The Pines of Rome

One of the most sublime moments in classical music, in my humble opinion, is in the second movement of Respighi's symphonic poem "The Pines of Rome".

A little background first: the Pines of Rome is a symphonic poem in four movements describing (with music) the Roman pines in various settings. Or rather, it's not so much about the pines themselves, but they are prominent in all four settings.

(Side note: the pine trees in Rome and Italy, at least the parts I've been to, are definitely different from the cone-shaped Christmas tree we're used to here. They have two main varieties: one is shaped like a tall, slender, pointy green column, and the other is sort of like a mushroom cloud--it branches out and has a broad upper canopy like many of our leafy trees, but it has needles instead of leaves. The picture below should give you a good idea of the two varieties.)




Trekking through Rome with friends on my visit there in summer 2010



Anyways, the first movement involves a bunch of kids playing around in a park under the pines--a lot of boisterous and happy music as they chase and tease each other.

The second movement is the catacombs. It begins with solemn, somber music, representing the quiet spirit of the place and maybe chanting coming from deep underground. Then the orchestra plays quiet subdued chords while a lone trumpet plays a solo from offstage, giving it this surreal quality of coming from far away. And the solo the trumpet plays is the Sanctus from Mass IX! It is so cool because 'Hey, that's the Sanctus, I know that piece!' and it's always so neat to hear chant and Catholic hymns used in classical music, and it's just really great musically (sends shivers up my spine), and it's awesome because the Sanctus is a hymn of praise and exultation and triumph and this movement is about the resting place of the martyrs, whose deaths were the ultimate praise of God and the ultimate triumph. It's so glorious! Later the lone trumpet solo is taken up by the low brass in a full, majestic rendition of the Sanctus.

For completeness: the third movement is this serene forest, and the best part of this movement is there's a live cuckoo in it! Respighi took advantage of the newly invented gramophone and had  a recording of a cuckoo written into the piece. It's really neat, feels like your in a real forest listening to a bird sing somewhere in it's green depths. Then the fourth movement is about the Appian Way, one of the  most famous and important roads leading into Rome since the time of the Roman empire. The music depicts a Roman legion marching along the road in all its glory.

Anyway, I highly recommend listening to this piece, it is really a great musical work. If you just want to hear the Sanctus, it's about 4 1/2 minutes into this recording on Youtube:

Respighi "Pini di Roma"