The Fountains of Rome Composed in 1916 Ottorino

THE FOUNTAINS OF ROME COMPOSED IN 1916

OTTORINO RESPIGHI BORN IN BOLOGNA, JULY 9, 1879 DIED IN ROME, APRIL 18, 1936

Artists who define themselves and their art primarily in terms of a single city—such as Dickens for London, Pissarro for Paris, Brunelleschi for Florence, or Woody Allen for New York—find that, rather than limiting their artistic palette, their choice broadens their creativity, simultaneously revealing subtle new things about the city to the rest of us. Ottorino Respighi was as passionate about Rome as any artist could be. After studies with Giuseppe Martucci in Bologna and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, Respighi settled in Rome in 1913, the city where he would spend the rest of his career.

IMPRESSIONS OF ROME It is no surprise that three of this musical colorist’s most popular orchestral scores are impressions of various aspects of the city he loved: The Fountains of Rome of 1916 paints images of fountains, The Pines of Rome (1924) explores the city’s pine groves, and Roman Festivals (1929) describes four of the city’s festivals. Influenced by the orchestral music of Strauss, Debussy, Ravel, and Rimsky-Korsakov, Respighi took their differing ideals of sound and color and forged them into a personal and unabashedly extroverted instrumental style. Each of his “Roman” suites exploits the full resources of a large orchestra, and all three remain popular concert favorites worldwide. The Fountains of Rome is a rich display of orchestral color. “I wonder why no one has ever thought of making the fountains of Rome ‘sing,’” wrote Respighi to his wife as he began to conceive this set, “for they are, after all, the very voice of the city.” He composed Fountains shortly after his appointment as an instructor of composition at Rome’s Santa Cecilia Academy; the set received its first performance in Rome in February 1918, on a concert given by Arturo Toscanini to benefit artists and musicians disabled during World War I. The work’s four sections, which are played without pause, are titled thus: (1) The Fountain of Valle Giulia at Dawn; (2) The Triton Fountain at Morn; (3) The Fountain of Trevi at Mid-day; and (4) The Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset.

A CLOSER LOOK The descriptions printed in the first printed score, which quite probably stem from the composer himself, continue in greater detail:

In this symphonic poem the composer has endeavored to give expression to the sentiments and visions suggested to him by four of Rome’s fountains, contemplated at the hour in which their character is most in harmony with the surrounding landscape, or in which their beauty appears most impressive to the observer. The first part of the poem, inspired by the Fountain of Valle Giulia, depicts a pastoral landscape; droves of cattle pass and disappear in the fresh, damp mists of a Roman dawn. A sudden loud and insistent blast of horns above the trills of the whole orchestra introduces the second part, the Triton Fountain. It is like a joyous call, summoning troops of naiads and tritons, who come running up, pursuing each other and mingling in a frenzied dance between the jets of water. Next there appears a solemn theme, borne on the undulations of the orchestra. It is the Fountain of Trevi at mid-day. The solemn theme, passing from the wood to the brass instruments, assumes a triumphal character. Trumpets peal; across the radiant surface of the water there passes Neptune’s chariot, drawn by sea horses and followed by a train of sirens and tritons. The procession then vanishes, while faint trumpet blasts resound in the distance. The fourth part, the Villa Medici Fountain, is announced by a sad theme, which rises above a subdued warbling. It is the nostalgic hour of sunset. The air is full of the sound of tolling bells, birds twittering, leaves rustling. Then all dies peacefully into the silence of the night.

—Paul J. Horsley