Respighi, Ottorino
Respighi, Ottorino
Respighi, Ottorino , eminent Italian composer and teacher; b. Bologna, July 9, 1879; d. Rome, April 18, 1936. He studied violin with F. Sarti and composition with L. Torchi and G. Martucci at Bologna’s Liceo Musicale (1891–1900). In 1900 he went to Russia, and played 1st viola in the orch. of the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg; there he took lessons with Rimsky-Korsakov, which proved a decisive influence in Re-spighi’s coloristic orchestration. From 1903 to 1908 he was active as a concert violinist; also played the viola in the Mugellini Quartet of Bologna. In 1913 he was engaged as a prof. of composition at Rome’s Liceo (later Conservatorio) di Santa Cecilia; in 1924, was appointed its director, but resigned in 1926, retaining only a class in advanced composition; subsequently devoted himself to composing and conducting. He was elected a member of the Italian Royal Academy on March 23, 1932. In 1925–26 and again in 1932 he made tours of the U.S. as a pianist and a conductor. Respighi’s style of composition is a highly successful blend of songful melodies with full and rich harmonies; he was one of the best masters of modern Italian music in orchestration. His power of evocation of the Italian scene and his ability to sustain interest without prolixity is incontestable. Although he wrote several operas, he achieved his greatest success with 2 symphonic poems, Le fontane di Roma and I pini di Roma, each consisting of 4 tone paintings of the Roman landscape; a great innovation for the time was the insertion of a phonograph recording of a nightingale into the score of I pini di Roma. His wife, Elsa Olivieri Sangiacomo Respighi (b. Rome, March 24, 1894), was his pupil; she wrote a fairy opera, Fior di neve; the symphonic poem Serenata di maschere; and numerous songs; was also a concert singer. She publ. a biography of her husband.
Works
DRAMATIC: Opera: Re Enzo (Bologna, March 12, 1905); Semirama, lyric tragedy (Bologna, Nov. 20, 1910); Marie-Victoire (1913–14; not perf.); La bella dormente nel bosco or La bella addormentata nel bosco, musical fairy tale (1916–21; Rome, April 13, 1922); Belfagor, lyric comedy (1921–22; Milan, April 26, 1923); La campana sommersa, after Hauptmann’s Die versunkene Glocke (1923–27; Hamburg, Nov. 18, 1927); Maria Egiziaca, mystery play (1929–32; N.Y., March 16, 1932); La fiamma (1930–33; Rome, Jan. 23, 1934); a free transcription of Monteverdi’s Orfeo (Milan, March 16, 1935); Lucrezia (1935; Milan, Feb. 24, 1937). Ba11et : La Boutique fantasque, on themes by Rossini (London, June 5, 1919); Scherzo veneziano (Rome, Nov. 27, 1920); Belkis, Regina di Saba (1930–31; Milan, Jan. 23, 1932). ORCH.: Piano Concerto (1902); Suite for Organ and Strings (1902–05); Notturno (1905); Sinfonia drammatica (1913–14); Le fontane di Roma, symphonic poem (1914–16; Rome, March 11, 1917); Antiche arie e danze per liuto, 3 sets, the 3rd for Strings (1916, 1923, 1931); Ballata delle gnomidi (1918–20; Rome, April 11, 1920); Poema autunnale for Violin and Orch. (1920–25); Concerto gregoriano for Violin and Orch. (1921; Rome, Feb. 5, 1922); I pini di Roma, symphonic poem (Rome, Dec. 14, 1924); Concerto in modo misolidio for Piano and Orch. (N.Y., Dec. 31, 1925, composer soloist); Rossiniana, suite from Rossini’s piano pieces (1925); Vetrate di chiesa, symphonic impressions (Boston, Feb. 25, 1927); Impressioni brasiliane, symphonic suite (1927; São Paulo, June 16, 1928, composer conducting); Trittico Botticelliano for Chamber Orch. (1927); Gli Uccelli, suite for Small Orch. on themes by Rameau, B. Pasquini, and others (1927); Toccata for Piano and Orch. (1928); Feste romane, symphonic poem (1928; N.Y., Feb. 21, 1929); Metamorphosen modi XII (Boston, Nov. 7, 1930); Concerto à 5 for Violin, Oboe, Trumpet, Double Bass, Piano, and Strings (1932). Band : Huntingtower Ballad (Washington, D.C., April 17, 1932). CHAMBER : 11 pieces for Violin and Piano (1904–07); String Quartet in D major (1907); Quartetto dorico for String Quartet (1924); Violin Sonata (1917). VOCAL : Il tramonto for Mezzo-soprano and String Quartet, after Shelley (1917); La Primavera, cantata for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1918–19; Rome, March 4, 1923); Lauda per la Natività del Signore for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1928–30); 45 songs; 3 vocalises; arrangements.
Bibliography
R. de Rensis, O. R. (Turin, 1935); E. Respighi, O. R.: Dati biografici ordinati (Milan, 1954; abr. Eng. tr., 1962); O. R.: Catalogo delle opere (Milan, 1965); E. Battaglia, ed., O. R. (Turin, 1985); D. Bryant, ed., Il Novecento musicale italiano: Tra neoclassicismo e neogoticismo: Atti del convegno di studi promosso dalla Fondazione Giorgio Cini per il 50 anniversario della scomparsa di O. R. (Florence, 1988).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire