# Respighi?



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

One of the many surprises I had when I started to visit this site regularly concerned the apparent popularity of the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi - at least on game threads he has been very well represented and often well voted for. As I had always thought of him as a minor composer - I know but rarely listen to his famous Roman trilogy and have heard a few of his other pieces without really wanting to follow up on them - I would be fascinated to understand why he has such a high standing here? Am I missing out on something?


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Well the easy answer is that he has such a high standing because many people really like his music.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Are you missing out on something. No, I don't think so. You gave his music a try; you didn't find it to your taste; you moved on. That is how its supposed to work. I have no problem with it - and I am a real Respighi fan.

My favorite of his is "Ancient Aires and Dances".


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Fantastic orchestrator. He studied with the great Russian composer and famous orchestrator Rimsky-Korsakov. (Stravinsky also learned about colorful orchestration from R-K.)... Respighi's music is wonderfully vivid, imaginative, vibrant and alive. He was able to capture the sense of Ancient Rome and many other atmospheric qualities. Though supposedly apolitical, it didn’t help his reputation that he let his music be used with his own encouragement in support of Mussolini and the Fascists in Italy. I consider him a highly talented composer who made some poor political choices, but I'm glad not to hold his past against him. At heart, I believe he was a man who simply loved Italy and wanted to keep the spirit of its glorious past alive. The Roman Coliseum certainly wasn't built by the Conservative or Labour parties, the Republicans or Democrats, or the regressive fascists.


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## Thomyum2 (Apr 18, 2018)

I think Respighi's greatest talent was in orchestration and that accounts for much of his success and appeal. If you've ever heard a good live performance of any of the Roman trilogy, it can be very exciting and enjoyable experience, and the ways he uses the instruments give a clarity of textures and a three-dimensional quality that really show off the orchestra. I tend to agree that as a composer, though, he doesn't rank high - strictly musically speaking, I haven't found a lot of real interest in the compositions, though I say that with some hesitation in that I haven't listened comprehensively to his works. But I think his music would make a good case study to illustrate how different people listen for and find different things in the music that they enjoy.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

JeffD said:


> Are you missing out on something. No, I don't think so. *You gave his music a try; you didn't find it to your taste*; you moved on. That is how its supposed to work. I have no problem with it - and I am a real Respighi fan.
> 
> My favorite of his is "Ancient Aires and Dances".


I gave it a try but I always try harder and look under the chairs and tables when I know the composer enjoys a reputation among people who I believe might be worth listening to. I am genuinely interested in whether I may have passed on him too quickly.


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

Church windows attracted me to Respighi's music. Neschling's new Respighi album on BIS solidified that interest and then other pieces followed. It's interesting though there's something in the sound that after Respighi I tend to listen to Berlioz, and visa versa


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## Guest (Aug 15, 2018)

I may be atypical in that the "Roman Trilogy" is not my favorite Respighi. My best listening experience has been with Downes recordings on Chandos featuring work for piano and orchestra. The String Quartet and Violin Sonata are also very satisfying works. Pini di Roma, forth movement (Apian way) is a favorite.


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## kyjo (Jan 1, 2018)

There’s nothing surprising to me about Respighi’s popularity here. He’s a wonderful composer who wrote some of the most colorful and exciting orchestral music ever composed. Not just the Roman Trilogy, but Church Windows (that finale!!), Concerto Gregoriano, the Ancient Airs and Dances, Belkis, etc. He also has some beautiful chamber music as well, such as a Piano Quintet, String Quartet in D minor, as well as a gorgeous Notturno for piano. He’s certainly not a “minor” composer in my book!


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I was indifferant to him until a record club I belonged to briefly, sent me a copy of Dorati's recording of Ancient Airs and Dances -- which I listened to desultorily until the Bergamasque that ended the Second Suite. I promptly listened to it three times in succesion, then relistened to the rest of it. Yes, he's a second class composer but, like Richard Strauss, a first rate one.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

The comparison with his mentor Rimsky-Korsakov is apt, and it can be argued that Respighi exceeded his tutor in mastery of orchestral color. Love his work!


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Enthusiast said:


> One of the many surprises I had when I started to visit this site regularly concerned the apparent popularity of the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi - at least on game threads he has been very well represented and often well voted for.


Yes, Respighi does better in the games than one would expect based on general consensus. Others also doing better include Hanson, Bax, Mozetich, Atterberg and a few others. The reason? I'll just trot out my usual response - game outcomes can only reflect the musical preferences of those members who vote.

As for Respighi, I agree that he's a wonderful orchestrator. As it happens, the only music of his that I keep coming back to are his chamber works.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I consider him a major 2nd rate composer. He wrote a LOT of music, most of it unknown to all but the most die-hard fanatics. Like others, he had to fight against the tide: no 12-tone atonal serialism for him. He wrote in Technicolor. Audiences absolutely love the Roman Trilogy. As a player, I can't say I really enjoy playing them - they're loud, repetitious and just not all that interesting. Conductors have an orgasm when they conduct it. The Botticelli Pictures, Ancient Airs and Dances, are very nice, indeed. Church Windows is ok. He out-orchestrated his teacher, but lacked Rimsky's genius. But I must confess that I've collected a lot of Respighi over the years - starting in the LP era. Why? There is no composer whose music is better suited for demonstrating or showing off your new stereo system! Having a powerful amp and speakers that could handle the end of Pines of Rome was thrilling. LPs were excellent, but when the CD came out - wow! Such sound. The Dutoit recording rattled a lot of windows here.


