Recommended Listening: Respighi's "Pines of Rome"

Requisite Knowledge Level for Understanding (* being beginner, ***** being expert): **

Ottorino Respighi was born in Bologna, Italy and was taught to play the violin and the piano by his father, a piano teacher, from a young age.  He went on to study the viola in addition to the violin and piano as well as composition from Giuseppe Martucci.  He received his diploma in violin in 1899 and from there proceeded to play as concertmaster for the orchestra of the Russian Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg.  While there he studied with the Russian composer Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov.  He then returned to Bologna and received a diploma in composition, while still performing on the violin.  Starting around 1910, his compositions began to draw his attention, and those held his sway for the remainder of his life.  Though he never truly gave up performing fully, by about 1920 it can be said that he was a composer only.

All of that above is to say that he got a thorough education in all kinds of music, past and present, performing and writing.  I mention these things in particular because I think that a little knowledge of a person's past informs his/her writings (e.g. the knowledge of when someone like Thomas Mann lived helps to understand the themes in his writings).  I also mention this because of one of the great things about this piece:  its lush, gorgeous orchestration.

Orchestration is the instrumentation assigned for the performance of a given piece.  Take, for example, the song "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".  If you sing it by yourself, then it is for "solo voice".  If later you sing it with three other people in a round in two octaves, two at the top octave with girls, and two at the bottom octave with boys, you are singing it for "multiple voices" which would imply that your "solo voice" arrangement left off some of the more interesting harmonies and rhythmic interactions within the song.  Now let's say you switch up your "multiple voices" arrangement to be three girls and one boy.  Technically these three would all be the same song or piece, but they would be three different Arrangements or Orchestrations.

Generally speaking, a composer writes their music at the piano, because it is accessible and yet comprehensive.  With any number of grand operatic and symphonic works, the composer will compose all of the music at the piano, and then arrange it for orchestra, or larger ensemble.  While these two skills often go hand in hand, they are not necessarily so, and the composer will from time to time, not often, but still not rarely, will not be the same person who arranges it for orchestra.  This is EXTREMELY common in Hollywood for movie scores.  The composer whose name you see at the end of the movie and have heard before like John Williams or Hans Zimmer probably (I'd say a good 98% chance that they) did not orchestrate it.  The notes and rhythms go to the composer, but the person who put those melodies in the hands of the trumpets or violins was the arranger/orchestrator (whose name you don't see unless you carefully scan the credits).

In that first paragraph, you will notice that I mentioned that Respighi studied with Rimsky-Korsakov.  Known as a first rate operatic and symphonic composer in his own right, Rimsky-Korsakov is probably one of the greatest orchestraters of all time.  Arguments generally point to Maurice Ravel as the single greatest, and it might be nice to note that Ravel studied lengthily with Rimsky-Korsakov, and Ravel's orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is one of the most famous examples of a different composer and arranger, as Mussorgsky wrote it as a piano solo and Ravel scored it for full orchestra.  Rimsky-Korsakov's text on orchestration is still highly regarded today and is one of the most complete and easy to use instructive manuals on orchestration.  Respighi certainly picked up something from him because his talent for orchestration can be found in all of his works, especially in the Roman Trilogy, of which the Pines of Rome is the second work (the other two are the Fountains of Rome and Roman Festivals).

The Pines of Rome (Pini di Roma) is a four movement Tone Poem.  A Tone Poem is essentially what it sounds like.  It attempts to evoke stories and images using music alone (i.e. no words).  Sometimes they will be written after and/or accompanying an actual poem or story (such as with "The Sorcerer's Apprentice") but just as often they will be written as an original piece.  This piece depicts the pine trees at different locations around Rome at different points of the day.  Generally speaking, this is classified as a Romantic piece, though it does push to the end of that period and could be considered Modern

I.  Pines of the Villa Borghese - describing children playing soldiers and marching among the trees
II.  Pines Near a Catacomb - a majestic dirge, depicting the depths and solemnity of the catacombs
III.  Pines of the Janiculum - a nocturne set on the Janiculum hill, featuring birds and forest life
IV.  Pines of the Appian Way - misty dawn as a legion of troops marches along the way with the ground trembling under the weight of the army

I recommend the recording done by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  It is in my opinion one of the greatest recordings of this and any orchestral work in general.  It can be found in many forms from LP to CD, to SACD, to digital download.  Well worth a listen and absolutely gorgeous sound.  The music itself is pretty popular as well, and it is very possible that you might have heard some or all of it previously.  Other recordings are of course quite solid as well, this one just happens to be my favourite.