Feste romane

Program notes

About the Work

Feste romane (Roman Festivals), completed in 1928, is the last and largest of Respighi’s three Roman tone poems. Where Fountains painted times of day and Pines the landscape, Festivals turns to the crowd: four celebrations, from ancient Rome to Respighi’s own time. Arturo Toscanini, who had made Fountains of Rome famous, gave the first performance with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in February 1929.

It is the most extravagant of the three. The orchestra includes a mandolin, a large percussion section with ratchet, sleigh bells and wood blocks, offstage buccine (usually played by trumpets) and an organ, and Respighi himself felt afterwards that he had reached the limit of orchestral sonority and colour. It has never been quite as popular as its two predecessors, but it is a spectacular test for a virtuoso orchestra, and it ends the evening in uproar.

What to Listen For

Circenses (Circus Games). A threatening sky hangs over the Circus Maximus, wrote Respighi, but it is the people’s holiday. Brass fanfares greet the emperor, and in the arena the hymn of the Christian martyrs rises against the snarling of wild beasts. The martyrs’ chant holds out, then is drowned in violent chords over the organ.

Il Giubileo (The Jubilee). Medieval pilgrims trudge towards Rome, praying. Then, from the summit of Monte Mario, the holy city comes into view; a hymn bursts out and the church bells ring in reply. Respighi weaves in the old Easter hymn “Christ ist erstanden”.

L’Ottobrata (The October Festival). The grape harvest in the hills outside Rome: hunting horns, tinkling bells and love songs. At twilight a mandolin plays a romantic serenade.

La Befana (Epiphany). The night before Epiphany in the Piazza Navona. Trumpets set a frantic rhythm, and out of the din come snatches of folk dances, a barrel organ, a street vendor’s cry, and a drunken reveller portrayed by a slurring solo trombone. The finale gathers everything into a deafening, joyous climax.