About "Overtura Respighiana"

The following is a more detailed overview of Overtura Respighiana:

I composed Overtura Respighiana (Respighiana Overture) in 2008, one year before completing Ottorino Respighi's rediscovered first Violin Concerto - the latter, a commission which I received from Respighi's family descendants and leading archive curator in Italy. 

The work served two purposes: first, an homage not only to Ottorino Respighi but his homage works on Gioacchino Rossini (namely La Boutique Fantasque and Rossiniana); second, a personal thank you to Respighi's family for their permission to honor Respighi's name and entrusting me with the editing and completion of several early Respighi manuscripts for publication (in their first printed editions), premieres and recordings with the orchestra that now bares his name Chamber Orchestra of New York "Ottorino Respighi". 

My initial plans for the overture began with a reworking of Respighi's above transcriptions of Rossini's piano music, Les Riens. During the compositional process, I realized a musical connection between the final movement Elegy of my own Sinfonia No. 2 and Respighi's introduction of Pines of Rome. There was a strong resemblance between my variation on an Italian nursery rhyme at the ending of my Sinfonia and Respighi's 'children's theme' at the beginning of his Pines. 

The Overture begins with a reflection on Pines of Rome, citing a reinvention of the principal elements of Rossiniana and the ending of Sinfonia No. 2. My goal for the introduction was to capture Respighi’s orchestral aesthetic at the beginning of Pines, but with entirely different and original motives and melodies. At first listening, the notes may seem quite similar, but they are not. Each orchestral line of the introduction is in fact original, not borrowed out of Pines. Only the choices and placements of instruments remain similar, not the melodies. As a result, this is perhaps the most difficult work I've had to write over recent years. 

Through a series of fanfares, the music leads to a variation of the March from La Boutique Fantasque. Though this section remains the most similar in its reinvention, every single motive has been reworked to achieve varied harmonies – a playful reconstruction. 

A brief sarabande interrupts, which introduces an entirely new Renaissance-styled melody, only inspired from the Valse Lente movement of La Boutique. Looking back, one may hear echoes of Hector Berlioz if not Richard Strauss colors and effects throughout the orchestration. This is the most deeply reflective moment of the Overture. 

Through musical interruptions which serve as reminders of the work’s powerful introduction, we are led to a happy tarantella dance alla Rossini. Using similar ornamentation as Rossini overtures, this Overture ends with a full-fledged Rossini rocket or crescendo effect. The tarantella melody is entirely original, though somewhat inspired by the noted nursery rhyme motif in my own Sinfonia No. 2. The same may be said of the related French horn motif at the beginning of the Overture, also original. The coda is a return of the middle section sarabande, in tutti. 

Overtura Respighiana thereby fuses Gioacchino Rossini’s influence on Ottorino Respighi, with both of their influences on my own orchestral musical language.

If you wish to sample Overtura Respighiana, visit:
http://www.chamberorchestraofnewyork.org/music_director.html

Salvatore Di Vittorio
Music Director, Chamber Orchestra of NY