Some Remarks on the Pasticcio Sonata and Concerto in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century

Whereas operatic pasticcios are familiar constituents of the musical life of the first half of the eighteenth century, instrumental pasticcios of the same period in the form of sonatas or concertos are much less well known and studied. The article examines some striking instances of the second type taken from two quite different sources and contexts: (1) a manuscript anthology of sonatas and other compositions for flute preserved in Bonn; (2) the repertory of the Dresden Hofkapelle under the leadership of Johann Georg Pisendel. The creation of pasticcios turns out to have been at times a surprisingly skilful and musically sensitive operation.