Ancient Airs and Dances

Ottorino Respighi

Subtitle: Suite 1, Balletto

General Info

Year: 2008
Duration: c. 2:35
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Lute
Publisher: Eighth Note Publications
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $25.00 | Score Only (print) - $15.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F
Trombone
Tuba

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Ottorino Respighi's interest in music of the 16th century through the 18th century influenced many of his compositions, including this one. Based on transcriptions of early lute pieces, this arrangement is sure to please.

- Program Note from publisher

Respighi had a fascination with music of the distant past, both from Italy and elsewhere. His orchestral elaborations of early repertoire are among his most frequently heard works today, including his three suites Ancient Airs and Dances, what are essentially symphonic transcriptions of sixteenth and seventeenth century lute pieces.

Simone Molinari (1570-1633) composed numerous collections of sacred and secular vocal works, and, as a music publisher, brought out an important edition of Don Carlo Gesualdo's five-voice madrigals in 1603. Molinaro's Intavolatura di liuto libro primo is one of the most notable lute collections of its time. In that collection, his Balletto Detto "Il conte Orlando" appears as a triple-time dance. Respighi alters it to duple meter and in the middle provides contrast by transposing the melody into the minor mode, where the solo line is played dolce before the material is revisited in its original form by the full ensemble.

- Program Note from score

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

Texas: Miscellaneous Woodwind Ensemble Class 2

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Symphony Band (Phillip A. Ostrander, conductor) - 20 November 2020

Works for Winds by This Composer

Airs of the Court (arr. Longfield) (1931/2009)
Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite I (tr. Johnson)
Ancient Airs and Dances (arr. Marlatt) (2008)
Belkis, Regina di Saba (arr. Kimura) (1931/1995)
Belkis, Regina di Saba (trans. Nefs) (1931/2016)
Bergomasca from Ancient Airs
Church Windows (arr. Schyns) (1926/2007)
Feste Romane (arr. Van Grevenbroek) (1928/2013)
Feste Romane (arr. Kimura) (1928/2006)
Feste Romane (arr. Schaefer) (1928/1976)
Fontane di Roma (arr. Van Grevenbroek) (1916/2013)
The Fountains of Rome (arr. Junkin) (1916)
The Fountains of Rome (tr. Odom) (1916)
Huntingtower (1932)
Huntingtower (orch. Cesarini) (1932/1987)
Huntingtower (arr. Suzuki) (1932/2001)
Huntingtower (ed. Binney) (1932/1991)
I pini della via Appia (arr. Suijkerbuijk) (1924/1987)
La Boutique Fantasque (as arranger; tr. Mahaffey) (2009)
La Boutique Fantasque (as arranger) (1922)
Pines of Rome (arr. Curnow) (1924/2012)
Pines of Rome (arr. Kimura) (1924)
Pines of Rome (trans. Duker) (1924/1966)
Pines of the Appian Way (ed. Leidzen) (1924/1948)
Pini di Roma (arr. Van Grevenbroek) (1924/)
Pini di Roma (tr. Nefs) (1924/2012)
Roman Festivals (arr. Patterson) (1928)
Trittico Botticelliano (arr. Hanna) (1927/201?)

Resources

Perusal score
Respighi, O.; Marlatt, D. (2008). Ancient Airs and Dances : Suite 1 : Balletto [score]. Eighth Note Publications: [Markham, Ont.].