Ottorino Respighi

Ottorino Respighi - composer

Person from Italy

Genres: Classical, italian, composer, 20th Century Classical, contemporary classical

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About Ottorino Respighi

Ottorino Respighi (9 July 1879 – 18 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. His output includes operas, ballets, orchestral suites, choral works, chamber music, and transcriptions of Italian music from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Among his best known works are the orchestral tone poems "Fountains of Rome" (1916), "Pines of Rome" (1924), and "Roman Festivals" (1928), which brought him international recognition. Respighi was born in Bologna into a musical family. Encouraged by his father, he studied the violin and piano from an early age. In 1891 he enrolled at the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, where he studied violin, viola, and composition. Early in his career he worked as principal violinist at the Russian Imperial Theatre and studied orchestration with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1913 he moved to Rome to become professor of composition at the Liceo Musicale di Santa Cecilia. During this period he married one of his pupils, the singer Elsa Olivieri-Sangiacomo. In 1923 Respighi resigned from his professorship in order to focus on touring and composing, although he continued to teach until 1935. From 1925 onward he performed and conducted in various roles in the United States and South America. In late 1935, while working on his opera "Lucrezia", Respighi became ill and was diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis. He died four months later at the age of 56. His wife Elsa survived him by several decades and promoted his music and legacy until her death in 1996. Several incomplete or previously unpublished works by Respighi were later completed, including the "Violin Concerto in A major" (1903), which was prepared by Salvatore Di Vittorio and premiered in 2010.

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