Sinfonia Drammatica

"...very satisfying in every respect. "
- David Hurwitz, Classicstoday.com

Ottorino Respighi was born in Bologna in 1879 and studied the violin and viola at the Liceo Musicale from 1891 with Federico Sarti. At the same time he took lessons in composition, at first from the musicologist Luigi Torchi, who had returned to Bologna from the Liceo Rossiui in Pesaro in the same year, and later from the composer Giuseppe Martucci, who was director of the Liceo until 1902. In 1899 he completed his studies and the following year went to St Petersburg as principal viola-player at the Imperial Opera. In Russia, where he spent the seasons of 1901-02 and 1902-03, he took lessons from Rimsky- Korsakov in composition and orchestration.

During the first decade of the present century Respighi won a reputation as a performer, while pursuing his growing interest in earlier music and in composition. In Berlin during 1908 and 1909 he attended lectures by Max Bruch, to relatively little effect. The influence of Rimsky-Korsakov, however, was to remain with him and to guide his bold use of orchestral colour. These years brought a series of compositions. In 1902 his Piano Concerto in A minor was performed in Bologna and his Notturno of 1905 was played in New York under Rodolfo Ferrari. The latter year saw the first production of his opera Rè Enzo in Bologna, a work followed five years later by Semirama, these operas winning him a reputation that led, in 1913, to his appointment as teacher of composition at the Liceo di Santa Cecilia in Rome.