Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome – 1923~24)

1. I pini di Villa Borghese (The Pines of the Villa Borghese – Allegretto Vivace)
2. Pini presso una catacomb (Pines Near a Catacomb – Lento)
3. I pini del Gianicolo (The Pines of the Janiculum – Lento)
4. I pini della Via Appia (The Pines of the Appian Way – Tempo di Marcia)

Rome stands as one of the greatest city in the world. It was the capital of
one of the mightiest empire in history. It contains the seat of the Catholic
Church, and today one can walk around the streets of Rome to be in awe of
the living history dating back to the Roman era: the Coliseum, St. Peter’s
Basilica, and the Pantheon to name a few. In the early 20 th Century, Italian
composer Ottorino Respighi composed a series of tone poems honoring
the city of Rome. The second of the series is the masterpiece used famously
in Disney’s “Fantasia 2000”: Pines of Rome.

Ottorino Respighi, somewhat oddly, was not a native of Rome. He was

born in Bologna, where his father taught him piano and violin and Respighi later studied
at the conservatory there. In 1900, he went to St. Petersburg, Russia to play as principal
violist of the Russian Imperial Theatre Orchestra. There, he studied briefly with Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov, a great Russian composer and teacher of none other than Igor
Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev. He returned to Italy years later and accepted the post of
composition professor at the Academia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In his musical career, he
swung back and forth between the conservative and the progressive camp. First went
against the Italian music of the mid 19th Century, the next signed a manifesto condemning
progressive composers like Stravinsky and Schoenberg. Respighi is also a musicologist,
researched, published, and transcribed music ranging from Gregorian Chants to Vivaldi
and Monteverdi. It is interesting to note that despite an uncomfortable relationship with
Benito Mussolini, “Il Duce” was a personal fan of Respighi’s music.

For the American Premiere in 1926 in New York,

Respighi wrote to Lawrence Gilman, the programme annotator for the New York
Philharmonic, about Pines of Rome (curiously in third-person) that “he uses Nature as a
point of departure, in order to recall memories and vision. The centuries-old trees which
so characteristically dominate the Roman landscape become witnesses to the principal
events in Roman life.” The composer himself gave a vivid description of each of the
movements:

The Pines of the Villa Borghese (Allegretto vivace)—Children are at play in the pine
groves of the Villa Borghese, dancing the Italian equivalent of “Ring around a
Rosy.” They mimic marching soldiers and battles. They twitter and shriek like
swallows at evening, coming and going in swarms. Suddenly the scene changes.

The Pines Near a Catacomb (Lento)—We see the shadows of the pines, which
overhang the entrance of a catacomb. From the depths rises a chant, which echoes
solemnly, like a hymn, and is then mysteriously silenced.

The Pines of the Janiculum (Lento)—There is a thrill in the air. The full moon reveals
the profile of the pines of Gianicolo’s Hill. A nightingale sings.

The Pines of the Appian Way (Tempo di Marcia)—Misty dawn on the Appian Way.
The tragic country is guarded by solitary pines. Indistinctly, incessantly, the
rhythm of unending steps. The poet has a fantastic vision of past glories. Trumpets
blare, and the army of the Consul bursts forth in the grandeur of a newly risen sun
toward the Sacred Way, mounting in triumph the Capitoline Hill.

Respighi opens this symphonic poem with a

great flurry of orchestra like a fountain of sound in “The Pines of the Villa Borghese”.
Right away, one can hear the children playing around the Villa Borghese first in the cellos
and then passed around to different sections. One can also hear the children fool around
with their toys a few seconds in with the entrance of the ratchet, a noisemaker that
produce sound by spinning the handle. The kids continue to play and tease each other as
the orchestra squeaks and snarls. Half-way through, the kids began playing soldiers as
different parts of the orchestra mimic the movement of troops. The movement close as
the orchestra races to the finish with the trumpet honking a high B-Flat.
In the midst of noises, Respighi silences the orchestra abruptly as he cuts to the next
movement, “The Pines Near a Catacomb”. What follows that cutesy children scene is a
scene of solemnity and serenity as Respighi invites the listeners to the depth of an ancient
catacomb, a place of ancient Christian burials. The orchestra transforms to a Gregorian
choir, and one can hear the hymn-like theme echoing in the distance twice in the horns,
then passed on to the muted violins and then the flute. Out of the depth comes a sound
from up high: an off-stage trumpet solo perhaps symbolizing the voice of the past.
Following the voice of the past emerges a chant theme coming ominously from the cellos
and basses, echoed by the trombones and bassoon. The chant rises and rises against the
backdrop of the hymn as it reaches a powerful climax, but then it falls back into the abyss.
The chant fades out as the hymn echoes once more until it like-wise disappears.

From the abyss rises the next movement, “The Pines

of the Janiculum”. The Janiculum is a hill named after Janis, the two-faced Roman god of
time and journey. Respighi opens this nocturne with a cadenza in the piano, followed by a
yearning Clarinet solo. The Clarinet rises up and down, intertwining with commentary
from the violins. A haunting and ethereal episode follows, with melodies passed around
the various instruments. Each instrument evokes the serenity of the Janiculum at night.
Finally, the music returns to that yearning solo Clarinet. When the Clarinet arrives at its
final note, the sound of nightingales chirping can be heard in the background as the
violins trill. This is not coincidental, as Respighi
instructs a recording of nightingales’ song be played
at that precise moment. (In Respighi’s time it is played
via LP, but now we use a MP3 file on a flash drive)
As the First Violin trills, the sound of distant beating can be heard in the unceasing
timpani, piano, cellos, and basses as Respighi marches us onward to the final movement,
“The Pines of the Appian Way”. The Appian Way is one of the most significant roads in
the Roman Republic. It was built to easily transport soldiers in and out of Rome. As the
strings creep in the foreground in the ambiguous harmonic backdrop, the clarinets and
the bass clarinets hint at the later march theme. The English Horn enter with a haunting
and almost exotic melody, with the clarinets continue to hint at some march motives. As
the English Horn finishes, the Roman army slowly approaches as we first hear the march
theme in the Horns. In the distance, one can also hear an offstage brass ensemble. The
sound grows in sound as different instruments joins in on the procession until it reached
a triumphant climax. The whole orchestra erupts in a volcano of sound and the piece
rounds out in a glorious blaze of glory.

Programme Notes by Daniel Huang – April 23rd, 2017