Pines of Rome (Italian Pini di Roma) is a symphonic poem written in 1924 by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi and, together with Fontane di Roma and Feste Romane, forms what is sometimes loosely referred to as his "Roman trilogy". Each movement depicts the pine trees in different locations in Rome at different times of day.
The first performance was given under conductor Bernardino Molinari in the Augusteo, Rome, on December 14, 1924.
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The first movement, "I pini di Villa Borghese", portrays noisy children playing soldiers and marching in the pine groves of the Borghese gardens. The second movement, "Pini presso una catacomba" is a majestic dirge, representing pine trees near a catacomb in Campagna. Lower orchestral instruments, plus the organ pedal at 16' and 32' pitch, suggest the subterranean nature of the catacombs, while the trombones represent priests chanting. The third part, "I pini del Gianicolo", is a nocturne set near a temple, on the Janiculum hill, of the Roman god Janus. Double-faced gods open large doors and gates, marking the beginning of a new year. Respighi takes the opportunity to include the actual sound of a nightingale, something that had never been done before. (The score mentions a specific recording that can be played on a phonograph: the Brunswick Panatrope). The final movement, "I pini della Via Appia", portrays pine trees along the great Appian Way. Misty dawn: a legion advances along the Via Appia in the brilliance of the newly-risen sun. Respighi wanted the ground to tremble under the footsteps of his army and he instructs the organ to play bottom B flat on 8', 16' and 32' organ pedal. The score calls for buccine - ancient trumpets that are usually represented by flugelhorns. Trumpets peal and the consular army rises in triumph to the Capitoline Hill.
Pini di Roma calls for the following large orchestra:
Woodwinds: a piccolo (doubling flute 3), 2 flutes, 2 oboes, an english horn, 2 clarinets in B-flat and A, a bass clarinet in B-flat and A, 2 bassoons and a contrabassoon
Brass: 4 horns in F and E, 3 trumpets in B-flat, 3 tenor trombones, a bass trombone, 6 Buccine in B-flat (played on flugel or saxhorns as follows: 2 Soprano, 2 Tenor, 2 Bass) and an offstage trumpet in C
Percussion: timpani, a bass drum, a snare drum, cymbals, 2 small cymbals, a tam-tam, a gong, a triangle, a ratchet, a tambourine and a glockenspiel
Keyboards: an organ, a piano and a celesta
Strings: a harp, first and second violins, violas, violoncellos and double basses
Although Arturo Toscanini was long associated with this work, performing it in his first and last concerts with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, in 1926 and 1945 respectively, the first recordings of the music were by other Italian conductors. Lorenzo Molajoli and Ettore Panizza both made recordings with the Milan Symphony Orchestra; Molajoli's recording was released by Columbia Records and Panizza's recording was released by Odeon and Decca Records. In 1935, Piero Coppola and the Paris Conservatory Orchestra recorded the music for EMI, released by in the U.K. by His Master's Voice and in the U.S. by RCA Victor on 78-rpm discs. [1] Toscanini recorded the music with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall in 1953. The music was recorded in stereophonic sound by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Orchestra Hall in 1957, also for RCA Victor.
An edited version was used to accompany "flying", frolicking humpback whales in the film Fantasia 2000. The second movement of the piece is omitted, along with the English horn solo in the fourth movement.
The piece was also used in its entirety in A Movie (1958) by Bruce Conner.
The piece was used in Fireworks, an avant-garde film directed by Kenneth Anger.
The very opening of the work was used at the beginning of the 1983 song "City of Love" released on the album 90125 by rock group Yes.
In addition to Sergei Prokofiev and Gustav Holst, film composer John Williams cites Respighi as a great influence and his music for the Planet Krypton, early on in Superman (film), was strongly modeled after the fourth movement of this piece.
Film composer Basil Poledouris, in his score for Conan the Barbarian was influenced by various other musical works, including Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky cantata, the choral music of Carl Orff, i.e. Carmina Burana, and this piece. Poledouris' work on that score is reminiscent of Respighi's second movement in particular, with its rumbling tam-tam, strong brass harmony, rising bass lines, and building string ostinati.
Program notes by Stephanie von Buchau, written for Deutsche Grammophon's production of the recording by the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Herbert von Karajan.
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