Respighi: Stage Works
View all works by Respighi in the main appExplore the complete catalog of Stage compositions by Respighi. This curated list includes composition years, historical Wikipedia context, and interactive audio to add specific tracks directly to your listening queue.
| Title | Year | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| Belkis, Queen of Sheba, P.171 |
The Queen of Sheba, named Bilqis in Arabic and Makeda in Geʽez, is a figure first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. In the original story, she brings a caravan of valuable gifts for Solomon, the fourth King of Israel and Judah. This account has undergone extensive elaborations in Judaism, Ethiopian Christianity, and Islam. It has consequently become the subject of one of the most widespread and fertile cycles of legends in West Asia and Northeast Africa, as well as in other regions where the Abrahamic religions have had a significant impact. Modern historians and archaeologists identify Sheba as one of the South Arabian kingdoms, which existed in modern-day Yemen. However, because no trace of her has ever been found, the Queen of Sheba's existence is disputed among historians. |
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| La bella dormente nel bosco, P.176 |
This is a complete list of the compositions by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi (1879–1936). This list can be sorted by catalogue number (P), year composed, title, and genre. Catalog numbers were attributed by Potito Pedarra, an Italian musicologist who dedicated most of his activity to the study of the works of Respighi. |
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| La Boutique Fantasque |
La Boutique fantasque, also known as The Magic Toyshop or The Fantastic Toyshop, is a ballet in one act conceived by Léonide Massine, who devised the choreography for a libretto written with the artist André Derain, a pioneer of Fauvism. Derain also designed the décor and costumes for the ballet. Ottorino Respighi wrote the music based on piano pieces by Gioachino Rossini. Its world premiere was at the Alhambra Theatre in London on 5 June 1919, performed by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Massine described how, in Rome for a ballet season, Respighi brought the score of Rossini's Péchés de vieillesse to Diaghilev. The impresario played them to Massine and Respighi. Toulouse-Lautrec was an influence on the period setting and style of La Boutique fantasque, and Massine envisaged the principal character "quite Lautrec-like". Diaghilev arranged for Massine to meet Derain in Paris, and they worked out the scenario with the artist's marionette theatre at his home on the rue Bonaparte. The date of the action was moved from 1832 to the 1860s. The story of the ballet has similarities to Die Puppenfee ("The Fairy Doll") of Josef Bayer, an old German ballet that had been performed by Jose Mendez in Moscow in 1897 and by Serge and Nicholas Legat in Saint Petersburg in 1903. Others note the similarities to Hans Christian Andersen's The Steadfast Tin Soldier. Massine's scenario centers on the love story between two can-can dancer dolls in a toyshop, incorporating elements of comedy, national folk dance and mime, as well as classical choreography. |
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| La fiamma, P.175 |
This is a complete list of the compositions by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi (1879–1936). This list can be sorted by catalogue number (P), year composed, title, and genre. Catalog numbers were attributed by Potito Pedarra, an Italian musicologist who dedicated most of his activity to the study of the works of Respighi. |
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| La pentola magica, P.129 |
Ottorino Respighi ( resp-EE-ghee, US also rəsp-; Italian: [ottoˈriːno reˈspiːɡi]; 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 compositions range over operas, ballets, orchestral suites, choral songs, chamber music, and transcriptions of Italian compositions of the 16th–18th centuries, but his best known and most performed works are his three orchestral tone poems which brought him international fame: Fountains of Rome (1916), Pines of Rome (1924), and Roman Festivals (1928). Respighi was born in Bologna to a musical and artistic family. He was encouraged by his father to pursue music at a young age, and took formal tuition in the violin and piano. In 1891, he enrolled at the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, where he studied the violin, viola, and composition, was principal violinist at the Russian Imperial Theatre, and studied briefly with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He relocated to Rome in 1913 to become professor of composition at the Liceo Musicale di Santa Cecilia. During this period he married his pupil, singer Elsa Olivieri-Sangiacomo. In 1923, Respighi quit his professorship to dedicate time to tour and compose, but continued to teach until 1935. He performed and conducted in various capacities across the United States and South America from 1925 until his death. In late 1935, while composing his opera Lucrezia, Respighi became ill and was diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis. He died four months later, aged 56. His wife Elsa outlived him for almost 60 years, championing her late husband's works and legacy until her death in 1996. Conductor and composer Salvatore Di Vittorio completed several of Respighi's incomplete and previously unpublished works, including the finished Violin Concerto in A major (1903) which premiered in 2010. |
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| Marie Victoire, P.100 |
