pasticcio

Baroque opera lends itself to the genre better than most styles, from the “pasticcio” of yore, which recycled pre-existing works, to “The Enchanted Island” in 2011, a Metropolitan Opera commission in which the librettist Jeremy Sams inserted music by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau and others into a plot borrowed from Shakespeare plays.

“A mess”, “disorder”, “confusion”, “unclear” are some of the words that come up when you look to translate the word pasticcio.

He sat working out what it costs to make a pasticcio di pasta; peas and bechamel for four.

A player’s individual move is a numero, his error or lapse in judgment is a pasticcio, or “pastiche”, while his shot on goal is a conclusione, which, should he miss, is considered fallita, or “failed”, the same word Italians use to describe bankruptcy.

She showed her how to make pasticcio.