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## Guest (Aug 15, 2018)

I have really enjoyed listening to Respighi in the past, although I never rally feel any urge to listen to his music. There's way too much I already like a lot more.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I used to think he wasn't worth bothering with until I got La Vecchia's box set. The styles of music in there changed my opinion of him. And this documentary helped me figure out where Respighi was coming from.


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## Eusebius12 (Mar 22, 2010)

Respighi stylistically never found his metier, except perhaps in the orchestral sets like Pines of Rome, which has a certain Cecil B. De Mille feel. But he was a stylistic experimenter. He ranges from neo-romantic to neo-baroque to the 20th century kind of neo-classical. I find it hard to take his orchestral suites very seriously. He must have been very talented. There's an opera of his which seems to be interesting, sort of post-Puccini. Unfortunately Italian composers struggled to find an individual voice or niche post Puccini. Either they were composing rudimentary verisimo or under the shadow of German classicism.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Eusebius12 said:


> Respighi stylistically never found his metier, except perhaps in the orchestral sets like Pines of Rome, which has a certain Cecil B. De Mille feel. But he was a stylistic experimenter. He ranges from neo-romantic to neo-baroque to the 20th century kind of neo-classical. I find it hard to take his orchestral suites very seriously. He must have been very talented. There's an opera of his which seems to be interesting, sort of post-Puccini. Unfortunately Italian composers struggled to find an individual voice or niche post Puccini. Either they were composing rudimentary verisimo or under the shadow of German classicism.


Maybe he never felt he had found his métier, but the general CM public has identified it for him in the various pieces for which he is best known. He himself thought that his _Concerto in Modo Misolidio_ was the best thing he'd composed, and it would be an outstanding Respighian piece with some severe pruning.


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## kyjo (Jan 1, 2018)

Strange Magic said:


> Maybe he never felt he had found his métier, but the general CM public has identified it for him in the various pieces for which he is best known. He himself thought that his _Concerto in Modo Midolidio_ was the best thing he'd composed, and it would be an outstanding Respighian piece with some severe pruning.


Interesting! The _Concerto in Modo Misolidio_ is actually one of the few Respighi pieces I've been disappointed by. Though it has some beautiful passages, it's overlong and lacks the memorability of his other works IMO.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I agree that it is certainly overlong. But with pruning and editing (who's going to do that?) it could be quite nice. When we think of Rimsky working over Mussorgsky's _Boris_ and the fixer-uppers "improving" Bruckner, perhaps a brave soul might just try to rework the Misolidio. I'd like to hear such.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Enthusiast said:


> I gave it a try but I always try harder and look under the chairs and tables when I know the composer enjoys a reputation among people who I believe might be worth listening to. I am genuinely interested in whether I may have passed on him too quickly.


I understand. It raises my curiosity as well when a lot of people rave about an artist that I didn't care for. Usually I try again to see what I am missing (assuming I have some respect for the ravers' tastes) and see if I can find something I missed in there.

Sometimes I do, but more often I don't, and I walk on down the world puzzled that everyone doesn't agree with me.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Thank you to all. A picture emerges for me and I feel well equipped to go back and listen again.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

A suggestion of something a bit 'out of the way' in terms of Respighi's works and style, but one well worth investigating ... _Metamorphoseon_ ... don't let the name intimidate, it is a fascinating theme and variations with an absolutely intriguing and unusual central section.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Anyone who has tried and enjoyed the Roman trilogy, his collaboration on Rossini's toyshop, Ancient Airs and Dances, Trittico botticelliano and perhaps others should give an ear to his *Sinfonia drammatica*, an attempt at a symphony. Oft-described as Korngold and/or film music, I think of it as being somewhere between Brahms and Messiaen's Turangalia symphony.


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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

I love the three suites of Ancient Airs and Dances and I Uccelli. And while I am not a huge fan of his other music, as a composer myself I am extremely impressed by his abilities as an orchestrator...he was a master in this area of composition.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Enthusiast said:


> One of the many surprises I had when I started to visit this site regularly concerned the apparent popularity of the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi - at least on game threads he has been very well represented and often well voted for. As I had always thought of him as a minor composer - I know but rarely listen to his famous Roman trilogy and have heard a few of his other pieces without really wanting to follow up on them - I would be fascinated to understand why he has such a high standing here? Am I missing out on something?


I agree with your assessment that he was a minor composer, but he was a highly entertaining one, and I think that he has had a bit of an uptick in esteem the last few decades. One factor is that his colorful music lends itself to reproduction on good equipment, and since most of us have much better replay systems now than in the first few decades after his works appeared. Another is that during his lifetime he was perhaps unfairly tainted by an association with Fascism, as Mussolini had been one of his patrons. As the memory of Fascism and WW II recedes less people will make that association


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