HOME | DD

Description
A Pod of Humpback Whales are flying over the Appian way in Italy.
Pines of Rome is a tone poem in four movements that was written in 1924 by Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) who was an Italian composer, violinist and musicologist. It’s the second from his trilogy of tone poems depicting the city of Rome Italy. The first “Fountains of Rome” represents four of Rome’s fountains Fountain of Valle Giulia, The Triton Fountain, the Trevi Fountain and the Villa Medici fountain at various times of day and the third “Roman Festivals” represent gladiator battles, the Christian Jubilee, Harvest of October, and a festival at Piazza Navona in Rome. All three works of the Roman Trilogy are like ordinary symphonies since they have four movements that depict different places in Rome, when you hear them you feel like you are in Rome exploring what the city has to offer just like how Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony makes you feel like you are in the countryside. They are also like the soundtracks of movies, especially a Disney movies.

Pines of Rome represents pine trees in four locations in Rome at various times of day. The first movement Pines of the Villa Borghese represents children playing at the Villa Borghese gardens which is a large park in Rome at 197 acres. It has gardens and museums. The children play Ring around the Rosie and pretend to be soldiers in battle.

The second movement The Pines near a Catacomb represent a majestic dirge, conjuring up the picture of a solitary chapel in the deserted Campagna; open land, with a few pine trees silhouetted against the sky. A hymn is heard the sound rising and sinking again into some sort of catacomb, the subterranean cavern in which the dead are immured. An offstage trumpet plays the Sanctus hymn. Lower orchestral instruments, plus an organ suggest the subterranean nature of the catacombs, while the trombones, strings and French horns represent priests chanting.

The third movement The Pine of Janiculm represent Janiculm Hill which is the second tallest hill in Rome. It is one of the best locations in the city, lots of people both tourists and locals alike go there to see a panoramic view of Rome. Respighi used the recording of Nightingale at the end of the movement which was never done before in music.

The last movement The Pines of the Apian Way represent pine trees along the Appian Way which is oldest road in the world. It is 400 miles long and connects Rome to Brindisi in southeast Italy and was used as a main route for military supplies and trading since its construction in 312 B.C. Today, it is now a tourist attraction but in those days, it was known as “The queen of roads” The music represents ancient Roman soldiers marching triumphantly down the Appian Way towards the Capitoline Hill which is one of the seven hills of Rome located between the Forum and the Campus Martius. Respighi used the mostly the brass section and percussion section of the orchestra to represent the soldiers marching and he even had some trumpeters, horn players and tubas playing from the balconies of the theater during the performance. Respighi also used flugelhorns to represent the sound of the soldiers playing Buccinas which were large horns that were used in ancient Roman times and he used the Timpani and the bass drum pounding a marching rhythm to represent the sound of the soldiers marching feet.

Pines of Rome was first performed in Rome on December 14th, 1924 under the direction of conductor Bernardo Molinari and it was an enormous success. On January 14th, 1926 conductor Arturo Toscanini performed Pines of Rome in New York city then Respighi himself conducted it on his concert tour of the United States with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Pines of Rome inspired lots of composers including Gustav Holst (The Planets), Sergei Prokofiev (Peter and the Wolf), Oliver Wallace (Dumbo), Paul Smith (2000 leagues under the sea), George Bruns (The Jungle Book), James Horner (Titanic), Hans Zimmer (The Lion King), Basil Poledoris (Free Willy) and John Williams (Star Wars).

At the turn of the 21st century Disney used Pines of Rome in Fantasia 2000 in which we see a family of humpback whales discovering an ability to fly after a supernova in the artic. The segment originally involved the whales flying from the perspective of Penguins but but the idea was scrapped to make the baby whale a central character. The whales were also set to return to Earth but the director Hendel Butoy said it "never felt quite right", leading to the decision to have them break through a cloud ceiling and enter a different world by the supernova. When the drawings were scanned into the CAPS system, Butoy found the whales were either moving too fast or had less weight to them. The drawings were altered to make the whales slow down and "more believable" The eyes of the whales were drawn by hand, as the desired looks and glances were not fully achievable using CGI. Respighi’s original music was used except for the second movement, the nightingale sound and the English horn solo at the beginning of The Pines of the Appian way.

