 00:13:52.519 translated as the Carol of the Bagpipers, or 00:13:52.519 --> 00:13:56.240 in the original Neapolitan, I love that. It was 00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:59.039 written by St. Alfonso Liguri, and it perfectly 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:02.059 encapsulates that swaying pastoral feel. And 00:14:02.059 --> 00:14:04.360 we also have another classic mentioned, Pietro 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:07.340 Jan's Gesù Bambino. These are the specific melodies 00:14:07.340 --> 00:14:11.279 that cemented that rocking 68 rhythm into our 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:13.360 collective holiday consciousness over the last 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:16.539 century. When you hear that rocking meter in 00:14:16.539 --> 00:14:19.419 a modern Christmas song, your brain is reacting 00:14:19.419 --> 00:14:22.580 to a centuries -old tradition of street performance. 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:25.519 Okay, I totally get Germany and France adopting 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:27.779 this. The courts were connected, the composers 00:14:27.779 --> 00:14:30.679 studied each other, but did this trend hit a 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:33.759 geographic limit? I mean, how far could an Italian 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:36.419 bagpipe rhythm really travel before it stopped 00:14:36.419 --> 00:14:38.500 making sense to the culture? This is where we 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:40.679 get one of those fantastic historical quirks 00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:42.720 that you just have to marvel at, because it didn't 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:44.740 stop in Central Europe. traveled all the way 00:14:44.740 --> 00:14:46.840 to Scandinavia. And this is exactly what I found 00:14:46.840 --> 00:14:49.779 so wild in the reading. In 1790, the Swedish 00:14:49.779 --> 00:14:52.200 poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman published 00:14:52.200 --> 00:14:54.799 a famous song collection called Fredman's Epistles. 00:14:54.940 --> 00:14:57.960 Yes. And right there in this 18th century Swedish 00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:00.620 collection of tavern songs and poetry, you find 00:15:00.620 --> 00:15:03.000 several pastorelles. The article specifically 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:06.379 details a song called Liksom and Hardina, Hugtidskled, 00:15:06.519 --> 00:15:09.440 which translates to like a shepherdess, solemnly 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:11.740 dressed. And the most absurd part, this Swedish 00:15:11.740 --> 00:15:14.419 song begins as a near... paraphrase of a completely 00:15:14.419 --> 00:15:17.360 different source, Nicolas Boileau de Preux's 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:19.759 French Guide to the Construction of Pastoral 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:23.460 Verse. It is a stunning Almost comical example 00:15:23.460 --> 00:15:26.960 of cross -cultural pollination. Think about the 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:29.279 chain of events here. You have an Italian street 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:31.419 music tradition played by freezing peasants. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:34.360 Right. Which is formalized by elite German and 00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:37.399 French high art composers who are heavily utilizing 00:15:37.399 --> 00:15:40.000 French poetry guides to ensure they get the rustic 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:42.279 vibe exactly right. And then that French poetry 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:45.179 guide is adapted by a Swedish poet for a song 00:15:45.179 --> 00:15:47.159 collection meant to be sung in the taverns of 00:15:47.159 --> 00:15:50.100 Stockholm in 1790. It is the ultimate musical 00:15:50.100 --> 00:15:53.440 game of telephone. From a wooden pipe in a field 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:56.559 in Naples, to a French poetry textbook, to a 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:59.320 Swedish drinking song. It shows how the idea 00:15:59.320 --> 00:16:02.039 of the pastoral, the deep human desire to capture 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:05.179 that simple, rustic shepherd life, was universally 00:16:05.179 --> 00:16:07.440 appealing across all of Europe, regardless of 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:09.580 the language or the snory geography. Exactly. