Concert Respighi. Puccini World famous Mariinsky Ballet and Opera Theatre - Opera and Concert Hall
Schedule for Respighi. Puccini 2022
Composer: Giacomo Puccini Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Orchestra: Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra
Ottorino Respighi I pini di Roma and
Fontane di Roma Symphonic poems
Giacomo Puccini Messa di Gloria
Ottorino Respighi was a contemporary of Giacomo Puccini
and also composed ten operas. But these were not the works that made him
famous. It was through the symphonic poems Fontane di Roma and
Pini di Roma that Respighi succeeded in restoring Italian
orchestral music’s international significance, which had been lost following
the deaths of Corelli, Vivaldi and Boccherini. In Italy
in the 19th century there was not one symphonist composer,
and it was only operas that were acclaimed. As a result, several musicians
decided that this could no longer continue and they attempted to amend
the situation. Among them was Giuseppe Martucci, a teacher at
the Music School of Bologna. It may be true that his works failed to become
part of the international repertoire, but he did teach Respighi.
The young Respighi worked for some time as a violist
in the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and at the same time took
lessons from Rimsky-Korsakov. His knowledge of Russian music proved useful when,
later in Rome, he composed the ballets La pentola magica,
Fantasia indiana, Canzoni arabe and Autunno to themes from Russian
folk songs and music by Glinka, Borodin, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. Of
even greater significance, however, were his magical command of instrumentation
and his mastery of a full and colourful orchestra with a glockenspiel,
two harps, a piano and organ. International glory came to Respighi with
the symphonic poem Fontane di Roma (1918).
The four movements, performed without interruption (La fontana di
Valle Giulia all’alba, La fontana del Tritone al mattino, La fontana
di Trevi al meriggio, La fontana di Villa Medici al tramonto) to
a large degree were inspired by the art of the impressionists who
loved to depict objects at different times of the day and in different
lighting. Debussy did something similar in music, depicting as no-one else
the nature of water through music. But the idea of composing an image
of Rome in sounds came from Puccini, who drew a portrait of
the Eternal City in his opera Tosca, where, as
in the first movement of the Fontane, one hears
the bells of Rome chime. As his success grew, Respighi wrote
the magnificent Pini di Roma (1924) and the less well
known Feste romane (1928). The four movements of
the Pini, entitled I pini di Villa Borghese, Pini presso
una catacomba, I pini del Gianicolo and I pini della Via
Appia, refer not so much as to the cityscapes as to the history
of Rome. Respighi’s interest in the history of Italian music deepened
over the years, and his legacy includes a plethora of classical works,
while in Pini presso una catacomba he made use of intonations of
medieval Gregorian chant. However, immersing himself in history Respighi
was also looking to the future: in I pini del Gianicolo
he ordered the use of a gramophone recording of a nightingale’s
song. This kind of collage of live sound and recordings came into widespread use
much later, in the 1950s. Anna Bulycheva
Schedule for Respighi. Puccini 2022
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