Ottorino Respighi: a refined orchestral painter
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On Friday 4 October, the Belgian National Orchestra and British conductor Alpesh Chauhan will perform works by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi, alongside Grieg's Piano Concerto featuring Andrei Korobeinikov. This performance offers a portrait of Respighi, a refined orchestral painter, inspired by the fountains and pine trees of the Eternal City, Rome.
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) grew up in the Italian city of Bologna. After studying violin, viola, and composition at the Liceo Musicale, he turned his attention abroad. Like many other members of the "Generazione dell'Ottanta" – musicians born around the 1880s – Respighi sought to cross borders both literally and figuratively. Around 1900, he secured a position as a violinist with the renowned orchestra of the Imperial Theatre during the Italian opera season in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was a golden opportunity, especially because he could combine this role with orchestration lessons under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. After a stint in Berlin in 1902 with violinist and composer Max Bruch, Respighi joined the Mugellini Quintet in Bologna as a violist between 1903 and 1908. Then, in 1908-1909, he returned to Berlin for a second time. Drawing inspiration from French Impressionism and the orchestral techniques of composers like Richard Strauss, Respighi developed his own distinctive musical palette.
With the help of sophisticated orchestral colors, Respighi brought to life the pastoral atmosphere that once characterized the Italian capital in his famous Roman trilogy. In Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome, 1914-1916) and Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome, 1923), two symphonic poems from that trilogy, this charm is expressed through compositions that combine Romanticism, Impressionism, and Neoclassicism.
In Fontane di Roma, Respighi was inspired by four Roman fountains and their sparkling waters at four different times of the day.
The score opens at dawn (all’alba) at La Fontana di Valle Giulia (The Fountain of the Julia Valley). Under a pastoral atmosphere, the orchestra awakens with murmuring string figures, while cattle are heard being driven out in the distance. The orchestration is clear and flowing, with high woodwinds (flutes, piccolo, oboe) and strings taking center stage. Harps, celesta, and triangle gradually evoke the sparkle of light on water. Above these fleeting impressions, winding woodwind melodies appear and disappear as dawn breaks.
The musical focus shifts to La Fontana del Tritone (The Triton Fountain) as the morning sun rises (al mattino). Triton, the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite (god and goddess of the sea), blows water forcefully from a conch shell. This second tableau is strongly inspired by the synesthetic principles—one key, one colour—of Rimsky-Korsakov. The clarity of the first section gives way to exuberance, highlighted by the capers of the high-register strings. As the tempo increases, strong dissonances emerge, with trumpets taking the lead with mocking interjections.
Bathed in midday light (al meriggio), the imposing La Fontana di Trevi (The Trevi Fountain) then captures all attention. The grandeur symbolizes the festive union of sun and water, reinforced by liberating cymbal crashes. The majestic buildup, beginning with the trill that closed the previous scene, culminates in a triumphant chord. Pinning the orchestra on a single chord, Respighi manages to momentarily halt the flow of time. The music then slowly fades, along with the daylight.
The finale at La Fontana di Villa Medici (The Fountain of the Villa Medici) evokes a bucolic landscape at sunset (al tramonto). In the distance, birdsong and the chime of a nearby church can be heard. Respighi creates harmonies with the same instruments he used at the beginning: woodwinds and strings, softly accompanied by horns and harps. These are undoubtedly the most impressionistic passages of Fontane di Roma, with a few chords distinctly reminiscent of Debussy. In a climate of great tranquility, the music gradually fades away.
Pini di Roma (1923) is dedicated to the Swiss pine, the iconic tree that is so characteristic of Rome. In this suite, four Roman landscapes unfold through Respighi’s musical imagination.
I pini di Villa Borghese (The Pines of the Villa Borghese) evokes the playful vitality of children, from ring-around-the-rosy to playing soldiers. Bright and explosive tones depict their shrill cries. Gradually, brass-coloured, dissonant sounds repeatedly make their entrance, signaling the end of the game.
With Pini presso una catacomba (Pines near a Catacomb), the mood changes. Pines cast long shadows over the entrance to a catacomb. A funeral theme, taken from the Kyrie of the Requiem Mass, slowly rises. The piece evolves into a solemn hymn before mysteriously fading away.
The silhouettes of I pini del Gianicolo (The Pines of the Janiculum Hill) emerge at night. A nightingale sings. A short piano cadenza precedes a long clarinet melody, quickly followed by the flute and strings. The music evokes the slow and majestic arrival of moonlight, gradually crowned by bells and the pearly play of the piano. The final silence holds one last surprise: against a backdrop of completely surreal strings, a recording introduces the song of a nightingale, flitting through the newfound peace.
In I pini della Via Appia (The Pines of the Appian Way), a Roman consul and his legions emerge from the morning mists. The alto oboe expresses the lament of prisoners in their midst. Their lament is drowned out by a slowly advancing mass of instruments. An important role is given to the brass, referencing the military trumpets of ancient Rome, resounding in the brilliance of the rising sun.