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:12.159 It wasn't about the actual reality of being a 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:14.039 poor shepherd. It was about the feeling that 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:17.740 the music evoked. Peace, simplicity, and a connection 00:16:17.740 --> 00:16:21.320 to the earth. So, what does this all mean? As 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:23.600 we look back over all of this history, the grand 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:26.980 synthesis here is just how powerful a simple, 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:30.220 honest sound can be. Beautifully put. An incredibly 00:16:30.220 --> 00:16:33.360 specific, gritty sound from the fields of southern 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:36.639 Italy, just a continuous humming drone bass and 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:39.080 some rocking harmonized thirds played on a piece 00:16:39.080 --> 00:16:42.259 of cane, literally conquered the elite concert 00:16:42.259 --> 00:16:46.269 halls of Europe. It became the ultimate, universally 00:16:46.269 --> 00:16:48.929 understood shortcut for any composer wanting 00:16:48.929 --> 00:16:51.889 to evoke nature, angels, peace, and shepherds. 00:16:52.250 --> 00:16:54.730 And that is the true lasting value of understanding 00:16:54.730 --> 00:16:57.090 this history. It completely changes how you listen 00:16:57.090 --> 00:16:58.950 to the world around you. It really does. The 00:16:58.950 --> 00:17:00.570 next time you are listening to a playlist of 00:17:00.570 --> 00:17:02.590 holiday music, or the next time you are sitting 00:17:02.590 --> 00:17:04.769 in a symphony hall taking in a grand baroque 00:17:04.769 --> 00:17:07.430 masterpiece by Bach or Vivaldi, I urge you to 00:17:07.430 --> 00:17:09.410 keep your ears open. Pay attention to the bass. 00:17:09.730 --> 00:17:12.069 Yes. When the music suddenly shifts into that 00:17:12.069 --> 00:17:15.589 swaying 68 or 128 time, and you hear that low 00:17:15.589 --> 00:17:18.349 humming drone bass anchoring the melody at the 00:17:18.349 --> 00:17:20.230 bottom of the orchestra, I want you to realize 00:17:20.230 --> 00:17:22.059 what is actually happening. You are not just 00:17:22.059 --> 00:17:24.119 hearing abstract notes on a page written by a 00:17:24.119 --> 00:17:27.000 wealthy genius in a wig. No. You are hearing 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:30.059 the ghosts of Italian bagpipers. You are hearing 00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:32.700 the pifferari playing their primitive keyless 00:17:32.700 --> 00:17:35.940 pifferos in the cold winter air, trying to keep 00:17:35.940 --> 00:17:38.200 their fingers warm. It fundamentally changes 00:17:38.200 --> 00:17:40.980 the whole way you experience the music. You start 00:17:40.980 --> 00:17:43.519 hearing the dirt, the wood, and the breath beneath 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:46.970 all those shiny violins. You do. And this raises 00:17:46.970 --> 00:17:49.490 an important question. We've seen how the highest, 00:17:49.549 --> 00:17:52.210 most respected art music of the broken classical 00:17:52.210 --> 00:17:55.970 eras was heavily borrowing from and formalizing 00:17:55.970 --> 00:17:59.630 the raw everyday street music of Italian bagpipers. 00:17:59.670 --> 00:18:02.509 The composers took the gritty folk music of their 00:18:02.509 --> 00:18:05.890 time and elevated it into untouchable masterpieces. 00:18:06.069 --> 00:18:08.410 That's interesting. What beats or rhythms are 00:18:08.410 --> 00:18:10.750 currently bouncing around in hip hop or underground 00:18:10.750 --> 00:18:13.450 electronic dance music or regional folk styles 00:18:13.450 --> 00:18:15.859 that will quietly become the review? weird, highly 00:18:15.859 --> 00:18:19.000 structured high art of the future. What sounds 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:21.539 are we ignoring is just everyday noise right 00:18:21.539 --> 00:18:24.779 now that elite composers 200 years from now will 00:18:24.779 --> 00:18:26.940 be rigorously studying and putting into their 00:18:26.940 --> 00:18:29.359 grandest symphonies without us even realizing 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:31.900 it. The idea that today's dismissed street cornered 00:18:31.900 --> 00:18:34.200 beat is tomorrow's classical mega hit is exactly 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:36.960 why we do these deep dives. Thank you so much 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:39.000 for joining us as we unpack the hidden history 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:41.680 of the Pastoral. It has been an absolute blast 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:43.940 taking this musical journey with you. Keep your 00:18:43.940 --> 00:18:46.039 ears open, keep questioning the origins of what 00:18:46.039 --> 00:18:48.460 you hear, and we will see you on the next deep 00:18:48.460 --> 00:18:48.740 dive.