Gli uccelli (The Birds) - by Ottorino Respighi

Gli uccelli (The Birds) by Ottorino Respighi

Performed Sunday, November 19th, 2023 | First Christian Church

Conductor: Thomas Wilson
Audio/Video: Michael Lascuola
Program Notes: Pam Chaddon

One could say that Ottorino Respighi made a career out of regretting the fact that he hadn’t been born earlier. Without a doubt, he is best known for his symphonic works, including The Fountains of Rome, The Pines of Rome, and Roman Festivals, but he was also a distinguished scholar of early music, with a passion for obscure music of the 16th-18th centuries, particularly neglected treasures from his Italian heritage.

Ottorino was born on July 9, 1879, in Bologna. He came from a musical family; his father was a piano teacher, and his grandparents were musicians. He studied violin, viola, and composition in his hometown through his youth and then traveled to St. Petersburg to tutor under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and accept an appointment as principal violist for the Russian Imperial Theatre. Respighi's sumptuous orchestral colors are a direct result of his time in Russia. Born too late to be a true Romantic but too early to be a modernist, Respighi found his voice combining the modal techniques of Renaissance and Baroque masters with modern instrumental and harmonic language. In addition to composing original works that imitated earlier styles, he also made numerous arrangements of actual early works, such as this 1928 suite for small orchestra, Gli uccelli (The Birds).

Creatives throughout the centuries have been captivated by our fine-feathered friends, using their songs, colors, and skills as a source of inspiration. Classical composers are no exception. The aviary is vast; from 17th century’s Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber to 20th century’s Oliver Messiaen and a flock of audience favorites in-between: Vivaldi, Handel, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Saint-Saëns, Delius, Vaughan Williams, and more.

The core of Gli uccelli is five 17th- and 18th-century compositions for harpsichord or lute, transformed into a shimmering new orchestral work for an intimate chamber collective, augmented by delicate splashes of harp and celesta.


Gli uccelli opens with a “Prelude” of birds in flight, the fluttering of wings, based on a harpsichord piece by the Italian composer and virtuoso keyboardist, Bernardo Pasquini (1637–1710). The second movement, “La colomba”, is a lush depiction of a dove, the oboe representing its mournful cry, taken from a lute piece by the French lutenist and composer, Jacques Gallot (1625–1695). A harpsichord piece by great French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764) brings us the clucking and pecking of the hen, “La gallina”, with interjections by the clarinet, oboe, and bassoon, and a final trumpet rooster. The mystical, magical, nocturnal soundscape of the nightingale, “L’usignuolo”, is based on an anonymous folksong transcribed by the blind Dutch recorder virtuoso Jacob van Eyck (1590-1657).

The final movement returns to the music of Pasquini with the call of the cuckoo, “Il cucù”, from one of his harpsichord pieces. The cuckoo’s rhythmic, persistently repeated song echoes throughout the orchestra (have we all gone cuckoo?!) as the concluding coda reprises both the introductory music and the bird songs we heard through the work.
Respighi was probably born at the wrong time, taking comfort in music from another century entirely. When he combined his mastery of past styles with a child-like allure to birds, he left us a delightful aviary, imbued with the atmospheric charm of a time gone by, brilliantly orchestrated with great care and love.