by Ottorino Resphigi
(1879-1936)
The Appian Way
by Ottorino Resphigi
(1879-1936)
The Appian Way
The Big Picture
The Pines of the Appian Way is the fourth movement of a larger work by Ottorino Resphigi entitled The Pines of Rome. The entire work is a four movement long tone poem. A tone poem, or symphonic poem, is a type of late 19th century and 20th century orchestral music based on an idea outside of music. In this manner it is almost like program music. In other words the entire basis for the piece, while not a story, comes from The Appian Way. The Pines of Rome begins with The Pines at the Villa Borghese. One can hear children at play under the trees. The second movement, The Pines Outside The Catacombs,slows things down and becomes more somber as Resphigi describes, through music, the scene outside the catacombs. The third movement changes scene from the catacombs to The Pines of the Janiculum. Here we can almost see the moonlight casting shadows through the pines on the hill. Finally, the fourth movement, The Pines of the Appian Way, finishes the work with great fanfare.
The Smaller Picture
The Pines of The Appian Way gives us much to imagine. We begin by hearing the distant sound of thousands of footsteps marching toward Rome. Is it an enemy come to attack Rome? As we listen further we begin to hear fanfares and calls from the brass instruments. The army marches on towards the greatest city of its time. The thunderous footsteps grow louder with every second. Should we stay to meet our destiny or run for the safety of our lives? But wait!! As the army reaches the horizon we see the banners of Rome flying high on their poles. It is the mighty army of Rome returning home after a long and bitter war, but they are victorious. The fanfares ring out louder than ever now as the army begins marching by us. We cheer them on as all of Rome comes to greet them. Once again the mighty Appian Way has brought the heroes of Rome home safely to the city's gates. The sovereignty of Rome is safe once more.
The Composer
Ottorino Resphigi
Ottorino Resphigi
was born in Bologna, Italy in 1879. He began the study of music as
a violin, viola, and piano player. He played in the opera house in
Bologna until age 21. It was then that he was appointed to the opera
orchestra in St. Petersburg, Russia. Here he met Rimsky-Korsakov
and began studying composition with him. From this point on Resphigi
began to compose more than perform. He took a job as professor of
composition at St. Cecilia conservatory in Rome in 1908. In 1926
he resigned as the director of the conservatory to concentrate only on
composing. He wrote The Pines of Rome in 1923 as a sequel
to his other popular piece The Fountains of Rome. His work
shows the infuence of his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov, and also a little bit
of Igor Stravinsky.
The Appian Way
The Appian Way
is the oldest and the most famous road built by the ancient Romans.
Built in 312 B.C. by Appius Claudius Caecus, the Appian Way was the main
route by which traders and merchants could get to and from Greece.
It was about 350 miles in length and built chiefly of stone and mortar
filled in with gravel. On top of this, slabs were laid to make the
road smooth. The road had a retaining wall and a ditch on either
side of it. The road was well built and traversed the hills and plains
betwwen Rome and its southern cities. The surface that covers the
road now was probably not the original surface but it is not sure when
this was added. Near Rome the road is lined with tombs which can
still be seen today in ruins.
The Piece
The Appian Way is a brillantly beautiful piece. It incorporates many elements of music. There is one chief theme in the piece that we hear over and over again only with different instrumentation. We hear it played quietly by the english horn and bassoon at the beginning of the piece. As the piece progresses the brass instruments began to play the theme over and over. The theme is then played constantly until the end of the piece but the pitches and instrumentation vary. Finally six extra brass instruments enter at the climax of the piece. Resphigi likened them to the Roman trumpets known as Buccine. He uses soprano, tenor, and bass flugelhorn to get the sound he thought would sound closest to the buccine.
Click here to hear the main theme.
Click here to hear the climax.
The melody as we
said is basically the same theme repeated over and over. Much like
the piece itself the melody continuously rises in both pitch and dynamics.
Leaps of perfect 4ths and 5ths and triplet rhythms dominate the melody.
While this piece does not have too much
happening with the melody, there is much going on with the expressivness
of the piece. Resphigi uses the instrumentation he writes for to
help us paint a picture of an army marching along the road. He also
heightens this by using a musical effect known as crescendo.
A crescendo is a gradual increase in volume. The Pines of the
Appian Way is one giant crescendo. It starts very quietly in
the beginning as if the army is far off and by the end of the piece when
all the brass enters the volume has increased ten fold.
Here you can see the main
theme in lines 2-5. Notice the Perfect 4th and 5th Leaps. Also
notice
the triplet rhythms.
Every musical piece has a form. This piece is not without one. Pines of the Appian Way uses what musicians call binary form. We can show binary form by simply writing AB. In other words the piece has an A section and a B Section. The A section starts the piece when all is quiet. In this section the main theme is heard very little but usually in the woodwind section. The english horn plays a different meldoy that reminds me of how unsure peopel may have been too hear this thunderous army marching. The B section of the piece begins near the middle of the piece. It begins with the entrance of the brass playing the main theme. The trombones enter first rather quietly but before long the entire brass section is playing. To hear the two sections click on their links below.
Related Arts
Rome was an ancient civilization unmatched in power by anything the world had ever seen. Its culture and traditions ran very deep. One can find some of the greatest architecture in the history of the world in Rome. The colliseum defied all odds and housed the great gladiators. The Appian Way itself was a great accomplishment. Roman aqueducts were an engineering masterpiece that not only looked great but brought fresh, clean water to the entire city. Ancient Roman culture is definately something that should be looked into.
To check out some interesting photos and sculpture dealing with Ancient Rome click on the following links.
Interactive Quiz
Click
here to challenge your knowledge of The Pines of the Appian Way.
For a great recording of this piece, check this out!!!!
Click here to see the recording.
Check out these links to further your interest in The Pines of the Appian Way.
WCU Marching Band The West Chester University Marching Band used Pines of Appian Way in their 2001 Field Show.
Special Thanks to these sites for all their help. Please check them out.
www.operone.de/komponist/resphigi.html