Jaren Hinckley

TITLE:  Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome)

Ottorino Respighi is best known for his piece “The Pines of Rome,” but since I just returned from Italy (I was performing at a music conference in Assisi) and my wife, Jane, and I spent a few days in Rome, including a visit to the Trevi Fountain, I thought that “The FOUNTAINS of Rome” would be a good piece to investigate for this week’s “I’m Listening to Everything by…”.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PIECE:

A fifteen-minute “tone poem” with four distinct sections or movements, this is programmatic music (it paints a picture in your mind as you listen) describing not only the fountains, but imagined scenarios happening nearby.

The first movement, La fontana di Valle Giulia all’Alba (The Fountain of Valle Giulia at Dawn), depicts a fountain in a pastoral setting.  It is not hard to allow your mind to paint pictures in your mind when you hear the woodwind instruments imitating bird song.

The second movement, La fontana del Tritone al mattino (The Triton Fountain in the Morning), depicts mythological characters dancing near the fountain.

The third movement, La fontana di Trevi al meriggio (The Trevi Fountain at Noon), starts with quite a grand fanfare.  I have to admit, having recently stood at the Trevi Fountain, the initial impression upon seeing it for the first time is quite grand and fanfare-worthy!  However, I suspect my experience at the Trevi Fountain was a tad marred by the vast amounts of vendors and other tourists swarming the place.  Here’s my wife and I just before we threw coins over our right shoulders, as is the custom.

The final movement, La fontana di Villa Medici al tramonto (The Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset), is a fitting close to this work.  It is easy to see the sun setting, particularly with the sound of church bells ringing (slowly) at the end.

HIGHLIGHT:  I really enjoyed the entire piece, but if I have to pick one, I’d probably pick the first movement.  I like the pastoral imagery and the way the woodwinds are used.

RANDOM OTHER HIGHLIGHT THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MUSIC ITSELF:

One of my hobbies is visiting the gravesites of famous composers, so whenever I travel anywhere, I go to “findagrave.com” and search the cities I’ll be in to see if any famous composers are there.  I always make a list to bring with me so that if I happen to be near one of the graveyards or churches where someone is buried, I can pay a visit. On our very first day in Rome, we were told by our B&B host, Francesca, that she thinks we should begin our Roman holiday at the gateway to the city, the Piazza del Popolo.  Since it was only a few subway stops from our B&B, we did exactly that.  As we walked through the gates onto the amazing oval-shaped piazza with its twin churches, I saw a church to our immediate left and when I saw the name of the church, Santa Maria del Popolo, I immediately thought it was one that I had on my list, but I couldn’t remember who or why.  We went in and I was reading the names on tombs in the floor and on the walls, but no names were familiar.  I was getting frustrated, but as we passed an open door that led to a hallway used mainly by the clergy to get from one part of the church to another, Jane said, “I know why you wanted to come here” and went through the doorway.  I followed her and here’s what we found:

The funny thing is, I didn’t have Respighi on my list because although he was originally interred here, a year after his death, his remains were taken to his birth city of Bologna and reinterred.  So the entire experience was extremely serendipitous!

WHAT’S LEFT TO LISTEN TO BY RESPIGHI?: a lot, but I’ll do it!