Composer, born in Bologna, N Italy. He studied at Bologna and St Petersburg, and in 1913 became professor of composition at the St Cecilia Academy in Rome. His works include nine operas, the symphonic poems Fontane di Roma (1916, Fountains of Rome) and Pini di Roma (1924, Pines of Rome), and the ballet La Boutique fantasque, produced by Diaghilev in 1919.
Ottorino Respighi (Bologna, July 9, 1879 - Rome, April 18, 1936) was an Italian composer, musicologist and violinist.
Biography
Respighi was born in Bologna. In 1900, Respighi went to Russia as first violinist in the orchestra of the Russian Imperial Theatre in St Petersburg during its season of Italian opera;
Respighi moved to Rome in 1913 and lived there for the rest of his life, after being appointed a teacher of composition at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia.
Respighi maintained an uneasy relationship with Mussolini's Fascist Party during his later years.
Respighi was also a musicologist, a devoted scholar of Italian music of the 16th-18th centuries. Respighi generally kept clear of the musical idiom of the classical period, unlike most neo-classical composers.
He died in his Roman villa named "I Pini".
Elsa Respighi
Ottorino Respighi's wife, Elsa, (née Olivieri-Sangiacomo) (24 March 1894 - 17 March 1996) was his former pupil.
A singer (mezzo-soprano) and composer herself, Elsa Respighi created ballets of Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances Suites and completed his final opera Lucrezia in 1937. She also published a biography of Respighi in 1962.
In 1969 she established Fondo Respighi in Venice, to promote music education in Italy. She was also at the forefront of the 1979 Respighi Centenary celebrations, which saw a number of long-neglected works performed and recorded for the first time.
She died one week short of her 102nd birthday in 1996.
Selected works
Respighi's compositions include:
piano forte Concerto in the Mixolydian Mode (1925) His best known symphonic poems, which now belong to the standard orchestral repertoire: The Roman trilogy (three symphonic poems with a Roman theme) Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome) (1915-1916) Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome) (1923-1924) Feste Romane (Roman Festivals) (1928) Brazilian Impressions (1928) His operas, from the early Semirâma to the late Lucrezia, on the other hand, are hardly ever played or recorded nowadays. His most popular works involving older sources: The Ancient Airs and Dances Suite No. 1 of 1917 is an orchestral piece based on Renaissance lute pieces by Simone Molinaro, Vincenzo Galilei (father of Galileo Galilei), and additional anonymous composers. In 1918 Sergei Diaghilev commissioned a ballet from Respighi, who then wrote La Boutique Fantasque, which borrows tunes from the 19th century composer Rossini. Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances Suite No. In 1925, Respighi orchestrated and expanded his "Tre Preludi e sopra gregoriane" for piano and created "Vetrate di chiesa" (Church Windows). Following the success of this suite, Respighi wrote Gli Uccelli ("The birds") in 1927, based on Baroque pieces imitating birds. In 1930, he wrote a Ballet Suite Belkis, regina di Saba which was his last works for ballet. It is based on lute songs by Besard, a piece for baroque guitar by Lodovico Roncalli, and lute pieces by Santino Garsi da Parma and additional anonymous composers.Selected Recordings
Note: The Roman Trilogy is one of the most ubiquitous works in the catalogue, and has been recorded by all the major world ensembles under many prominent conductors.
I Pini di Roma/Fontane di Roma - Chicago Symphony Orchestra/ Fritz Reiner, RCA (on JVC in Japan) I Pini di Roma/Feste Romane/Fontane di Roma - Montreal Symphony Orchestra/ Charles Dutoit, Decca Records I Pini di Roma/Feste Romane/Fontane di Roma - NBC Symphony Orchestra/ Arturo Toscanini, RCA Brazilian Impressions/Metamorphoseon - Philharmonia Orchestra/ Geoffrey Simon, Chandos Records Ancient Airs and Dances I-III (Antiche Aire e Danze) - Philharmonia Hungarica/ Antal Dorati, Mercury Records I Pini di Roma/Fontane di Roma/The Birds (Gli Uccelli) - London Symphony Orchestra/ István Kertész, Decca Records Church Windows (Vetrate di Chiesa) - Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/ Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Telarc Three Botticelli Pictures (Trittico Botticelliano)/The Birds - Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra/ Sir Neville Marriner, EMI Belkis, Queen of Sheba - Suite / Metamorphoseon - Theme & Variations - Philharmonia Orchestra/ Geoffrey Simon, Chandos Records
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