Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi

2027 Educational Material for the Paint to Music Selection

Pines of Rome Overview

Pines of Rome is a 20th century tone poem composed by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi dedicated to the eponymous trees around Rome. The four movements are meant to represent different spaces of Rome, in which pine trees are found. Respighi’s Pines of Rome is the second piece in a trilogy of three different tone poems dedicated to the city.

Tone poems are orchestral pieces that symbolically reproduce a particular image, poetic or literal. Thus, Respighi’s trilogy evokes different features of Rome’s topography, which simultaneously represent the beauty of the city as it is now and as it is situated within the history of the Roman Empire.

Black and white photo of Respighi at a piano

History of Ottorino Respighi’s Pines of Rome

Following the 1916 composition and 1918 performance of the first of the three orchestral poems, The Fountains of Rome, Respighi composed the Pines of Rome in 1924. The third piece, Roman Festivals was composed later in 1929.

Each piece is meant to represent the scenes that their titles suggest. In The Fountains of Rome, Respighi tries to evoke the form of four famous Roman fountains, and in doing so represents the sentiments of the fountains themselves and their impression upon Respighi when he visited them at their respective hour. The four movements of The Fountains are as follows:

  1. The fountain of the Valle Giulia at dawn
  2. The Triton Fountain at morn
  3. The Fountain of Trevi at midday
  4. The Villa Medici Fountain at sunset

In Respighi’s The Pines of Rome, contrasting with the other two pieces, the composer evokes the pines, not in their own right, but as situated within Roman life and history. This second piece in the trilogy is thus regarded as the more imaginative insofar as the musical representations of the scenes described in Pines of Rome are less literal.

The third and final symphony poem, Roman Festivals, is often compared to the first in its evocation of the scenes and is more direct in representing different traditional festivals which Respighi took as symbolic of Roman life:

  1. Circuses
  2. The Jubilee
  3. The October Festival
  4. The Epiphany

Movements of Respighi’s Pines of Rome

Like the other two pieces in the trilogy, and characteristic of a symphony, the Pines of Rome is broken up into four different movements, each depicting pine trees associated with particular sites within the city’s landscape. The four movements are thus named after these locations, and Respighi wrote a commentary to accompany each in the symphony’s program, quoted below:

  1. The Pines of the Villa Borghese: ”Children are at play in the pine groves of the Villa Borghese, dancing the Italian equivalent of ‘Ring around a Rosy.’ They mimic marching soldiers and battles. They twitter and shriek like swallows at evening, coming and going in swarms. Suddenly the scene changes.”
  2. The Pines near a Catacomb: ”We see the shadows of the pines, which overhang the entrance of a catacomb. From the depths rises a chant, which echoes solemnly, like a hymn, and is then mysteriously silenced.”
  3. The Pines of the Janiculum: ”There is a thrill in the air. The full moon reveals the profile of the pines of Gianicolo’s Hill. A nightingale sings.”
  4. The Pines of the Appian Way: ”Misty dawn on the Appian Way. The tragic country is guarded by solitary pines. Indistinctly, incessantly, the rhythm of unending steps. The poet has a fantastic vision of past glories. Trumpets blare, and the army of the Consul bursts forth in the grandeur of a newly risen sun toward the Sacred Way, mounting in triumph the Capitoline Hill.”

Instrumentation in Respighi’s Pines of Rome

The score of the Pines of Rome as it was written by Ottorino Respighi specifies the instruments and their appropriate number, as is represented below:

  • Two each of the following:
    • oboe
    • clarinet
    • bassoon
  • Three each of the following:
    • flute
    • trumpet
    • trombone
  • 4 horns
  • 6 buccine
  • One each of the following:
    • English horn, bass clarinet. contrabassoon, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, ratchet, tam-tam, bellscelesta, harp, strings. organ.

The instrumentation of the Pines of Rome includes a feature that are perhaps less typical: a record player, and a recording of the nightingale’s birdsong. This recording is included in the score at the end of the third movement, The Pines of the Janiculum (note in the description above, “A nightingale sings”). The birdsong is depicted throughout the rest of the pieces, such as in the first movement, The Pines of the Villa Borghese, where we hear the timpani fluttering like swallows.

Performances of the Pines of Rome

The premiere of Respighi’s Pines of Rome was on the 14th of December in 1924, and it took place at a venue above the mausoleum of the Roman emperor Augustus, performed by the Orchestra dell’Augusteo and conducted by Bernardino Molinari. Other performances are listed below:

  • January 14, 1926: The Pines of Rome had its American premiere with conductor Arturo Toscanini and the New York Philharmonic
  • January 15, 1926: Ottorino Respighi conducts The Philadelphia Orchestra himself the day after the American premiere

Due to its popularity, it has since been performed by many philharmonic and symphony orchestras. In 1953, Toscanini conducted the piece again for a recording with the NBC Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

The Pines of Rome has also been featured in several films, most notably in Disney’s Fantasia 2000. The piece has appeared in two other films, the avant-garde Kenneth Anger film Fireworks, and the experimental collage-style film titled A Movie by Bruce Conner.

Lesson Summary

Pines of Rome was composed by Ottorino Respighi, and is a symphonic tone poem, which is meant to evoke images of pine trees throughout the city of Rome, as well as their sentiment within the Roman imagination. This piece is the second part of a trilogy and was composed in 1924, after the Fountains of Rome, and prior to the third part, Roman Festivals.

The Pines of Rome is comprised of four symphonic movements: (1) The Pines of Villa Borghese, (2) The Pines near a Catacomb, (3) The Pines of the Janiculum, and (4) The Pines of the Appian Way. The third movement includes the playing of a recording of the nightingale’s birdsong. The Pines of Rome had its international premiere in December of the same year of its composition, and was later premiered in America in 1926. It has since been featured in various films, including Disney’s Fantasia 2000.

Teaching Ideas

1. Early Music Technology (The Nightingale): In the 3rd movement, Respighi specifically requested a gramophone recording of a real nightingale bird.

  • Teaching Point: This was one of the very first times electronic recorded sound was integrated into a live orchestral score. Discuss how music technology has evolved from 78-rpm phonograph records to digital streaming.

2. Tone Poetry and Word Painting

Respighi uses program music—music meant to depict a specific narrative or scene. [1]

  • Teaching Point: Have students listen to the fourth movement without knowing the title. Ask them what they think is happening as the volume slowly increases (building a crescendo to simulate soldiers marching closer and closer). [1, 2]

3. Unique Instrumentation

Respighi calls for massive, rare forces to create his cinematic soundscapes.

  • Teaching Point: Teach students about the buccina—ancient circular brass instruments used by the Roman army. In modern orchestras, these offstage parts are played by extra trumpets, flugelhorns, or saxhorns.

✏️ Classroom Activities & Worksheets

🎭 Active Listening & Art (Elementary/Middle School)

  1. Give students a blank piece of paper divided into four squares (labeled 1 to 4).
  2. Play each movement without revealing the titles.
  3. Have students draw what they hear using colors that match the mood (e.g., bright, erratic shapes for Movement 1 vs. dark, continuous lines for Movement 2).

🎬 Pop Culture Connection: Fantasia 2000

  • Activity: Show the Pines of Rome segment from Disney’s Fantasia 2000, which features flying humpback whales.
  • Discussion: Ask students why they think the animators chose flying whales instead of Roman soldiers. Did the music evoke a feeling of “flying” or “swimming” to them?