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Feste romane (Roman Festivals)
Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome)
Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome)
Ottorino Respighi
fter being schooled in his native Bologna,
Ottorino Respighi started his career in
earnest as an orchestral viola player in Russia,
where he had the opportunity to study with
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, renowned as a master
of orchestral color. After returning to Italy
Respighi occasionally flirted with modernism,
but he always retreated to an essentially conservative stance. In 1910 he became associated with
the anti-establishmentarian Lega dei Cinque, an
Italian League of Five comprising composers
Ildebrando Pizzetti, Gian Francesco Malipiero,
Giannotto Bastianelli, and Renzo Bossi. The
League advocated, in Bastianelli’s words,
A
the risorgimento of Italian music … which
from the end of the golden 18th century
until today has been, with very few exceptions, depressed and circumscribed by commercialism and philistinism.
Within a few years Respighi was appointed
composition professor at the Accademia di Santa
Cecilia in Rome, and when Alfredo Casella came
on board as his colleague in 1915, bringing with
him some of the radical ideas he had picked up
during a recent residence in France, Respighi was
swept up in another burst of modernist enthusiasm. But, again, he soon retreated to his essentially traditionalist stance. In 1932 he joined nine
other conservative composers to sign a manifesto
condemning the deleterious effect of music by
such figures as Schoenberg and Stravinsky and
encouraging a return to established Italian conventions. (Mussolini came down in favor of the
modernists, although he was personally a fan of
Respighi’s music.) He was by then very famous
and very rich: success had come his way through
his hugely popular four-movement tone poem
Fountains of Rome, composed in 1915–16. He followed up with two further, vaguely related,
orchestral sets (each similarly comprising four
sections) that are not infrequently presented as a
“Roman Triptych”: Pines of Rome (1923–24) and
Roman Festivals (1928).
One of Respighi’s hallmarks was, to put it
bluntly, his willingness to go what many would
IN SHORT
Born: July 9, 1879, in Bologna, Italy
Died: April 18, 1936, in Rome
Works composed and premiered: Feste
romane (Roman Festivals), composed 1928,
although the first section draws on material
written in 1926 for an unfinished symphonic
poem, Nerone; premiered February 21, 1929, by
the New York Philharmonic, Arturo Toscanini,
conductor. Fontane di Roma (Fountains of
Rome), composed 1915–16; premiered March
11, 1917, in Rome, with Antonio Guarnieri conducting. Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome), composed
1923–24, premiered December 14, 1924, in
Rome, by the Augusteo Orchestra, Bernardino
Molinari, conductor
New York Philharmonic premieres and
most recent performances: Roman Festivals,
most recently performed January 27, 2007,
Riccardo Muti, conductor. Fountains of Rome,
premiered February 13, 1919, Josef Stransky,
conductor; most recently played, April 26, 2013,
at Carnegie Hall, Alan Gilbert, conductor. Pines of
Rome, given its U.S. Premiere January 14, 1926,
Arturo Toscanini, conductor; most recently
performed September 27, 2012, Alan Gilbert,
conductor
Estimated durations: Roman Festivals, ca. 25
minutes; Fountains of Rome, ca. 16 minutes;
Pines of Rome, ca. 21 minutes
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consider “over the top.” Roman Festivals in
particular is not a work for the timid — the
composer proudly averred that it represented his
“maximum of orchestral sonority and color.”
The music speaks for itself, thanks to the composer’s acute tone-painting. In the first movement, the ferocious roaring of the wild beasts
comes across loud and clear, thanks to the bass
clarinet, bassoons, contrabassoon, horns, trombones, tuba, timpani, cellos, and basses, playing fortissimo. In “The Jubilee” one can easily
imagine the procession of weary pilgrims chanting (curiously, a German hymn from the 12th
century), and in “The October Festival,” a mixture of celebratory stimulation and autumnal
languor. No holds are barred in the concluding
“Epiphany,” whose episodes the composer depicts almost as precisely as if they were photographs. Has a staggering drunkard ever been
more unmistakably portrayed than it is here by
solo trombone? By the end, Respighi piles up
sonority upon sonority to achieve one of the
most tumultuous raisings of the roof ever heard.
