Aneclogue is apoem in aclassical style on apastoral subject. Poems in thegenre are sometimes also calledbucolics. The term is also used for a musical genre thought of as evoking a pastoral scene.
The form of the wordeclogue in contemporaryEnglish developed fromMiddle Englisheclog, which came from Latinecloga, which came fromGreekeklogē (ἐκλογή) in the sense 'selection, literary product' (which was only one of the meanings it had in Greek).[1] The term was applied metaphorically to short writings in any genre, including parts of a poeticsequence or poetry book.
As a genre of poetry, Eclogues began with the Latin poetVirgil, whose collection of tenEclogae was ultimately modelled on theIdylls ofTheocritus.[2] and was alternatively termedBucolica.[3][4] Found there was a sophisticated mixture ofpastoral dialogues, song contests and contemporary references. Virgil's term was used by later Latin poets to refer to their own pastoral poetry, often in imitation of Virgil, as in the cases of theEclogae of Calpurnius Siculus and theEclogae of Nemesianus. Calpurnius also employed rustic vocabulary and archaic expressions to add to their distancing effect.[5]
The practice of writing eclogues was extended by the 15th century ItalianhumanistsBaptista Mantuanus andJacopo Sannazaro whose Latin poetry was imitated in a variety of European vernaculars during theRenaissance, including in English. However, "the first Renaissance bucolic poem written in England" was a 1497 eclogue in Latin by Johannes Opicius in praise ofHenry VII. Written in the form of a dialogue between the shepherds Mopsus and Melibœus, praising the ruler of the country for bringing back aGolden Age of prosperity and safety, the poem was modelled on the first of Virgil'sEclogues in praise ofOctavian and the first eclogue byCalpurnius Siculus in praise ofNero.[6] So far as is known, the poem remained in manuscript and even the first eclogues written in the English language byAlexander Barclay remained unpublished until about 1514. These were written earlier and adapted from 15th century Latin originals by Mantuanus andAeneas Silvius.[7]
Edmund Spenser was also inspired by Mantuan's eclogues, as well as by Virgil andTheocritus, when he composed theShepheardes Calendar (1579), a series of twelve eclogues, one for each month of the year.[8] Each is titled anAegloga and contains for the most part dialogues by different speakers on a variety of subjects. In the background too is the example of Calpurnius, manifested here in the antiquated vocabulary drawn fromJohn Skelton andGeoffrey Chaucer. And behind the plain (but far from unlettered) language is vigorous allusion to contemporary events, particularlythe proposed marriage between the queen and a Catholic Frenchman.[9] Spenser's eclogues were youthful work, as wereAlexander Pope'sPastorals, consisting of four shepherd dialogues divided between the seasons. They were originally composed in 1704 but first published in 1709;[10] and to the 1717 edition, Pope added his originally intended "Discourse on Pastoral Poetry" in which he acknowledged the examples of Theocritus and Virgil ("the only undisputed authors of Pastoral") along with Spenser.[11]
In between had comePhineas Fletcher'sPiscatorie Eclogs (1633), imitations of Sannazaro's much earlierEclogae Piscatoriae (Fishermen's eclogues, 1526), in which the traditional shepherds are exchanged for fishermen from theBay of Naples.[12] He was followed in this refocussing of the traditional subject matter in the following century byWilliam Diaper, in whoseNereides: or Sea-Eclogues (1712) the speakers are sea-gods and sea-nymphs.[13]
By the early 18th century, thepastoralgenre was ripe for renewal and an element of parody began to be introduced.John Gay ridiculed the eclogues ofAmbrose Philips in the six 'pastorals' ofThe Shepherd's Week.[14] The impulse to renewal and parody also met in the various "town eclogues" published at this time, transferring their focus from the fields to city preoccupations. The first was a joint publication byJonathan Swift and his friends inThe Tatler for 1710;[15]John Gay wrote three more, as well asThe Espousal, "a sober eclogue between two of the people called Quakers";[16] andMary Wortley Montagu began writing a further sixTown Eclogues from 1715.[17]
In ScotlandAllan Ramsay brought the novelty ofScots dialect to his two pastoral dialogues of 1723, "Patie and Roger"[18] and "Jenny and Meggy",[18] before expanding them into the pastoral drama ofThe Gentle Shepherd in the following year. Later the eclogue was further renewed by being set in exotic lands, first by thePersian Eclogues (1742) ofWilliam Collins, a revised version of which titledOriental Eclogues was published in 1757.[19] It was followed by the threeAfrican Eclogues (1770) ofThomas Chatterton,[20] and byScott of Amwell's threeOriental Eclogues (1782) with settings in Arabia, Bengal and Tang dynasty China.[21]
In 1811 the fortunes of thePeninsular War brought the subject back to Europe in the form of fourSpanish Eclogues, including an elegy on the death of theMarquis de la Romana issued under the pseudonym Hispanicus.[22] These were described in a contemporary review as "formed on the model of Collins".[23] In the following decade they were followed by a vernacular "Irish eclogue",Darby and Teague, a satirical account of a royal visit to Dublin ascribed to William Russell Macdonald (1787–1854).[24]
The term eclogue or its equivalents was eventually applied topastoral music, with the first significant examples being piano works by the Czech composerVáclav Tomášek.[25] 19th century composers who adopted the title includeJan Václav Voříšek for piano;[26]Franz Liszt, "Eglogue", the seventh piece in the first book ofAnnées de Pèlerinage, 1842);[27]César Franck, "Eglogue", op. 3, 1842,[28] as well as the later eighth movement of the oratorioRuth (1882), titledeglogue biblique, a setting of the words of Alexandre Guillemin;[29][30]Antonín Dvořák, "4 eclogues for piano", Op. 56, 1880;[31]Vítězslav Novák,Eklogen, Op. 11 for piano, 1896;[32] andMel Bonis, "Eglogue" for piano, Op. 12, 1898.[33]
Two further pieces for solo piano followed in the new century:Egon Wellesz's "4 eclogues", Op. 11, 1912,[34] andJean Sibelius'sEkloge, the first of his "4 lyric pieces for piano", Op. 74, 1914.[35] Similar titles were given the second and third movements ofIgor Stravinsky'sDuo Concertant ("Eclogue I" and "Eclogue II", 1932), while the middle movement of his three-movementOde (1943) is also titled "Eclogue".Gerald Finzi's "Eclogue" for piano and string orchestra, Op. 10, was revised in the 1940s and given that title then.[36] An "Eclogue" for horn and strings byMaurice Blower dates from about the 1950s.[37] In the 21st century, American composer Henry Justin Rubin'sEgloga for violin and piano dates from 2006.[38]
The form of the "Eclogue," or pastoral poem, has a certain traditional significance for Czech musicians. The name as applied to a musical piece seems to have originated with the famous ultra-conservative Bohemian pedagogue, Václav Tomašek, 1774-1850, who, departing from the conventional classic path of the sonata, allowed his fancy free play in a series of lyrical pieces for pianoforte called Eclogues (1807), Rhapsodies (1810) and Dithyrambs (1818). Dvořák adopted the title of Eclogue for one of his pianoforte works and Šín has carried it down to contemporary music in the pleasant idyll published in the Album.
