pastorale

[ pas-tuh-rahl, -ral, -rah-lee, pah-stuh-; Italian pahs-taw-rah-le ]

noun

, Music.

, plural pas·to·rales, pas·to·ra·li [pas-t, uh, -, rah, -lee, -, ral, -ee, pahs-taw-, rah, -lee].

1. an opera, cantata, or the like, with a pastoral subject.
2. a piece of music suggestive of pastoral life.

pastorale

/ ˌpæstəˈrɑːl /

noun

1. a composition evocative of rural life, characterized by moderate compound duple or quadruple time and sometimes a droning accompaniment
2. a musical play based on a rustic story, popular during the 16th century

Word History and Origins

Origin of pastorale¹

1715–25; < Italian, noun use of pastorale pastoral

Word History and Origins

Origin of pastorale¹

C18: Italian, from Latin: pastoral

Example Sentences

The scene was a vibrant pastorale, rendered in thousands of shimmering sequins and beads that filled a nine-foot-wide canvas with a red tasseled border.

From New York Times

He scored the opening scenes, which paint a portrait of the vibrant, thriving Dahomey village, with African pastorale — bouncing a string orchestra along with a gentle groove on regional instruments including kalimba and kora.

From Los Angeles Times

A cinematic pastorale swells around his earnestly nasal voice: a muffled tom-tom beat, a spaghetti-Western guitar line, a gathering horn section, all eventually subsiding back to patient resignation.

From New York Times

“Including 55 serious operas, 6 cantatas, 53 comic operas, 17 operettas, 6 sing-spiele, 4 ballets, 4 vaudevilles, 2 oratorios, one each of fares, pastorales, masques, ballads and buffas.”

From New York Times

With the Friends’ full cooperation, he helped carry “The Wheel” far from its usual country-ish territory, toward a kind of extraterrestrial pastorale with glimmers of Terry Riley’s Minimalism and Miles Davis’s “In a Silent Way.”

From New York Times