Fountains of Rome is altogether more placid,
suggesting the inherent beauty of its subjects
and their harmony within the landscapes in
which they are situated. Elsa Respighi, who was
the composer’s student before becoming his
wife, maintained in her memoir-biography of her
husband that these orchestral sketches ought not
to be taken as strict sonic representations:
Respighi said that he had often wondered
why no one before him had ever thought of
making the fountains of Rome sing, for after
all they were “the very voice of this city.” But
even he had not found it easy to distinguish
In the Composer’s Words
Respighi supplied descriptive paragraphs for each work of his “Roman Triptych,” which are reprinted in the Ricordi Edition scores used for this performance. Of the movements for Roman Festivals he wrote:
Games at the Circus Maximus — A threatening sky hangs over the Circus Maximus, but it is the people’s
holiday: “Ave, Nero!” The iron doors are unlocked, the strains of a religious song and the howling of wild
beasts float on the air. The crowd rises in agitation: unperturbed, the song of the martyrs develops, conquers,
and then is lost in the tumult.
The Jubilee — The pilgrims trail along the highway, praying. Finally, from the summit of Monte Mario, the holy
city appears to ardent eyes and gasping souls: “Rome, Rome!” A hymn of praise bursts forth, the churches
ring out their reply.
The October Festival — The October festival in the
Roman castelli covered with vines, hunting echoes,
tinkling of bells, songs of love. Then in the tender
evenfall arises a romantic serenade.
The Epiphany — The night before Epiphany in the Piazza Navona: a characteristic rhythm of trumpets
dominates the frantic clamor; above the swelling
noise float, from time to time, rustic motives, saltarello
cadences, the strains of a barrel-organ from a booth,
the barker’s call, the harsh song of the intoxicated,
and the lively verse in which is expressed popular
sentiments. “Lassàtece passà, semo Romani!” — “We
are Romans, let us pass!
Mosaic depicting a charioteer from the white team, one of the
competitive groups at the Circus Maximus, ca. 200–30 C.E.
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Sources and Inspirations
Respighi offered this insight into his inspiration for Fountains of Rome, referring to himself in the third person:
In this symphonic poem the composer has endeavored to give expression to the sentiments and visions
suggested to him by four of Rome’s fountains, contemplated at the hour when their characters are most in
harmony with the surrounding landscape, or at which their beauty is most impressive to the observer.
The first part of the poem, inspired by the fountain of Valle Giulia, depicts a pastoral landscape: droves
of cattle pass and disappear in the fresh, damp mists of the Roman dawn.
A sudden loud and insistent blast of horns above
the trills of the whole orchestra introduces the second part, “The Triton Fountain.” It is like a joyous call,
summoning troops of naiads and tritons, who come
running up, pursuing each other and mingling in a
frenzied dance between the jets of water.
Next there appears a solemn theme borne on the
undulations of the orchestra. It is the fountain of Trevi
at mid-day. The solemn theme, passing from the
woodwind to the brass instruments, assumes a triumphal character. Trumpets peal: across the radiant
surface of the water there passes Neptune’s chariot
drawn by seahorses and followed by a train of sirens
and tritons. The procession vanishes while faint trumpet blasts resound in the distance.
The fourth part, the Fountain at the Villa Medici, is
announced by a sad theme which rises above the
subdued warbling. It is the nostalgic hour of sunset.
The air is full of the sound of tolling bells, the twittering of birds, the rustling of leaves. Then all dies peacefully into the silence of the night.
From top: A blast of horns represents the spray of Rome’s Triton Fountain; Neptune directs his chariot, Trevi Fountain
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that voice in the tumult of impressions
and sensations that had assailed him from
his first days in Rome. The Fountains of Rome
was certainly not based on a literary programme as some maintain, nor was the idea
to describe and illustrate four of the loveliest
Roman fountains, but simply to satisfy a
spiritual need. It is in a way a synthesis of
Respighi’s feelings, thoughts, and sensations
during those first few months of life in Rome.
Instead, she compared Fountains of Rome to
symphonic poems like those of Richard
Strauss, preferring the way her husband cast
the music in a classical structure:
poetic unity, no recurrent themes and no digressions. It took a Latin with his innate sense
of harmony and proportion to cast the freest
and most undisciplined of musical forms into
a classical mould, creating a new type of symphonic poem which was something absolutely
new and different under the same name.
When the New York Philharmonic performed the
American premiere of Pines of Rome (in 1926, with
Arturo Toscanini conducting), Respighi (referring
to himself in the third person) wrote to Lawrence
Gilman, then the Orchestra’s Program Annotator:
The [Straussian] symphonic poem very freely
followed a literary text, using recurrent themes
but no regular development. Respighi restored
the form to the four-part division of the classical symphony where, however, the four movements are thematically self-contained with
While in his preceding work, Fountains of
Rome, the composer sought to reproduce by
means of tone an impression of Nature, in
Pines of Rome he uses Nature as a point of departure, in order to recall memories and vision.
