The Italian composer Ottorino Respighi is best known for his orchestral Roman trilogy, a set of symphonic poems inspired by landmarks and events of the city of Rome and the Roman Empire. However, tonight’s offering of Respighi’s Trittico Botticelliano explores the composer’s ability to garner inspiration from a different source; The paintings of the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. This inspiration is not surprising, as Respighi’s musicological interests were centered around Italian music of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.

Trittico Botticelliano, or Three Botticelli Pictures, explore three of Botticelli paintings, La Primavera (Spring), L'adorazione dei Magi (The Adoration of the Magi), and La nascita de Venere (The Birth of Venus). These three paintings were completed in the years between 1476 and 1486, making them prime examples of the Florentine school. As with many of Respighi’s works, Trittico Botticelliano is a mixture of old and new, mixing pre-classical musical forms and melodic styles with harmonies and textures which are traditionally seen in 19th-century romanticism.

Like Respighi, Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian composer, though Verdi’s largest contribution to music lies in his operas, of which he wrote thirty-seven. However, what is often half-jokingly described as Verdi’s “greatest opera” is not actually an opera at all, but a requiem.

The story of Verdi’s Requiem begins in 1868, with the death of fellow Italian opera composer Gioachino Rossini. At this time, Verdi suggested that prominent Italian composers should collaborate on a memorial Requiem, with each composer contributing one section. While the music was eventually written (including Verdi’s contribution, the Libera me), the project was poorly organized, and the memorial went unperformed until 1988. In 1873, another of Verdi’s heroes, the Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni, died. Verdi was so stunned by Manzoni’s death that he was unable to attend his funeral, instead paying a visit to the writer’s grave soon after. As a tribute, Verdi decided to write a requiem mass for the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death. He reworked the existing Libera me movement, incorporating thematic material from it in other movements. Verdi learned from his mistakes in organizing the Rossini Requiem, and approached the mayor of Milan suggesting that the city sponsor the premiere in addition to negotiating with the Church to allow women singers to appear. Despite the sincerity of this memorial, Verdi was also aware of the Requiem’s commercial possibilities, and took the time to arrange publication and performance royalties in addition to financing the copying and printing himself.

Verdi wrote in a letter to mezzo Maria Waldmann, inviting her to participate in the premiere: “You would gain neither reputation nor money from it, but since this is something that will make history, certainly not

because of the merit of the music, but because of the man to whom it is dedicated. I think it would be fine if, one day, history would say: ‘On 22 May there was a great Requiem Mass for the anniversary of Manzoni’s death…’”

The premiere of the Manzoni Requiem was given in Milan in May 1874, with a 100-piece orchestra, 120-voice choir, and soloists hand-picked by Verdi. While this original performance was part of a liturgy, Verdi subsequently arranged several concert performances in the following year in Paris, London, Vienna, and the United States.

Kyle D. Vanderburg studies composition under Dr. Carlyle Sharpe at Drury University where he is finishing his BA in Music. He plays bassoon in the Drury Wind Symphony and Drury Chamber Orchestra. After finishing his BA he plans on attending graduate school to further his study of composition.