Hall of Composers
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Ottorino Respighi studied music in his native Bologna, Italy, and later briefly with Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, Russia. His interest in early music earned him public recognition outside of Italy through transcriptions of 17th and 18th century music, notably of Claudio Monteverdi’s Lamento d’Arianna. He also earned a living as an orchestral violinist and violist until moving to Rome, Italy in 1913 to teach composition. He left this position in 1926 to focus on conducting and composing.
It was through his vivid Roman trilogy of symphonic poems that Respighi received his highest acclaim. The Fountains of Rome premièred in Rome, Italy, in 1917, and was followed by The Pines of Rome (1924) and Roman Festivals (1928). The color and imagination of his writing has kept Respighi in international concert halls to the present.
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