Prom 4 (16.7.12): Respighi, Ravel and Adams

[antongould]

mercia,

I went to my first Prom in 1949, up in the Gallery where the echo wasn't so bad, this of course was long before the mushrooms under the ceiling. The poor old BBC SO played for most of the season, as I remember it there was a week or so with the LSO and a visit from the Halle. It was a great way to hear live performances of the standard works, and I was always thrilled by those evenings. However, although there were some great nights, I suspect that we might be a bit dismayed by the performance standards if a time machine was available for us to travel back.
I'm thinking mainly of the orchestral standard, there were always great soloists at the Proms, and I certainly don't blame the BBC SO, they really needed more rest days!

Sir
Sara MP, who is getting very good reviews elsewhere hereabouts this morning, asked if anyone could beat a listener (so there are two of us!!!) who had been going to the Proms for just over 50 years - here is yet another chance to be famous.......................

[edashtav]

I never liked Feste Romana - even before reading Respighi composed it as a tribute to Mussolini.

May I ask what is your evidence, Serial-Apologist, for asserting that Feste Romana was written "in honorem" Mussolini ?

What I've read has consistently suggested that, unlike many Italian composers, the apolitical Respighi was courted by Mussolini & his Fascisti rather than the other way around. OR stood up for fellow musicians who came under attack from the Italian fascists. Of course, OR's music, with its ancient Roman references The Pines of Rome and its brash grandiloquence Roman Festivals parallels and, possibly prefigures, aspects of Mussolini's regime ( think of the architecture of the E.U.R. area in Rome, for instance) but that doesn't make Respighi a lover of fascism. No, I believe that the regime found Respighi's caramel-centred, pseudo-modernist truffles just the stuff to give the Mussolini government added credibility. What are the similarities & differences w.r.t. the position in Germany regarding Orff & Hitler, I wonder?

I thought parts of the Prom performance of Feste Romana were gorgeous - but I could not enjoy it as a whole - that would be akin to enjoying a whole box of truffles. However, just the stuff for occasional performance at a great festival, such as the Proms. What an inspired idea to get two "academy" orchestras to come together and to project the work in supersize format.

[Serial_Apologist]

May I ask what is your evidence, Serial-Apologist, for asserting that Feste Romana was written "in honorem" Mussolini ?

What I've read has consistently suggested that, unlike many Italian composers, the apolitical Respighi was courted by Mussolini & his Fascisti rather than the other way around. OR stood up for fellow musicians who came under attack from the Italian fascists. Of course, OR's music, with its ancient Roman references The Pines of Rome and its brash grandiloquence Roman Festivals parallels and, possibly prefigures, aspects of Mussolini's regime ( think of the architecture of the E.U.R. area in Rome, for instance) but that doesn't make Respighi a lover of fascism. No, I believe that the regime found Respighi's caramel-centred, pseudo-modernist truffles just the stuff to give the Mussolini government added credibility. What are the similarities & differences w.r.t. the position in Germany regarding Orff & Hitler, I wonder?

I thought parts of the Prom performance of Feste Romana were gorgeous - but I could not enjoy it as a whole - that would be akin to enjoying a whole box of truffles. However, just the stuff for occasional performance at a great festival, such as the Proms. What an inspired idea to get two "academy" orchestras to come together and to project the work in supersize format.

You quite rightly question my source, edashtav, and I have to admit to it having been a passing reference in a book probably borrowed from a library many years ago. A similar charge, however, was made in a R3 programme series on music under dictatorship, and again in the Respighi TV documentary shown a year or so ago.

[edashtav]

You quite rightly question my source, edashtav, and I have to admit to it having been a passing reference in a book probably borrowed from a library many years ago. A similar charge, however, was made in a R3 programme series on music under dictatorship, and again in the Respighi TV documentary shown a year or so ago.

You do seem to have a panoply of sources, Serial-Apologist. My Bible is Music in Fascist Italy written by Harvey Sachs perhaps a quarter of a century ago. Maybe, newer stuff has been unearthed, or perhaps we need help from a referee overseeing our tousle.

HS wrote : "Little evidence has come to light about his dealings with the regime, and prevailing opinion on the subject has been well summarised in a recent biog. sketch by Daniele Spini:

Respighi [...] was certainly not in disgrace with the regime... If, however, the historian is asked [...] to compare [Respighi's ] attitude towards fascism with those of the other protagonists of Italian music during that period, it must be said that he comes out much better than many others. Elsa [ his widow] maintains that R. was never a member of the National Fascist Party, and she is supported by the testimony of Claudio Guastalla [ R's librettist and close friend]...

.... Consequently, the fascists opened doors for R. before he knocked." (Harvey Sachs concludes.)

To sum up. My position is that Malipiero, Alfano, Mascagni, Pizzetti, and Casella all co-operated with, or asked favours of, the Regime. Respighi did not need to do so. However, his aesthetic attitudes and agreeable, apparent modernity chimed with the regime's aesthetics. They needed him. He did not protest, but seems to have used his "favoured son" relationship to protect those who needed support.

Let's hope that there's someone looking at this thread who can help us to sort faction from fiction.

[Bryn]

It should be added that Respighi came to Toscanini's defence when the latter was attacked by Mussolini's thugs. Toscanini, whose attitude towards the Fascists was irreproachable, directed the premier performance of Roman Festivals, of course.

[bluestateprommer]

One final chance to catch Prom 4, for any who missed it or want to listen again, c/o the US public radio program SymphonyCast, though not for much longer (sorry I didn't see this earlier to post it):

http://symphonycast.publicradio.org/programs/2012/07/30/