Description
A Pod of Humpback Whales are flying over the Appian way in Italy.
Pines of Rome is a tone poem in four movements that was written in 1924 by Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) who was an Italian composer, violinist and musicologist. It’s the second from his trilogy of tone poems depicting the city of Rome Italy. The first “Fountains of Rome” represents four of Rome’s fountains Fountain of Valle Giulia, The Triton Fountain, the Trevi Fountain and the Villa Medici fountain at various times of day and the third “Roman Festivals” represent gladiator battles, the Christian Jubilee, Harvest of October, and a festival at Piazza Navona in Rome. All three works of the Roman Trilogy are like ordinary symphonies since they have four movements that depict different places in Rome, when you hear them you feel like you are in Rome exploring what the city has to offer just like how Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony makes you feel like you are in the countryside. They are also like the soundtracks of movies, especially a Disney movies.

Pines of Rome represents pine trees in four locations in Rome at various times of day. The first movement Pines of the Villa Borghese represents children playing at the Villa Borghese gardens which is a large park in Rome at 197 acres. It has gardens and museums. The children play Ring around the Rosie and pretend to be soldiers in battle.

The second movement The Pines near a Catacomb represent a majestic dirge, conjuring up the picture of a solitary chapel in the deserted Campagna; open land, with a few pine trees silhouetted against the sky. A hymn is heard the sound rising and sinking again into some sort of catacomb, the subterranean cavern in which the dead are immured. An offstage trumpet plays the Sanctus hymn. Lower orchestral instruments, plus an organ suggest the subterranean nature of the catacombs, while the trombones, strings and French horns represent priests chanting.

The third movement The Pine of Janiculm represent Janiculm Hill which is the second tallest hill in Rome. It is one of the best locations in the city, lots of people both tourists and locals alike go there to see a panoramic view of Rome. Respighi used the recording of Nightingale at the end of the movement which was never done before in music.

The last movement The Pines of the Apian Way represent pine trees along the Appian Way which is oldest road in the world. It is 400 miles long and connects Rome to Brindisi in southeast Italy and was used as a main route for military supplies and trading since its construction in 312 B.C. Today, it is now a tourist attraction but in those days, it was known as “The queen of roads” The music represents ancient Roman soldiers marching triumphantly down the Appian Way towards the Capitoline Hill which is one of the seven hills of Rome located between the Forum and the Campus Martius. Respighi used the mostly the brass section and percussion section of the orchestra to represent the soldiers marching and he even had some trumpeters, horn players and tubas playing from the balconies of the theater during the performance. Respighi also used flugelhorns to represent the sound of the soldiers playing Buccinas which were large horns that were used in ancient Roman times and he used the Timpani and the bass drum pounding a marching rhythm to represent the sound of the soldiers marching feet.

Pines of Rome was first performed in Rome on December 14th, 1924 under the direction of conductor Bernardo Molinari and it was an enormous success. On January 14th, 1926 conductor Arturo Toscanini performed Pines of Rome in New York city then Respighi himself conducted it on his concert tour of the United States with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Pines of Rome inspired lots of composers including Gustav Holst (The Planets), Sergei Prokofiev (Peter and the Wolf), Oliver Wallace (Dumbo), Paul Smith (2000 leagues under the sea), George Bruns (The Jungle Book), James Horner (Titanic), Hans Zimmer (The Lion King), Basil Poledoris (Free Willy) and John Williams (Star Wars).

At the turn of the 21st century Disney used Pines of Rome in Fantasia 2000 in which we see a family of humpback whales discovering an ability to fly after a supernova in the artic. The segment originally involved the whales flying from the perspective of Penguins but but the idea was scrapped to make the baby whale a central character. The whales were also set to return to Earth but the director Hendel Butoy said it "never felt quite right", leading to the decision to have them break through a cloud ceiling and enter a different world by the supernova. When the drawings were scanned into the CAPS system, Butoy found the whales were either moving too fast or had less weight to them. The drawings were altered to make the whales slow down and "more believable" The eyes of the whales were drawn by hand, as the desired looks and glances were not fully achievable using CGI. Respighi’s original music was used except for the second movement, the nightingale sound and the English horn solo at the beginning of The Pines of the Appian way.