Ottorino Respighi (9 July 1879, Bologna, Italy - 18
April 1936) was an Italian composer. He was taught
piano and violin in Bologna by his father. He then
enrolled at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna, where he
studied violin and viola with Federico Sarti,
composition with Giuseppe Martucci, and historical
studies with Luigi Torchi, a scholar of early music. A
year after receiving his diploma in violin in 1899,
Respighi went to Russia to be the principal violist in
the orchestra of the Russian Imperi...(+)
Ottorino Respighi (9 July 1879, Bologna, Italy - 18
April 1936) was an Italian composer. He was taught
piano and violin in Bologna by his father. He then
enrolled at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna, where he
studied violin and viola with Federico Sarti,
composition with Giuseppe Martucci, and historical
studies with Luigi Torchi, a scholar of early music. A
year after receiving his diploma in violin in 1899,
Respighi went to Russia to be the principal violist in
the orchestra of the Russian Imperial Theatre in St.
Petersburg during its season of Italian opera. While
there, he studied composition for five months with
Rimsky-Korsakov.
In 1932, Respighi was elected to the Royal Academy of
Italy. Composing numerous chamber, vocal, and
orchestral works, as well as operas and ballets, he was
an enthusiastic scholar of Italian music of the 16th,
17th, and 18th centuries. Preferring to keep clear of
musical traits of the Classical Period, Respighi
combined pre-classical melodic styles and musical
forms, such as dance suites, with typical
late-19th-century romantic harmonies and textures.
Respighi was also a scholar of early music, editing the
works of Claudio Monteverdi and Tomaso Antonio Vitali,
as well as transcribing works by many Renaissance and
early Baroque composers. He also delighted in arranging
obscure early music for modern performance. The
originals of these older works were, in Respighi’s
time, seldom if ever heard, and his efforts brought
this rich period of music back to life for many
listeners. As Respighi and a group of nine fellow
composers stated in a manifesto, countering the claims
of the more dissonant sounds then becoming commonplace
in the concert hail: “A logical chain binds the past
and the future the romanticism of yesterday will again
be the romanticism of tomorrow.”
His three suites of Ancient Airs and Dances are based
on Italian and French lute music, mostly from the early
seventeenth century, to accompany dancers and singers.
It seeks to capture the spirit of the Renaissance era
that employed such instruments as the lute, shawm,
dulcian, sackbut, recorder, crumhorn, cornetto, and
serpent, but with the addition of the rich, colorful
sounds available to the late Romantic orchestra with
its huge array of modern wind, string, and percussion
instruments.
Suite No. 1 opens with the Balletto detto “Il Conte
Orlando,” published in 1599 by the composer Simone
Molinaro (c. 1570-1633). The first section grows from a
gentle opening to a stirring climax. A quieter
interlude based on the same theme follows, then the
opening panel is repeated.
Vincenzo Galilei (c. 1520-1591) (an amateur composer
and lute player best known as the father of Galileo)
composed the following Gagliarda. This type of dance,
also known as a galliard, was executed with exaggerated
leaps. This is a bold, strongly accented number with
richer scoring than the preceding Balletto. Respighi
uses a sweet anonymous Italian tune as the contrasting
middle section.
The composer of the third section, Villanella, is
unknown. A villanella was a street song, derived from
an earlier Spanish vocal form that came to popularity
in Naples. It flourished side by side with, and in
contrast to, the more refined madrigal.
The finale, Passo mezzo e Mascherada, combines two
contrasting forms, both a dance and an air, through a
pair of anonymous melodies. The name of the opening,
fast-paced passo mezzo remains obscure. It might mean
step-and-a-half, referring to the pattern of the dance
it accompanied. Respighi alternates it with a
mascherada, a type of villanella designed to be sung
and played at a masked ball or by street players during
Carnival season. It often contained an element of
caricature. This flowing, melodic mascherada/villanella
isn’t as gloomy as the one heard in the third
movement. The passo mezzo keeps interrupting it,
gleefully and vivaciously. Eventually, the passo mezzo
carries the day.
Although originally scored for Orchestra, I created
this Interpretation of the Villanella di Ignoto from
Antiche danze et arie per liuto (Suite No. 1 Mvt. 3)
for Oboe, Concert (Pedal) Harp & Strings (2 Violins,
Viola, Cello & Bass).
PARTITION