REPRINT SERIES In 1930 Ottorino Respighi composed Lauda per la Natività del Signore, the only sacred choral piece among his works. In this song of praise to the miracle of Christmas,0 majestic sounding choral passages alternate with the soloistic...

REPRINT SERIES There are plentiful ingredients in Respighi’s Piano Concerto in A minor. Rhapsodic flourishes, triumphal declamations, huge, dense chords and passages of lyrical contemplation. Written in 1902, when he was in his early twenties, it...

REPRINT SERIES The music of Respighi can, perhaps, be placed into two general groups: a more popular set of music which is colorfully programmatic, with fairly articulate development and invention, and a second group of melting-pot eclectism. The...

REPRINT SERIES The Concerto all’antica is an early, beautifully poetic work that again draws on ancient styles, for Solo Violin and Orchestra. An early violin concerto “in an ancient style” originally attributed to an anonymous...

The Poema Autunnale of 1925 was written for Mario Corti and dedicated to him. Once again Respighi ventured into Lark Ascending territory, as much of the writing was modal, creating the desired archaic atmosphere, and double-stops were much used for...

REPRINT SERIES Fountains of Rome or Fontane di Roma is a symphonic poem written by Ottorino Respighi in 1916 and first published in 1918. It is the first orchestral work in his "Roman trilogy", followed by Pines of Rome (1924) and Roman Festivals (1928)...

Respighi composed Metamorphoseon in 1930, for the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and it is in fact something of a concerto for orchestra. The 30-minute long work consists of a theme and twelve variations or 'modes', an allusion to...

REPRINT SERIES This Suite No.2 was composed in 1923. It was based on pieces for lute, archlute, and viol by Fabritio Caroso, Jean-Baptiste Besard, Bernardo Gianoncelli, and an anonymous composer. It also includes an aria attributed to Marin Mersenne...

Serge Koussevitzky asked whether Rachmaninoff would select a group of études-tableaux for Italian composer Ottorino Respighi to orchestrate. He agreed and selected five études from Op. 33 and Op. 39. Respighi rearranged the order of...

REPRINT SERIES Ottorino Respighi’s hour-long Sinfonia drammatica, which he completed just before the First World War broke out, appears to anticipate the impending tragedy. The brilliantly orchestrated composition (with six horns, four percussion,...

Written for strings only and somewhat melancholy in overall mood. It is based on lute songs by Besard, a piece for baroque guitar by Ludovico Roncalli, and lute pieces by Santino Garsi da Parma and additional anonymous composers. 1. Italiana (Anonymous:...

Respighi's greatest masterpieces,  the three Roman tone poems:   Fountains of Rome (Fontane di Roma) Picc, 2 Fl, 2 Ob, En.H., 2 Cl, B.Cl, 2 Bsn, 4 Hn, 3 Tpt, 3 Tbn, Tba, Timp, Perc, Organ (ad lib.), Cel., 2 Harps, Strings Pines of Rome (I...

It is the third orchestral work in Respighi's "Roman trilogy", preceded by Fountains of Rome (1916) and Pines of Rome (1924). Each of the four movements depict a scene of celebration from Ancient Rome. It is the longest and most demanding of the trilogy...

A visit to Brazil resulted in the composition Impressioni brasiliane (Brazilian Impressions). He had intended to write a sequence of five pieces, but by 1928 he had completed only three, and decided to present what he had. The first piece is a nocturne,...

Trittico Botticelliano ("Three Botticelli Pictures") is a three-movement suite based on famous paintings by the Renaissance master Botticelli.It demonstrates not only Respighi's ear for fresh and beautiful sonorities, but also his interest in the history...

Dating from 1927, the work is based on music from 18th-century and represents an attempt to transcribe birdsong into musical notation. The work is in five movements:    "Prelude" (based on music of Bernardo Pasquini)    "La...

Pines of Rome (Pini di Roma) is a symphonic poem written in 1924 and forms one-third of Respighi's so called Roman trilogy, along with Fontane di Roma and Feste Romane. The piece was used in the film "Fantasia 2000". Sections:1. I pini di Villa...