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PROGRAM NOTES by Paul Schiavo OTTORINO RESPIGHI Pini di Roma (“Pines of Rome”) BORN: July 9, 1879, in Bologna DIED: April 18, 1936, in Rome WORK COMPOSED: 1924 WORLD PREMIERE: December 14, 1924, in Rome, conducted by Bernardino Molinari. Until fairly recently, opera so completely dominated the musical life of Italy that only one Italian composer during the past two centuries achieved prominence through his orchestral music. This was Ottorino Respighi, whose fame rests chiefly on a series of tone poems depicting scenes in his native country. Pini di Roma (“Pines of Rome”), composed in 1924, has long been the most popular of these works. Respighi’s music reflects a fascinating variety of influences. Like many composers who came of age around the turn of the century, he assimilated the harmonic language of both Wagner and Debussy, as well as some of the former’s dramatic flair. From Rimsky-Korsakov, with whom he studied in Saint Petersburg, he learned a bold and colorful use of the orchestra. The most unusual aspect of Respighi’s compositional outlook, however, was his interest in pre-Classical music. In such works as his Ancient Airs and Dances and the Concerto Gregoriano for violin and orchestra, the composer showed a surprising readiness to incorporate church modes, plainchant, simple contrapuntal textures and other archaic devices into his own music. “Pines of Rome” reveals all these elements of Respighi’s style. This tone poem presents four tableaux, which the composer depicts through suggestive melodies, rhythms and textures. Respighi described the scenarios of the four movements as follows: I. “The Pines of the Villa Borghese.” Children are at play in the pine grove of the Villa Borghese, dancing the Italian equivalent of Ring-Around-the-Rosy, mimicking marching soldiers and battles, twittering and shrieking like swallows at evening, then disappearing. Suddenly the scene changes to — II. “Pines Near a Catacomb.” We see the shadows of the pines overhanging a catacomb. From the depths rises a chant that re-echoes solemnly, sonorously like a hymn, and then is mysteriously silenced. III. “The Pines of the Janiculum.” There is a thrill in the air. The full moon reveals the profile of Gianicolo’s Hill. A nightingale sings (represented by a recording of a nightingale’s song, heard from the orchestra). IV. “The Pines of the Appian Way.” Misty Dawn on the Appian Way. The tragic country is guarded by solitary pines. Indistinctly, incessantly, the rhythm of innumerable steps. To the poet’s fantasy appears a vision of past glories; trumpets blare and the army of the Consul advances brilliantly in the grandeur of the newly risen sun toward the sacred way, mounting in triumph the Capitoline Hill. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR: In the first movement, Respighi depicts the raucous play of the children through brief melodic figures blared forth by the woodwinds and brass. The scene by a catacomb features a melody in the style of a Gregorian chant, which swells and then subsides through a series of repetitions. The third movement evokes the nocturnal serenity of the Janiculum, Rome’s beautiful hilltop park, in a haunting clarinet solo. The birdsong heard during this portion of the work is probably the first use of recorded sounds in an orchestral composition. Finally Respighi employs his favorite format for closing movements, beginning quietly with a modest theme and slowly expanding it in an imposing crescendo. Scored for 3 flutes, the third doubling piccolo; 2 oboes and English horn; 2 clarinets and bass clarinet; 2 bassoons and contrabassoon; 6 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones and tuba; timpani and percussion; organ, piano and celeste; harp and strings. © 2016 Paul Schiavo