The centuries-old trees which so characteristically dominate the Roman landscape become
witnesses to the principal events in Roman life.
The Work at a Glance
Respighi described the movements of his Pines of Rome:
The Pines of the Villa Borghese (Allegretto vivace) — Children are at play in the pine groves of the Villa
Borghese, dancing the Italian equivalent of “Ring around a Rosy.” They mimic marching soldiers and battles.
They twitter and shriek like swallows at evening, coming and going in swarms. Suddenly the scene changes.
The Pines Near a Catacomb (Lento) — We see the shadows of the pines, which overhang the entrance of
a catacomb. From the depths rise a chant,
which echoes solemnly, like a hymn, and is
then mysteriously silenced.
The Pines of the Janiculum (Lento) —
There is a thrill in the air. The full moon reveals
the profile of the pines of Gianicolo’s Hill. A
nightingale sings.
Pines along the Appian Way
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The Pines of the Appian Way (Tempo di
Marcia) — Misty dawn on the Appian Way. The
tragic country is guarded by solitary pines. Indistinctly, incessantly, the rhythm of unending
steps. The poet has a fantastic vision of past
glories. Trumpets blare, and the army of the
Consul bursts forth in the grandeur of a newly
risen sun toward the Sacred Way, mounting in
triumph the Capitoline Hill.
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Trees tend not to make much sound on their
own, of course, but they are inhabited by birds,
which often do. Respighi decided to convey their
songs as accurately as possible, and in so doing
he created one of the first pieces to include electronics in its orchestration, instructing that a
recording of a nightingale is to be played at the
end of the third movement (The Pines of the Janiculum). In the published score, Respighi suggested that the commercial recording issued by
the Concert Record Gramophone Company as
R6105 be used. Whether it is true, as has been
claimed, that Respighi himself recorded this immortal nightingale we cannot say.
Instrumentation: Roman Festivals calls for
three flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes
and English horn, two clarinets plus E-flat clarinet and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, four trumpets, three
trombones, tuba, timpani, tambourine, ratchet,
sleigh bells, snare drum, military drum, bass
drum, triangle, cymbals, tam-tam, orchestra
bells, xylophone, wood blocks, piano (four
hands), organ, mandolin, and strings. Fountains
of Rome employs two flutes and piccolo, two
oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass
clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, chimes,
cymbals, orchestra bells, suspended cymbal, triangle, two harps, celeste, piano, organ, and
strings. Pines of Rome calls for three flutes (one
doubling piccolo), two oboes and English horn,
two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons
and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets,
three trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, ratchet, bass drum, snare drum,
tam-tam, orchestra bells, small orchestra bells,
harp, celeste, recorded birdsong (a nightingale),
piano, organ, and strings, plus offstage trumpet
and buccine, the latter being replaced in this performance by three trumpets, two flugelhorns
(doubling trumpets), four Wagner tubas, and
three trombones.
A portion of this note appeared in an earlier form
in the programs of the San Francisco Symphony
and is used with permission. © James M. Keller
A Blast of Buccine
In Roman Festivals and Pines of Rome, Respighi calls for multiple offstage buccine. The buccina was a curved
instrument of ancient Rome, originally made of animal horn but later covered in brass, whose musical contributions were limited to a few pitches of the overtone series; it was used mostly for herding and for military signals.
James McKinnon, writing in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Second Edition), informs us:
a number of poetic references contrasted its sleepshattering call to arms with the soporific and erotic
associations of instruments such as the kithara.
Respighi allows that other brass instruments may be
substituted — a wise concession given the paucity of
modern buccinists — and in Pines of Rome he recommended filicorni, which are flugelhorns of a sort traditionally used in Italian wind-bands.
In this performance, offstage trumpets take the place
of buccine for Roman Festivals. Two flugelhorns, four
Wagner tubas, three trumpets, and three trombones represent the buccine complement for Pines of Rome. One
may nonetheless wish to picture toga-clad buccineblowers at the beginning of Games of the Circus Maximus in Roman Festivals and at the end of the Pines of
the Appian Way finale of Pines of Rome.
Soldier playing a buccina, detail from the Ludovisi Battle
Sarcophagus, ca. 250 A.D.
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