Ottorino Respighi ( resp-EE-ghee, US also rəsp-; Italian: [ottoˈriːno reˈspiːɡi]; 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 compositions range over operas, ballets, orchestral suites, choral songs, chamber music, and transcriptions of Italian compositions of the 16th–18th centuries, but his best known and most performed works are his three orchestral tone poems which brought him international fame: Fountains of Rome (1916), Pines of Rome (1924), and Roman Festivals (1928). Respighi was born in Bologna to a musical and artistic family. He was encouraged by his father to pursue music at a young age, and took formal tuition in the violin and piano. In 1891, he enrolled at the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, where he studied the violin, viola, and composition, was principal violinist at the Russian Imperial Theatre, and studied briefly with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He relocated to Rome in 1913 to become professor of composition at the Liceo Musicale di Santa Cecilia. During this period he married his pupil, singer Elsa Olivieri-Sangiacomo. In 1923, Respighi quit his professorship to dedicate time to tour and compose, but continued to teach until 1935. He performed and conducted in various capacities across the United States and South America from 1925 until his death. In late 1935, while composing his opera Lucrezia, Respighi became ill and was diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis. He died four months later, aged 56. His wife Elsa outlived him for almost 60 years, championing her late husband's works and legacy until her death in 1996. Conductor and composer Salvatore Di Vittorio completed several of Respighi's incomplete and previously unpublished works, including the finished Violin Concerto in A major (1903) which premiered in 2010. |
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| Scherzo veneziano P.130 |
This is a complete list of the compositions by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi (1879–1936). This list can be sorted by catalogue number (P), year composed, title, and genre. Catalog numbers were attributed by Potito Pedarra, an Italian musicologist who dedicated most of his activity to the study of the works of Respighi. |
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| Semirâma, tragic, P. 94 |
The history of opera has a relatively short duration within the context of the history of music in general. It appeared in 1597, when the first opera, Dafne, by Jacopo Peri, was created. Since then it has developed parallel to the various musical currents that have followed one another over time up to the present day, generally linked to the current concept of classical music. Opera (from the Latin opera, plural of opus, "work") is a musical genre that combines symphonic music, usually performed by an orchestra, and a written dramatic text—expressed in the form of a libretto—interpreted vocally by singers of different tessitura: tenor, baritone, and bass for the male register, and soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto for the female, in addition to the so-called white voices (those of children) or in falsetto (castrato, countertenor). Generally, the musical work contains overtures, interludes and musical accompaniments, while the sung part can be in choir or solo, duet, trio, or various combinations, in different structures such as recitative or aria. There are various genres, such as classical opera, chamber opera, operetta, musical, singspiel, and zarzuela. On the other hand, as in theater, there is dramatic opera (opera seria) and comic opera (opera buffa), as well as a hybrid between the two: the dramma giocoso. As a multidisciplinary art form, opera combines music, drama, dance, scenography, costume, and makeup, relying on collaborative work between the composer, librettist, performers, conductor, and production team. Designed for live audiences, opera has historically reflected prevailing cultural, philosophical, religious, and political ideas. Opera originated with the Florentine Camerata, a group of late 16th-century humanists who sought to revive the musical and dramatic traditions of Ancient Greek theater. This led to early works by Jacopo Peri, including Dafne (1597) and Euridice (1600), and Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (1607), which helped define the genre by introducing structured arias and instrumental sinfonias. The genre evolved through major musical periods. The Baroque era (17th–mid-18th century) established many operatic conventions and was marked by elaborate vocal and scenic elements, accessible mainly to elites. The Classical period emphasized clarity and balance, with major contributions from Mozart and Beethoven. In the 19th century, Romanticism elevated the status of composers and vocalists, reflecting bourgeois tastes and giving rise to national operatic traditions. Later developments included French impressionism and Italian verismo. The 20th century introduced Modernist approaches and new technologies—radio, phonograph, and television—which expanded opera’s reach, while earlier works remained central to repertory. During the course of history, within opera there have been differences of opinion as to which of its components was more important, the music or the text, or even whether the importance lay in the singing and virtuosity of the performers, a phenomenon that gave rise to bel canto and to the appearance of figures such as the diva or prima donna. From its beginnings until the consolidation of classicism, the text enjoyed greater importance, always linked to the visual spectacle, the lavish decorations and the complex baroque scenographies; Claudio Monteverdi said in this respect: "the word must be decisive, it must direct the harmony, not serve it." However, since the reform carried out by Gluck and the appearance of renowned composers such as Mozart, music as the main component of opera became more and more important. Mozart himself once commented: "poetry must be the obedient servant of music". Other authors, such as Richard Wagner, sought to bring together all the arts in a single creation, which he called "total work of art" (Gesamtkunstwerk). |
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| Sèvres de la vieille France, P.128 |
This is a complete list of the compositions by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi (1879–1936). This list can be sorted by catalogue number (P), year composed, title, and genre. Catalog numbers were attributed by Potito Pedarra, an Italian musicologist who dedicated most of his activity to the study of the works of Respighi. |